History of Dhaka Ahsania Mohila Mission

Esteemed educationist, renovator of education process, social worker, renown litterateur and the paramount spiritual saint of his age, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.) established the central ‘Ahsania Mission’ at a village named Nalta in his native district Shatkhira. The main principle of the mission is ‘To work for enlightment of the soul and social service for the masses’. There is a comprehensive key purpose behind the establishment of this mission. The key purpose is to aid intellectual and economic development of human being and building a spiritually rich life. And this philosophy is not bound to the sphere of any religion and race. All are equal from the viewpoint of ‘love for all living things’ and this organization has been going forward for over several decades with the vow of ultimate discrimination-free human service for human race.

Right from the birth of this mission, its branches started being established in different parts of the country. Dhaka Ahsania Mission was established in 1958 . First proposal for organization came from Mr. Sufi Shakhawat Ullah. After that, some pious women came forward being inspired by such spirit of serving the human race and by the noble principles of Islam. As a result of that, Ahsania Mohila Mission was established on the 5th May of 1977. Among those who were the key figures behind establishing this mission, the name of Mrs. Mahfuza Khatun, the wife of late Sayed Ittehad Ali, must be mentioned. Her house was House #6, Road # 5 at Dhanmondi. She allocated a part of her home for the official works of the Mohilla Mission. It was in her house where the office of this mission was established at the primary stage. We are ever grateful to her for this.

But regardless of how noble our purpose and philosophy was, we soon got stuck into complications regarding finance and office space. Usually money is not a problem for a noble cause. Our mission was not an exception. Some noble hearted people came forward with financial help. It was now time to start working. The first project of this mission was to start a primary school and a ‘Maktab’ in the tin shed room that house. The handicraft project for the homeless women started almost simultaneously. We had the landlord bound to the promise that the works of the project would carry on at this place until the mission finds a place of its own. Our capacity was little, but hopes were high. Dhaka Ahsana Mahila Mission was registered with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs on 05/07/78. Thus it got the official recognition from the government. It was not possible to materialize all the multidimensional plans of the mission at the Dhanmondi premises. It was also getting more difficult to accommodate the students at the school. So we plead to the government for a piece of land. The then Deputy Ministers of Ministry of Housing and Public Works, and Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock – Dr. Fazlul Karim and Dr. Aftabuzzaman respectively helped us a lot regarding this issue.

It was the grace of almighty that the government of the people’s republic of Bangladesh at that time allocated a 21.5-katha commercial plot for the mission for 2 lakh 20 thousand taka in 1981. According to that by installments we paid the price of the land in full. At this stage we undertook the plan for establishing ‘Dhaka Ahsania Mahila Mission Complex’ on 25th of 1981. The foundation stone was laid by the then ex-president of the state, Justice Abdus Sattar. In 1982, with the help of all the volunteers, employees, members and donors the piece of land was secured by setting boundary walls around it.

Thanks to the benevolent and charitable people of the society, there is a 1500 sq ft semi-brick tin shed home for the orphans, 450 sq ft prayer room, Quran learning home, education center for the senior citizens, school building, a 700 sq ft factory, a 430 sq ft drum-room and resident for the weavers have been built.

Thanks to the benevolent and charitable people of the society, there is a 1500 sq ft semi-brick tin shed home for the orphans, 450 sq ft prayer room, Quran learning home, education center for the senior citizens, school building, a 700 sq ft factory, a 430 sq ft drum-room and resident for the weavers have been built. Now let us take a look at the brief orientation of the project.

