MY BELOVED FATHER: THE LAST PROPHET OF SECULAR POLITICS

Panakkad  Sayyid Muhammad Ali Shihab Thangal was a living legend and a beacon of light for people around him. He still remains an inspiration. There is a lot of learnings from the life of my father. He upheld the importance of charity and peace throughout his life. People still follows his principles, not just in india but all over the world, particularly in the Arab world.

As his son, I can still feel the respect others having for my father. His life was an open book, and showed the way for people with his deeds more than words. his followers were not restricted to any particular class. People from all walks of life followed and respected him. In return, he taught them to support the poor. And he showed them how to do that.
My father used to spend hours listening to the worries of others. On all tuesdays, he would sit with persons in need of help. He would solve issues between persons and families. Often those sessions lasted until 2am. I have never seen him complaining about the rush of people, and he worked tirelessly. His working time often extended to 19 hours a day. Leisure was a dream for my father.

He was also in charge of various religious, political and education organizations. He spend hours to ensure smooth functioning of those institutions. His guidance was immensely helpful for them, and Valanjery Markaz president Kunjooti Haji would always stress on the importance of my father's guidance.

Often people from abroad too sought his help. Former Bahrain MP and president ambassador Bahia Jaise once interacted with my father in kerala, and came impressed with his leadership abilities. Shuhaib Nigrami, his classmate in Egypt, once said that Muhammad Ali Shihab Thangal was an inspiration for everyone in our institution. He was dear to the teachers too. Nigrami always remembered Thangal fondly " A man who spoke less and smile more".

He did his studies in Egypt. There was a rich student, who smoked quite regularly. but unfortunately his family slipped into a financial crisis. My father noticed that student in a depressed state, and enquired the reason behind his despondency. he told my father about the crisis in family, and just to cheer him up my father bought the same brand of cigarette that he was smoking and kept it under his pillow.
 There is another instance of my father offering his helping hand to the needy. A Madrasa teacher used to come home for my father's guidance. The teacher approached my father for some help when his daughter's wedding was fixed. My father told him to conduct the marriage at our home. But, unfortunately, he was admitted to hospital at the time of marriage. But my father was not forgotten above the function. He called his younger brother -Panakkad Sadiqali Shihab Thangal to the hospital and told him to conduct the Nikah at our home and also arranged food prepared from the house of his driver,  Mujeeb.
 Through all these incidents, my father showed and taught us that anything can be conquered through love. For my father, elements like religion, caste, class, etc were never a barrier. My father was an ambassador  of love and peace, and worked single mindedly for peace and harmony in society. He had a mind as genuine as his smile. Many times, his smile was enough for warring persons to reconcile or bring peace to those suffering from some personal issues. He served the medicine of love. His words and deeds will forever remain the minds of people.

By:Panakkad Sayyid Munawar Ali Shihab
Extracted From Times Of India