June 2016 Editor: Nasir Ahmad B.A. LL.B. Vol. No. 11, Issue No. 7 IN MEMORY OF JALAL-UD-DIN AKBAR IBN-I ABDULLAH, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA CONTENTS Page BRIEF LIFE-HISTORY OF LATE MR. BASHARAT AHMADALI 2 Riaz Ahmadali OVERCOMING DIFFICULT TIMES: In memory of my father Late Mr. Basharat Ahmadali 13 Riaz Ahmadali OBITUARY PUBLISHED IN THE STAR NIEUWS, PARAMARIBO, SURINAME 14 CONDOLENCE MESSAGES: 14 Dr. Abdul Kareem Saeed, Head of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, Lahore (Pakistan), Shaukat Ali, AAIIL Coordinator Asia/Pacific Region, Dr. Zahid Aziz, scholar and webmaster (lahore.ahmadiyya.org) UK. Dr. Nouman Elahi Malik & Mrs. Samina Malik, USA. Mr. M. S. Dostmohamed, president, Stichting Ahmadiyya Isha’at-i Islam, Hague, Holland LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS AT THE FUNERAL SERVICES 17 Riaz Ahmadali BRIEF LIFE-HISTORY OF …. LATE MR. BASHARAT AHMADALI RIAZ AHMADALI Mr Basharat Ahmadali was born in Suriname (South America) on July 10, 1941 to Shekh Ahmadali (a British-Indian immigrant) and Doerkhanie Ghafoerkhan. He received his Master of Laws degree at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1971, and his primary and secondary education at Christian schools; the university he attended for his law studies was also Christian. Mr Ahmadali received his Islamic education at the well-known madrassa of the SIV branch, Imdadia Isha‘at Islam, which was established by his fa- ther, Maulvi Shekh Ahmadali, and his supplemental Islamic education was by home study and discussing religious matters with his brothers and sisters and the best students of his father’s madrassa and from discussions with visiting missionaries of the Central Anjuman. After he attained his law degree in the Netherlands, Mr. Basharat returned to Suriname and was appointed, in 1972, as District Commissioner (comparable to a mayor of a municipality), a position he held until 1989. One of the bridges at the time of its inauguration. On Late Mr. Basharat Ahmadali’s right is the late Mr Nasir Ataoellah, a former Minister of Public Works. Mr Ataoellah was the architect who designed the beautiful Surinaamse Islamitische Vereniging (SIV) mosque in Paramaribo. 2 | Page The multipurpose hall in the District of Saramacca, named after Late Mr. Basharat Ahmadali. Day of inauguration: December 3, 2014. Mrs Ahmadali is watching her husband, who is answering questions of the national media. He was considered one of the most successful District Commissioners ever in Suriname. Despite the fact that the Districts did not have their own budgets or formal rights to collect revenues (being totally dependent on the Central Government), Mr Ahmadali took many initiatives and introduced public-private partnerships to develop the District of Saramacca, where he was Commissioner during the period 1979-1989. Setting up a medical clinic, a library, and introducing many initiatives in the interior (building bridges, a fresh water supply by laying down a pipeline system, paving roads, etc.), were all done in collaboration with the District Government and private companies, even though the District had no legal authority to do so. He was highly praised by the Central Government and others for this innovative working initiative at a time when Suriname was lacking the financial means to realize such projects. For Mr. Basharat’s service to this District, the multi-purpose hall next to the Saramacca District office was named after him in 2014, and after his death, a memorial service was held by the local govern- ment in the hall on 12 May, 2016. From November 1998, Mr. Basharat was in charge of the Decentralization Program of the Surinamese Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The project aimed at financial autonomy for all the ten Districts in Suriname, which were fully dependent on the Central Government for their income and expenditure. This project was completed in December 2014 as one of the most successful IDB projects in the Caribbean and South American region, providing all ten districts with formal rights to collect local taxes, Page | 3 among others. A Dutch-English book about the history of the decentralisation of Suriname can be downloaded at http://decentralisatie.org/?page_id=18 . Besides this, Basharat fulfilled many other functions within the Government and the business com- munity, such as serving as President of the Board of Commissioners of Surinam Airways (1984), guest lecturer at the Anton de Kom University, and Policy Advisor of the Suriname Government. He was also involved in the organising committee for Suriname’s General Elections in 2000, 2005 and 2010. Family man As a family man, Mr. Basharat was loved by both the elderly and the young. He easily adapted to each and could discuss with them subjects that interested them. He was also considered as an advisor for everyone, regardless of the problem they face. Mr. Basharat always had an open ear and a ready solution for most problems. He was a role