Winners of community services award with officials of the Jeddah chapter of All India Islahi Center at a recent function in Jeddah.

Three prominent figures from Jeddah’s Indian community were recipients of the first community services award instituted by the Jeddah chapter of All India Islahi Center.

They are Syed Masood Ahmed, principal of International Indian School Jeddah, V.P. Mohammed Ali, chairman and director of Jeddah National Hospital, and Abdurabb Qureshi, director of the Jeddah chapter of Understand Qur’an Academy.

Sheikh Shimimri, director of the Islamic Education Trust and Dawa Center in Mushrifah, gave away the awards to the winners at a function held on the sidelines of the first Interactive Convention with the theme of ‘Futuristic influences on next generation,’ organized recently by the center at JNH auditorium.

The awards were given away in recognition of the outstanding services being rendered by the three to the expatriate Indian community in the fields of education, entrepreneurship in healthcare, and service to Islam respectively, according to the panel of jury. The panel noted that the winners are the ‘game changers’ who have contributed immensely to the uplift of the community in their respective spheres since several years.

The interactive session was aimed at carrying out a self-analysis of the current situation of Indian Muslims with a focus on solution part rather than problem part, according to Dr. Ismail Maritheri of King Abdulaziz University, who was the moderator.

“The speakers analyzed the current situation, and came out with proposals that focused on entrepreneurship and leadership as the key to success for the future generation of Indian Muslims,” he told Saudi Gazette.

The presentations were made by Saifuddin of Abdul Latief Jameel Company (educational statistics across India), Dr. Ataat Khan (promoting entrepreneurship), and Dr. Abdul Aleem Khan Falaki (leadership development for the generation).

Analyzing the abysmal condition of a major segment of Indian Muslims on the basis of the findings of the Sachar Committee report, Saifuddin called for taking advantage of various schemes available from the government of India for the empowerment of the community.

“Unless we take the lead role to empower ourselves, nothing will change our lot.” In his motivating speech focusing on areas of opportunities, leveraging on the availability of capital for entrepreneurs, Khan described that the best success story of entrepreneurship was presented to humanity by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his wife Khadijah by pooling knowledge, trustworthiness, capability, wealth and hard work.

He cited the words of Prophet (pbuh) that a true believer is one who pursues perfection in profession, saying that this is the success mantra in any business venture. Falaki of Socio-Reforms Society highlighted that the spirit of dedication and voluntarism are the major qualities of a true leader.

He noted that a true leader would always stand for a cause and strive to address present day problems.

Earlier, Akbar Batcha, president of the Islahi Center, welcomed the gathering while Usman proposed a vote of thanks.

The organizers of the event included Khaled Farooq, Abdul Lathief Parappurath, Tameemul Hassan, Salah Karadan, Muhammad Siraj, Asgharali Khan and Ashraf Unneen.

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