Thousands raised in memory of dad-of-three who died in Pakistan

Abid Hussain, a father-of-two had just performed Friday prayers in Gujarat when he suffered a massive heart attack on January 29, 2021.

The 43-year-old had been in Pakistan on a four-month tour of mosques and holy places as well as supporting local charitable projects he was involved in.
According to those around him he died in a state of Wudu (ablution), whilst travelling Mosque to Mosque, ‘propagating the teachings of Islam to local people’ and helping people.

Abid was described as an inspiration to all those who met him and ‘transformed the lives of people by his warmth and compassion’.

Since then, his family have taken it upon themselves to help continue his legacy.
His brother Sajid said: “For many years he had been helping, poor people, widows, orphans and disabled children.

 “Two months before he passed away he decided to start feeding the needy, and he set up a charity centre in the Gujrat district and it served 15 people at the time. We decided to expand the service and now thousands are now having two meals per day in 23 areas across the district.

“It is something his family and friends wanted to do and we are proud that we have been able to assist so many people in his name.”

The Shaheed Aziz Bhatti hospital in Gujrat is dedicated to help the sick and their families.

Sajid said: “This was something which was built on the land donated  by my grandfather. However, it had gone into a state of disrepair so we decided to rejuvenate it.

“It is now a central point to help people from all backgrounds with a particular focus on those who cannot afford care.

“We have also installed water pumps in homes for poor who have no water.

“Elsewhere, we also built some homes for those affected by the floods in Pakistan.”

The work has continued in other parts of the world.

“In Cameroon Muslims in a community were struggling to pray salah ( prayers. So a mosque was constructed - the Abid Al Jamal. Here, there was a big launch where food was donated to the poor.

“Children were learning and writing Quran on slates so we donated 2000 Qurans to children to pray.” 

Sajid said Abid’s death shocked many people within Blackburn and many of his friends have come together to donate in his memory.

He said: “At a Lahore Orphanage forty children also are receiving help in memory of Abid.

“Abid never gave up on his faith always inviting people to his religion and through this he was able to do some amazing work. We just wanted to make sure we carried on this work in the best way we could.

“We are not asking for donations nor make appeals and raise the money through community events and fundraising efforts ourselves.”