Muhammad Mujahid Syed Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – A veteran philanthropist and long-time resident of Jeddah has said only education can save Muslims of India from perpetual decline. Syed Hasan Akbar, who arrived in the Kingdom to perform Haj in 1976 and then stayed on to find work in the country, said he had visited every nook and corner of India and realized that almost all ailments the community had been suffering from had their roots in ignorance. “I am the son of a teacher who had devoted his entire life to educating the community. My father, Syed Akbar Ali, was the principal of a reputable degree college in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh state,” Akbar said. The 72-year-old said during his travel across the width and breadth of India, he was convinced that only education could uplift the community. “Education is the only remedy for all our ailments. The Muslim Ummah can check its decline by progress in education. According to the Holy Qur'an knowledge is divine light,” Akbar said in an interview. Now a senior employee at Khalid Al-Gharbi Trading Establishment, Akbar was born on June 7, 1943, in Mussoorie, a famous hill station in northern India, where his parents had been spending their summer vacation. Syed Akbar Ali, Akbar's father, was an influential person who belonged to a notable family in Lucknow, the provincial capital. A gold medalist in English literature, and a famous swimmer, he was nominated as deputy mayor of Bombay during the British rule. He was also a senior columnist for The Pioneer, an English language daily. “Our ancestral home was in Roshan Mahal, Old Lucknow,” said Akbar, father of four sons and two daughters. Akbar said his father's ambition was to make him a doctor and he, of course, had some interest in herbal and Unani medicine. “But destiny had something else in store for me. I went into business with a capital of 10,000 rupees and started a publishing house in Lucknow. I also set up an agency for Unani medicines. However, my business hit snags and so I decided to seek work in Saudi Arabia,” said Akbar, who came to the Kingdom in 1976 to perform Haj. “At that time most pilgrims from India came by sea. We came for Haj aboard MV Noor Jahan,” said Akbar. The huge ship, which was centrally air-conditioned, was operated by the Mughal Lines, which eventually merged into the Shipping Corporation of India in 1986. “There were many pilgrims aboard led by an emir. The ship's engine got choked as we entered the Gulf of Aden. We reached Jeddah on Sept. 22, 1976, after technicians from Aden came and repaired the ship,” Akbar said, describing his first trip to Saudi Arabia. After the Haj, Akbar decided to stay back to find work as many other pilgrims did at the time. The government of King Khalid then decided to grant legal residency to overstaying pilgrims who had found work in the Kingdom. “In Jeddah, I became a store clerk with Ali Zaid Al-Quraishi Company for a monthly salary of SR1,200,” Akbar said. Life in Jeddah those days was not as cozy as today. “There were frequent dust storms and my store had always been in its grip. After work, I used to wipe my body with a wet towel to remove the dust before getting into my home,” Akbar said. “The rents used to be very high. There were no air-conditioners in the rooms. Water was scarce. Donkey carts supplied water into neighborhoods and it was very costly.” He said the city was quite small at the time. “The Balad area was full of life. The shopkeepers and customers both were law-abiding and honest. I remember there was a hospital in Bab Sharif. In Balad, the Queen's Building was the center of attraction. “The Red Sea was up to the Bughshan Building, which is still there, and the area beyond was developed with landfills later. Shops and restaurants used to be closed for four days during the Eid and the streets remained empty. Most people, especially Indian and Pakistani residents, would go visiting Makkah or Madinah during the holidays,” he said. “The Indian school had very few students and was located near the consulate in Baghdadiyah. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone for the school in Aziziyah during her visit in 1981,” said Akbar, who was a member of the building committee that constructed the school. “I would salute Bahauddin Parkar, principal of the school at that time, for the struggle he endured to collect funds for the building,” he said. During his stay in the Kingdom, the philanthropist established the Akbar National Awareness Foundation of India (ANAFI) to do charity work back home. “Our foundation grants scholarships to students for advanced studies, but we don't collect donations from anyone. We have purchased land in Jahangirabad, Uttar Pradesh, to build an intermediate college. The college will follow the CBSE curriculum, but it will also teach the students the Holy Qur'an with the translation. Arabic and Urdu languages will be among optional subjects,” Akbar said, explaining his philanthropic work. “We will have hostel facilities for students coming from other districts. This project has cost us 50.5 million rupees,” he said. Akbar said Indian Muslims should channel their resources to educating their children. “Before independence, Muslims held 33 percent of government jobs. Muslims who remained in India after the partition became petty shopkeepers or farm hands. The struggle for survival sapped the entire energy of the community and many Muslims were not able to cope with the challenge,” Akbar said. He said although there seems to be a slight improvement in the situation, Muslims are still lagging far behind in almost all sectors. “Only through sacrifices for education Muslims can change their destiny. We should set objectives and targets for our children and then there will be results. Like other communities, the Indian Muslims too need teachers, engineers, doctors, journalists, judges, police officers, bureaucrats and intellectuals. If there is proper representation of Muslims in government and private sectors most of the maladies and problems of the community faces will evaporate automatically,” Akbar said.
