A letter to Mr. T. Rafeeque Ahmed

Dear Mr. Rafeeque Ahmed,

Assalamu Alaikum

It is with pleasure that I received the Silver Jubilee commemorative souvenir of the T.Abdul Wahid Matriculation & Higher Secondary School and read it with interest. The late leader, guide and philosopher Janab T. Abdul Wahid sahib is undoubtedly a great visionary and practical in all his approaches. He did what he thought was right with his best efforts and succeeded in all his attempts. He never followed anything blindly. Even in business we have heard leather magnates saying that he always bought raw skins after entering into export contracts without indulging in speculations which was the order of the day with tanners at that time. In short he was rational in thinking and scientific in actions which is really a special trait rare among the people particularly Muslims. We miss him very much. May his soul rest in peace.

I take this opportunity to thank and congratulate you for continuously improving the standard of the School for the benefit of the students belonging to all communities. I know personally that even non Muslim professionals like doctors, engineers, businessmen etc. prefer and admit their children in your school because of its excellent training, education with moral values, good infrastructure, etc. We wish that it should be the case of other Muslim institutions too, but it is not so. There are only a few Muslim institutions in Tamil Nadu where excellent education is available. You are aware more than people like me that even in Chennai Muslims who want to give better education to their children admit them in non-Muslim institutions like DAV etc. In Ambur your school enjoys this reputation. It gives us great pleasure as members of the Muslim community.

And exactly this is the reason why interested people like me aspire to see a women's college functioning under your able guidance and imparting excellent higher education to women for their bright future. There is no power as strong as education to Muslim women which can make our community live with dignity and honour in the present fast changing world. Where do our women stand? I need not tell you. Their case is very pathetic inspite of some educational progress which we see in them, thanks to the efforts by the AMES. But you will agree with me that there is a lot to be done for them as only a very few can get education in other places like Chennai and Bangalore.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

V.M. Khaleelur Rahman