model and a source of inspiration for many. Mr. Basharat was one of the organizers of a family reunion of almost all his parents’ descendants in 1991. Together with his cousin Akbaal Ghafoerkhan, Mr. Basharat researched the lives of six immigrants from India to Suriname and produced a family tree with the results, which was presented to the Vice-President of the Republic of Suriname on 29 May 2003. Involvement in the Lahore Ahmadiyya Islamic missionary work In his younger years, Mr. Basharat had seen the Islamic missionary work of his father, Maulvi Shekh Ahmadali (picture). Maulvi Ahmadali was one of the found- ing members of the Suriname Islamic Association (SIV); founder, President and imam of Imdadia Isha‘at-i Islam (first branch of SIV, 1934); editor of the Urdu Islamic monthly magazine Haqiqat-ul Islam for almost 30 years; lecturer at the Islamic school of Imdadia, etc. Most of the first- and second-generation imams of the SIV and its divisions were initially trained by Maulvi Ahmadali. Maulvi Ahmadali was also the architect of Ahmadiyyat in Suriname, starting in 1934 when Maulvi Ameer Ali from Trinidad visited on Maulvi Ahmadali’s invitation on behalf of the SIV. During the time he was studying in the Netherlands, Mr. Basharat founded the Foundation for the Cause of Islam in Holland (around 1969) together with others, mostly academic students. Through this foundation, the first Eid-ul-Fitr prayer service in Holland with wide participation was organised, in which Muslims of various denominations participated. The location was the hall of the hotel De Gouden Leeuw in the neighbourhood of the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. After Basharat had ex- plained the meaning of the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr to the owner, he was kind enough to grant the hall free of charge. Mr. Basharat was a fearless personality, capable of undertaking new initiatives. While still a student, he used to discuss Christo-religious matters with his professors and fellow students. In this way, he, as a lone Muslim, created possibilities and opportunities to present Islam to them. This often ended in special classes to have debates between learned Muslims, whom he would source, and learned priests whom the other students would locate. His choice for this task was always the Lahore Ahmadi- yya missionary in The Hague, Mr Ghulam Ahmad Bashir, who was fluent in both English and Dutch. 4 | Page In this way, lively discus- sions, mainly on the key principles of Christianity and Islam, took place on an academic level. During this period – 1967/1968 – Mr. Basharat Report about the 1979 Jalsa. The was also the spokesperson effect of this report could have been of the Foundation Qoran- the reason that the historic big Jalsa of 1980 in Lahore was attended by fonds Suriname, which had many members from Suriname and taken up the task and was the Netherlands responsible for the print- ing of the second edition of the Dutch translation of the Holy Qur’an. This Dutch version was translat- ed by Soedewo, Indonesia, in 1934 from the English The cover of an issue of Al Haq, the magazine that Late translation by Maulana Mr. Basharat Ahmadali served as editor-in-chief. It was Muhammad Ali, and was published in the period 1971-1981, as a successor of the first translation into a Haqiqat-ul Islam (1934-1960), of which Late Mr. Basharat Ahmadali’s father, Maulvi Shekh Ahmadali, was the editor. different language of this Al Haq was succeeded by The Dawn (2001-2007) and monumental work. Until Ar-Risaalah (2007-present), of which Late Mr. Basharat the publication of the new An article by Nasir Ahmad Faruqui Ahmadali’s son Riaz Ahmadali is the editor. Dutch translation in 2004, in Paigham-i-Sulh of 28 November/5 December 1979 this second edition, which was published from Suriname in 1968, was very popular among both Muslims and non-Muslims in Suriname and the Netherlands. Mr. Basharat was in charge of having this second edition printed in Leiden, Holland. This printing project was initiated by Maulvi Shekh Ahmadali, and Mr. Basharat’s elder brother, Towahirali Ahmadali, was the first chairman of the Foundation Qoranfonds Suriname. In Suriname, Mr. Basharat founded the Institute for Islamic Studies and Publications (IVISEP) in 1974, which issued the monthly Al Haq for eight years, as well as many other Islamic publications. The publication of Al Haq started in 1971, prior to the establishment of the Institute, and lasted until 1981 when Mr. Basharat was transferred as District Commissioner to Saramacca and it was no longer possible to maintain the printing office in Paramaribo, 50 kilometres away. For the publication of the Lahore Ahmadiyya magazine of the mid-seventies, Mr. Basharat was appointed as one of the co-editors. In those days, he had taken it upon himself to distribute the Anjuman’s literature – The Light, and Paigham-i-Sulh, and other publications – among both mem- bers of the organisation and others, who could read English or Urdu.