Edhi: The Angel disguised as a human!

When I received the news of Edhi’s demise, I was devastated, I couldn’t believe it. The ‘Angel of Mercy’ was dead; it would take a lifetime to witness a man like him, so kind, so gentle, and so desperate to care for the well-being of others. He belonged to that tiny fraction of people in this world who are so hell-bent on keeping humanity alive through their actions.

Abdul Sattar Edhi rendered his services to the poor and the needy almost his entire life, he was the manifestation of love for helpless people, he founded the Edhi Foundation nearly sixty years ago when he was a young boy and since then he is providing assistance to all the impoverished and poor of not only this nation but citizens of other nations as well.

I think that now instead of mourning Edhi we should celebrate his life, we should praise him for his desire to love others unconditionally, we should cherish him for providing shelter and acting as a fatherly figure for every single person regardless of their religion, race and colour. Edhi said ‘My religion is humanitarianism, which is the basis of every religion in the world’, we should also make these words the motto of our lives. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that that even on his deathbed he couldn’t stop thinking about helping others, he donated his eyes. I haven’t in my entire life span of fourteen years seen a person other than Edhi Sahib that is so determined on helping others that not even his death could stop him.

Edhi Sahib received billions of donations, but he never bought a mansion for himself, he never bought a Mercedes or not even a Mehran but instead he bought over 1,800 ambulance vans so he could move the injured to hospitals as soon as possible. Despite receiving loads of money he was never conquered by greed and detached from materialism.

Edhi gave shelter to those abandoned babies left by their parents on roadsides for rats and dogs to eat away their faces, and he gave hope to those lost souls who lost their parents, siblings and their beloved ones. He sheltered children who were lost, he was a father for all those people. Edhi was the reason behind those winsome smiles and jolly faces in the Edhi homes, Edhi was an altruist, he was extraordinary, he was a phenomenon, he was a non-pareil human being, he was an Angel disguised as a human. May your soul rest in peace Edhi Sahib!!