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CONDOLENCES ON FORMER MINISTER M.H.M. ASHRAF

17th Jumaadal Aakhirah, 1421
16th September, 2000

Mr. Aman Ahmad Ashraf.
“Daarus Salaam”
51, Vauxhall Lane,
Colombo-02.

Dear Brother-in Islam,

Assalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabrakaatuh.

It was with great sadness and a deep shock that I received the news of the tragic demise of your beloved father. It is, really, an irreplaceable loss in the present era and will be mourned the most by all.

It gives me double dejection that your illustrious father has passed away at a time when the country very badly needs the services of dynamic political leaders of his calibre. The country and the Muslim Community both have lost a wonderful political and legal luminary. Great thinking found in him together with the highly developed intellect won admiration of all and sundry. Astuteness, broad-mindedness and far-sightedness were some of the attributes that he was adorned with. These qualities were, indeed, the mainstay of his career as an M.P., Minister of Ports, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, a leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and a leader of the National Unity Alliance.

Representing the Digamadulla Electorate for almost eleven consecutive years and being a Minister of Ports, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, he has rendered tremendous services to our blessed motherland. Whenever his support was sought, he readily extended his fullest support.

It is worth mentioning that he worked untiringly to bridge the gap between the majority community and the minority community with a view to bringing about lasting peace. In this context, he hitched himself and his party to the PA Government and was part and parcel of the process of introducing a new political package in order to end the ethnic conflict. All in all, his name will definitely go down in the annals.

I seize this opportunity to express my profound sympathies to you, your mother, your grandmother and the rest in your family on behalf of the members of my family and myself.

You know that words are poor expressers. But still I send this message to you to console you with sincere deep sentiment.

May Almighty Allah bless your beloved father with eternal bliss and grant him Jannat Al-Firdaws and may you, your loving mother and your grandmother have the courage to face this difficult situation and the future with equanimity and fortitude!

Wassalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabrakaatuh.

Fraternally yours,

Ash-Shaikh H. Abdul Nazar
Head, Arabic and Shari’ah Dept.,
Daar Al-Uloom Al-Meezaniyyah