Anjuman Mufidul Islam

A friend of the dead

When people turn up dead, their bodies unidentified and unclaimed, Anjuman Mufidul Islam comes forward to lay them to rest according to religious rites

by PINAKI DASGUPTA

Azimpur or the Jurain graveyards are the last resting places of unidentified dead bodies which turn up here and there around the city. The organisation Anjuman Mufidul Islam is the closest friend of these unfortunate departed souls. Over the part 55 years, Anjuman Mufidul Islam has buried with due respect and rites, about 125,000 unclaimed dead bodies.

Anjuman Mufidul Islam has a force of about 25 persons who bury the bodies. Their activities are not restricted to Dhaka alone. They operate in 39 other districts of the country. They bury about 3000 to 3500 bodies a year. They laid to rest about 2000 unclaimed bodies over the last one year.

Anjuman Mufidul Islam is an Islamic social welfare organisation. This one-of-a-kind voluntary organisation has an objective of educating Muslim girls and boys and the backward section of society, but it has set up a shining example by burying unfortunate persons who died with no one to carry out their last rites and lay them to rest. This exemplary role has given Anjuman Mufidul Islam international recognition.

At the outset of the 20th century Muslims were in a poor predicament in this region. It was with the welfare of the Muslim community in mind that in 1905 the Muslim philanthropist Ibrahim Mohammed Dupley established Anjuman Mufidul Islam in Calcutta. After partition in 1947, its operations were shifted to Dhaka.

Diminished by death

Moulana Mohammed Khairul Amin is Anjuman Mufidul Islam’s Duty Officer and Chief Coordinator. He has been with this organisation for the past 13 years. He is from Chandpur where he had been a madrassa teacher. He felt compelled by a sense of duty to join Anjuman Mufidul Islam.

Sitting in the Kakrail office of Anjuman Mufidul Islam, the mild and modest Moulana Mohammed Khairul Amin speaks about his work. He gets rather emotional when speaking about the unidentified bodies. He says, “These poor souls turn up as dead bodies. But they too had homes. They have their villages, their mothers, father, sisters and brothers. They were loved. But death diminishes all. I feel terrible when I see them lying their, lifeless and alone. But it is a great solace to be able to at least give them a decent burial.”

He says, “When the hospital morgue informs us about an unclaimed dead body, the Anjuman Mufidul Islam people rush there with an ambulance. From there they take the body to the Azimpur graveyard or the Jurain graveyard. The bodies of men, women and children are recorded separately.”

Anjuman Mufidul Islam has offices that remain open round the clock. It provides ambulance services completely free of cost to any patient within Dhaka city. Outside Dhaka it takes a specified service charge.

Anjuman Mufidul Islam does not simply bury the dead. It has established women’s colleges, orphanages, secondary schools for girls and mobile clinics. And it stands beside the people during the various natural disasters.

Burial service project

From August 2004 Anjuman Mufidul Islam started the burial service project. Under this project, for a small fee, they provides services to the city residents which include bathing the deal body, wrapping it, taking it to the graveyard and burying the deceased according to Islamic rites. They have trained women to bathe the bodies of the female deceased.

Identifying graves

The officials and employees of Anjuman Mufidul Islam regret the organisation doesn’t have any graveyard of its own. The government hasn’t allocated any land to them for the purpose. As a result, once the body is buried, it is very hard to identify the grave at a later date. Former Mayor Mohammed Hanif had directed that particular spaces in the Azimpur graveyard and the Jurain graveyard be kept for such burials, but the directive was not carried out. As a result, when relatives come to identify the dead bodies, it is very difficult to find the graves.

This happened in the case of supermodel Tinni. Three years ago the Keraniganj police found her body beneath the Buriganga Bridge. They took her unidentified body to the Mitford hospital morgue. The body lay for three days in the morgue, unclaimed. Finally it was handed over to Anjuman Mufidul Islam. Her body was buried at the Jurain graveyard. Three graves had to be dug up to eventually find the body which was then identified as Tinni. Since then, the graves have been numbered. But if Anjuman Mufidul Islam had their own graveyard, it would be much more convenient.