The orphanage:

The establisher of the mission, Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R)’s whole life was devoted to serve humanity. He also inspired his devotees to devote themselves to the same. This is why, we women are also devoted to help and serve the humanity. We started working with the motto of getting the helpless established in the society. We took the noble responsibility of establishing a holy, motherly and beautiful compound for the orphans. Now the question was – how we could materialize the project. Regarding this, the first person taking a step forward was Mr. Sayed Abed Ali. But when the project was left incomplete despite his financial support, some people came ahead with their voluntary labor and financial help. Among them, the most mentionable are the names of Barrister Rafiqul Haq, Dr. Farida Haq, Mr. Hayatur Rahman (GM, Janata Bank), Mrs. Husne Ara Asir, Mrs. Farida Kamal, esteemed businessman Mr. Abdur Razzak, Mr. Afsaruddin Ahmed and renown surgeon Professor Ali Ashraf – all of whom were great benevolent people. It took around 2.25 lakh taka to build the building. Currently, there are 70 orphan children living here. The mission is taking care of their educational, medical and rehabilitation expenses. With this endeavor we are trying to provide them with multidimensional education. Currently, we are having to spend 8000 taka per month for each of them. If we are financially stronger in near future, we plan to increase the number of students to stay at the orphanage.

The weaving project:

We always wanted to do something to make sure that the orphanage doesn’t have to turn to anyone for meeting the expenses. The good thing is that, the manager of Janata Bank gave us great suggestions regarding this. He advised us to undertake a weaving project. We prepared a project profile to run this project. With due estimates, the project was later submitted to the embassy of the Netherlands. The third secretary of the embassy thoroughly scrutinized the issue and promised us some financial help. According to that, after getting approval from the government of Bangladesh, we finally got the fund promised. For all that we are grateful to the embassy of the Netherlands and the government of Bangladesh. With this donation we purchased 7 weaving machine within just 3 months and managed to make around two thousand sarees. You would be happy to learn that in the month of Ramadan, last year we managed to sell all the sarees we made. But due to the lack of capital we are not being able to boost our production. But if any benevolent person comes forward with financial support this project could very well cover all sorts of expenses of the orphanage. On the other hand, it would also help many unfortunate women out their to get trained in weaving, which will pave the way of their rehabilitation.

Elderly Education Centre:

The mission runs an education canter for the elderly for educating the uneducated elderly women. There are 40 students here.

Running a Maktab:

Today’s children are tomorrow’s future. Right from its establishment, the mission has been inspiring the neglected, poor students of the society in the spirit of Islam. For this there is a Maktab at this mission. Initially, the mission was running a Maktab at the Dhanmandi based Maktab. But the lack of enough space has been a problem at all times. So, just like all other projects, this Maktab was shifted to the land owned by the mission. Currently, two highly experienced teachers teach religious philosophies of Islam, the Holy Quran and other important things in the religion of Islam. Currently around 150 students are studying here. And the number of students is increasing day by day.

Providing financial aid:

In the last couple of financial years, the mission has undertak44en a policy to provide financial help to helpess, non-relative and unknown unfortunate people. Besides this the mission helps people with rice, cloths, medicine etc. The mission also supports the burial of dead bodies with no identification. But the mission had fallen in a great financial crisis trying to launce those expensive projects. Thanks to the grace of almighty, many people came forward with financial help at that time. Among them the most notable ones are Mr. Bazlur Rahman and Mr. M. A. Matin. We are also grateful to esteemed businessman Mr. Afsaruddin, renowned writer Mrs. Shamim Rashid, owner of Quasem Group of Industries Mrs. Moinul Islam, owner of Haq Brother’s Mr. Tamizul Haq and many others. We must mention here that Canada- Bangladesh Association, the organization of expatriate Bangladeshis has been providing us with financial support over the years. Besides these great benevolent people, many people are giving us small donations on a monthly basis. We also thank the National Board of Revenue, as they have exempted our mission from taxation. Finally, we express our gratitude to all the employees and members of the mission who have work really hard and relentlessly to help sustain this mission and also to establish the goodwill of this organization all over the nation.

Observing religious ceremonies or occasion:

Serving the creation is the best way to worship the lord – the creator. Keeping this noble aim ahead we observe different Islami occasions and festivals throughout the year. This mission arranges a milad mahfil to observe the ‘garui sharif’. In this mahfil the discussants shed light on tafsir of the holy Quran, which is coupled with question and answer sessions and recitation of hadidth. In this way, people from all social classes and backgrounds get the opportunity to enrich their knowledge regarding Islam – the great religion.