Muslims Have Contributed Equally For National Development: Azhar Azeez

In the changing political scenario of India, the relevance of Muslim efforts and their indispensably rich contributions in nation building are being tampered, and erased. People are working overtime to undermine this importance by presenting distorted history for fellow Indians of other faiths, said Azhar Azeez, President of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), USA which is reportedly the largest Muslim organization in North America.

Addressing a gathering of Muslim intellectuals, accomplished businessmen and community leaders from different walks of life at the annual meeting of Sahayata Trust held at Hotel Taj Banjara in Hyderabad, Mr. Azeez, an alumni of Hyderabad’s Osmania University, said “for ages, Muslims have contributed equally towards the welfare, and betterment of not just Muslim community but for the society at large. It is unfortunate that today this importance is being undermined, and slowly its relevance being erased.”

 People are working overtime to erase these important Muslim contributions to society from the pages of history,” he warned. Speaking about Muslim backwardness and efforts to ameliorate their socio-economic status, he said “Sahayata Trust and IMRC has been stringently working to educate the underprivileged, helping the needy and feeding the poor.

“The welfare activities of the trust are also revered by the Indian diaspora in the United States”, he added.

He called upon fellow individuals and young Indians to enterprise a developed society and bring about the much needed change in challenging times like these; he said, referring to Government of India’s report on Muslim backwardness.

“Little progress has been made on the recommendations of the Sachar Committee Report on Muslim backward backwardness”, which was created by Abu Saleh Shareef, former Chief Economist and advisor to then Prime Minister ManMohan Singh.

He called upon Muslims to partner with secular people for societal causes” while referring to “true Gandhians like Harsh Mandar IAS, who despite being from a different faith, opened many criminal cases against the accused after Gujarat Riots, and justly stepped forward to support Muslims.”

It is also responsibility of the media is to stand up against such vested interests, even if they are very influential and rich and powerful, he called and urged Muslims to “pledge in the name of tolerance, not to tolerate the intolerant.” He said the struggle for Muslims have been there since the time of Prophet and will continue to be there, he concluded.

Cancer Inflicting Society:

Speaking on the occasion, eminent Islamic scholar Mr. Yawar Baig said “lack of compassion and fading interest of the people in societal works is synonymous to cancer. Once inflicted, it cannot be cured.” Mr. Yawar baig warned Muslims to “disengage of internal conflicts as they are kept alive by the politicians” to hinder community development.

He also urged youth to undergo specialized skill development and training as “modern technology doesn’t translate into large scale employment and youth must prepare technically to face the declining human intervention in many industries due to increase in automation technology and growing prominence of artificial intelligence.”

Health  Projects:

Speaking on the occasion, CEO of Sahayata Trust, Mr. Syed Aneesuddin briefed about the various charitable activities of the trust. He also announced to start two mother and Child care hospitals where complete maternity delivery cost will be Rs. 8000 for normal delivery and Rs. 15000 for caesarean delivery. Any additional expenses for the entire treatment will be paid by the trust, he said while adding that subsidization of maternity treatment cost will ease financial burden from people who become creditors in the first delivery.

He also listed out the Mobile Science Lab initiative to help students get hands-on experience to science projects, the India Health Initiative under which 30 medical camps are organized to treat poor people, and emergency relief activities undertaken by the trust. Sahayata Trust is working to improve the socio-economic status of the people by empowering them with education, affordable healthcare, providing scholarships to the deserving, and undertaking other social welfare activities as part of its Rural Education and Economic Development (REED) program.

IMRC & Sahayata Trust:

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Manzoor Ghori, Chairman – Sahayata Trust and Executive Director of Indian Muslim Relief and Charities (IMRC, USA) said “IMRC and Sahayata Trust are working to provide freedom, security and equality to people, rights that are guaranteed under Indian Constitution to every citizen”. As part of its community development and social welfare activities, the trust has set up borewells, one-teacher schools in sparsely populated areas, supporting youth to setup small businesses and is also imparting teacher training to girls in villages and slums for self -empowerment.”

AMU Jama Masjid Renovation:

“IMRC also financially supported the renovation of Jama Masjid at Aligarh Muslim University on request of then Vice Chancellor General Zameeruddin Shah.

Mohammed Abu Bakr compered the program concluding at least 10 lakh people will benefit from the upcoming one-doctor Sahayata Clinics by 2020.

Mohammed Waliullah, Hyder Ghori, Shahid Ghori, Adeel, founder-trustee Hyder Ghori and others were also present on this occasion.