Notable Tributes

Shelina Jahnmohamed - Author

It is rare to cross paths with an individual who changes the lives of every person he meets, and whose positive power then spreads like a ripple effect around him. Amirali Karim was one of those people.

He was the founder and chair trustee of the Lady Fatemah Charitable trust, a charity set up twenty one years ago to empower the world's poorest to lift them out of poverty with dignity. What he also did, was to empower each of us that came into contact with him to be a better person and do something to make the world better.

The work of the charity touched the lives of over a million people across sixteen countries, distributing £25 million pounds towards helping them earn a dignified living through initiatives in microfinance, healthcare, education, provision of water and housing.

The Trust’s activities grew from the education of orphans in Iraq, training teachers in Pakistan and providing financial independence to schools in Africa to provide books and better salaries for teachers.

The Trust supports a range of education projects from deaf nursery children in Gaza to medical and engineering graduates and postgraduates from India, Lebanon and Pakistan and to water and irrigation projects in Pemba, the Thar desert in Pakistan, rural agrarian communities formed of widows whose husbands were killed by Daesh in South and Central Iraq.

The charity was the first to distribute water purification systems and solar lighting to the dwellers of the marshlands in Southern Iraq thereby assisting these remote communities to live healthier lives and encouraging greater literacy amongst them.

The work of the charity is staggering, and testament to Amirali Karim's passion.

But the reason that I wanted to pause and write this status is to focus on this incredible human being for a moment, and how extraordinary people walk daily among us ordinary folk. We may be self-centred, inward focused and barely spending our days doing more than surviving, but such individuals elevate all of us.

Even though it's nearly a month since his passing away, it is only now that I can find the words to express how he affected me and many others. I had two incredible occasions where I was able to be a servant to the work of the charity. Both were at the request of Amirali Karim to host the charity's annual gala dinner. The aim was to raise as much money as possible. But something else too - to ensure that everyone attending realised their own stake in the projects.

And that's how every moment, every act, every request and every directive was from Mr Karim was distinct from many others I have worked with. He never asked for himself, he never directed as though we should follow him as a person. This was never him asking, but about him harnessing energy from the seen and the unseen towards making things better.

During that first dinner I hosted, he stood on stage to give the mandatory charity introduction. He wept as he showed pictures of those who had been served by their work, and he wept because there was so much more to do. The room wept with him. He wept not from artifice but from humanity. He wept and we also wept because there was an urgency in every moment and every word and in every individual in that room.

He never pressured anyone to take part. He never emphasised how those involved had a duty. Instead he led by example and he was a magnet. It was impossible to say no to what he asked because his inner light and energy were a force of attraction towards good, which made the mundane world around and its monotonous demands fall away out of our eyes and our heart.

He empowered those poorest who needed it most, but he did something far more powerful: he empowered each of us who were fortunate to stand in the glory of his light and passion.

The charity is his incredible legacy, but so are each of us millions of people touched personally and individually by his energy, passion and dedication.

For all the people who have made a difference to our lives and to the lives of people around us, I highly encourage you to make a small donation to keep amplifying the work. There are many things to learn from Amirali Karim, but the one that has affected me most profoundly is that humility, piety and dedication magnetise people to be better and to make the world a better place, and that this movement must continue. And when each of us does our small part, our actions multiply and accumulate.

We can all make a difference, in fact we must. There is a lot to do, but we can all do our own small part.

My heartfelt prayers and condolences continue with the family, including his son Mukhtar Karim who continues in his father's footsteps. And my prayers for Amirali Karim himself.

He is a man who made the world a better place in his lifetime. And who continues to make it better even after death. How we all hope that our legacy can be so magnificent.

Sheikh Mohammad Al-Hilli - Scholar