Philanthropy
Parts of Southern India and most of Hyderabad were greatly affected by the Bubonic plague epidemic at the turn of the 19th century. Arastu Yar Jung helped treat many of the locals affected, and often invited their whole families to live in separate quarters of his own home - providing ample food and shelter for all who stayed.
As a member of the Bohra Muslim jamaat, Arastu Yar Jung was an active contributor to the local community through the Dawoodi Bohra organization. Alongside other active "Old City" Hyderabad Bohri community members of the time, such as his brother-in-law Sheikh Mohsini, Mullah Abdul Tyeb, and his son-in-law, of the Sk. Hasan Bhai clan, Mullah Mohammed Bhai - a respected Judge for the Hyderabad High Court (now Andhra Pradesh High Court) among others.
With Sheikh Mohsini, Arastu Yar Jung was largely responsible for the finance and construction of the Husainialam mosque, approved by the then Syedna Taher Saifuddin and completed in 1913. To honor their contribution and commitment to the community, Arastu Yar Jung and Sheikh Mohsini were both buried near the mosque. The mosque is still in use today, and has since been named the Burhani Masjid, as part of the Anjuman-E-Taheri jamaat. The original structure has been slightly modified, but remains intact, after it was declared a historic landmark in 2003.
A strong proponent of education, Arastu Yar Jung, along with many others including Mullah Mohammed Bhai, financed the education of community members - establishing educational trusts that allowed the youth to pursue higher education.
Still much of the contributions remain unknown, as he paid special attention to be discrete in providing aid, so that the particular person can save face in society - quoting the Holy Quran, "What the right hand gives, the left hand should not so much as get a hint of." This implies that the respect of the person being served, and complete confidentiality of the service being rendered is essential in the etiquette of charity.
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Famous quotes containing the word philanthropy:
“... the hey-day of a woman’s life is on the shady side of fifty, when the vital forces heretofore expended in other ways are garnered in the brain, when their thoughts and sentiments flow out in broader channels, when philanthropy takes the place of family selfishness, and when from the depths of poverty and suffering the wail of humanity grows as pathetic to their ears as once was the cry of their own children.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“I shall not be forward to think him mistaken in his method who quickest succeeds to liberate the slave. I speak for the slave when I say that I prefer the philanthropy of Captain Brown to that philanthropy which neither shoots me nor liberates me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Almost every man we meet requires some civility,—requires to be humored; he has some fame, some talent, some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, and which spoils all conversation with him. But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity, but me.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)