KEVON FELMINE

kevon.felmine@guardi­na.co.tt

As the coun­try bade farewell to a long­stand­ing ser­vant of the Is­lam­ic com­mu­ni­ty, Ha­ji Ya­coob Ali, Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and Rur­al De­vel­op­ments and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Min­is­ter Kaz­im Ho­sein are among many who paid trib­ute.

Ali, 86, the longest-serv­ing Pres­i­dent Gen­er­al of the An­ju­man Sun­nat ul Ja­maat As­so­ci­a­tion (AS­JA), died on Tues­day.

He passed at the Au­gus­tus Long Hos­pi­tal in Pointe-a-Pierre af­ter be­ing trans­ferred from the Point Fortin Hos­pi­tal over the week­end.

With his cas­ket draped in gold and green, mem­bers of the faith and his fam­i­ly praised Al­lah for his life at his Janazah in Cunu­pia yes­ter­day. 

Ali’s death sad­dened Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who de­scribed him as a man of im­pec­ca­ble char­ac­ter and a true pa­tri­ot. She said Ali ded­i­cat­ed many years to build­ing the AS­JA, en­sur­ing its ca­pac­i­ty to ful­fil its role in the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty. 

“In ad­di­tion, Ha­ji Ali fo­cused on tremen­dous out­reach to lift many mem­bers of the so­ci­ety out of pover­ty and so­cial dis­tress,” Per­sad-Bisses­sar said.

She said Ali would be re­mem­bered for his many good deeds, kind­ness and gen­eros­i­ty.

Ho­sein said Ali was a spir­i­tu­al leader and men­tor in the Mus­lim faith, known by many for decades of ser­vice to the com­mu­ni­ty.

“He will be re­mem­bered for his wis­dom and guid­ance in all mat­ters of Is­lam. Ha­ji Ali was al­ways will­ing to help oth­ers in need and did so whole­heart­ed­ly and gen­er­ous­ly. He lived his life in wor­ship to Almighty Al­lah and was a role mod­el to Mus­lim broth­ers and sis­ters across Trinidad & To­ba­go,” Ho­sein said.

San Juan/Barataria MP, Sad­dam Ho­sein, said the AS­JA man­aged many masjids and schools un­der Ali’s lead­er­ship. He said Ali al­so ad­vanced the in­sti­tu­tion­al de­vel­op­ment of the AS­JA through ad­vo­ca­cy and a strong pres­ence in the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty.

“He has played an in­te­gral role in the ed­u­ca­tion­al sec­tor of our coun­try, of which I am a proud alum­nus of the AS­JA Boys’ Col­lege, Char­lieville. Per­haps, one of the most fun­da­men­tal as­pects of Ha­ji Ali’s life was the mot­to which he es­poused, that suc­cess in life is not what we have but how much we are pre­pared to give.”

Sad­dam said this mot­to was ap­pro­pri­ate now more than ever as the world con­tin­ues to grap­ple with the eco­nom­ic and so­cial hard­ships brought by COVID-19.

In­dia’s High Com­mis­sion­er to T&T Arun Ku­mar Sahu has al­so is­sued con­do­lences.

“It’s sad­den­ing to re­ceive the news of the pass­ing away of Ha­ji Ya­coob Ali, the longest-serv­ing Pres­i­dent of the An­ju­man Sun­nat ul Ja­maat As­so­ci­a­tion (AS­JA). With his demise, the Trini­bag­on­ian Is­lam­ic so­ci­ety lost a piece of their his­to­ry. The com­mu­ni­ty will miss his guid­ance and men­tor­ship. His kind­ness, gen­eros­i­ty and hu­man­i­tar­i­an ser­vice will be deeply missed. With a heavy heart, on be­half of the High Com­mis­sion of In­dia in Port of Spain, I ex­press my deep­est con­do­lences to his fam­i­ly, friends and the Mus­lim broth­ers and sis­ters of Trinidad and To­ba­go,” he said.