Abdul Sattar Edhi

Abdul Sattar Edhi NI LPP ( 28 February 1928 – 8 July 2016) was a Pakistani humanitarian, philanthropist and ascetic who founded the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world's largest ambulance network, along with homeless shelters, animal shelters, rehabilitation centres, and orphanages across Pakistan.

Edhi's charitable activities expanded greatly in 1957 when an Asian flu epidemic originating in China swept through Pakistan and the rest of the world.

Donations allowed him to buy his first ambulance the same year.

He later expanded his charity network with the help of his wife Bilquis Edhi.

Following his death, his son Faisal Edhi took over as head of the Edhi Foundation.

Over his lifetime, the Edhi Foundation expanded, backed entirely by private donations from Pakistani citizens across class, which included establishing a network of 1,800 ambulances.

By the time of his death, Edhi was registered as a parent or guardian of nearly 20,000 adopted children.

He is known amongst Pakistanis as the "Angel of Mercy" and is considered to be Pakistan's most respected and legendary figure.

In the early 1980s, Edhi was arrested by Israeli troops while he was entering Lebanon.

He was a strong proponent of religious tolerance in Pakistan and extended his support to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the 1985 famine in Ethiopia.

He was nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Edhi received several awards including the Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize and the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize.

In 2004, Edhi and his organization ran into trouble with the Pakistani Militants.

In 2005, the foundation donated US$100,000 to relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. As of 2020, the Foundation has international head offices present in the United States, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Japan.

In 2006, he was detained by authorities in Toronto, Canada, for over sixteen hours.

In January 2008, U.S. immigration officials at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City investigated him for over eight hours after seizing his passport and other documents.

When asked by media officials about the frequent detentions, Edhi said: "The only explanation I can think of is my beard and my dress."

His appearance in traditional Pakistani clothing and a Long Beard made him appear visibly Muslim and therefore, in a post-9/11 climate, prompted U.S. and Canadian travel authorities to keep him for additional questioning.

In 2013, The Huffington Post claimed that he might be "the world's greatest living humanitarian".

Edhi maintained a hands-off management style and was often critical of the corruption commonly found within the religious organizations, clergy and politicians.

In 2014, the foundation was targeted and robbed of approximately US$500,000 and has been the victim of right-wing attacks and competition from Pakistan's militant far-right

He died in July 2016 and was buried with full state honours.

Edhi was a Gujarati Muhajir born into a Memon Muslim family in Bantva, Gujarat, India.

He publicly expressed that he was not a "very religious person", and that he was "neither for religion or against it".

On his faith, he stated that he was a "humanitarian", telling others that "empty words and long phrases do not impress God" and to "show Him your faith" through action.

His mother had brought him up teaching love and care for humans.

Edhi dedicated his life to aiding the poor.

Over the course of sixty years, he single-handedly changed the face of welfare in Pakistan.

He founded the Edhi Foundation.

Edhi was known for his ascetic lifestyle, owning only two pairs of clothes, never taking salary from his organization, and living in one room with kitchenette at the Foundation's headquarters in the heart of Karachi.

Additionally, his previously established welfare trust, named the Edhi Trust, was restarted with an initial sum of Rs.5000.

The trust was later renamed after his wife as the Bilquis Edhi Trust.

Widely regarded and respected as a guardian and savior for the poor, Edhi began receiving numerous donations which allowed him to expand his services.

As of 2016, the Edhi Foundation continues to grow in both size and service and currently remains the largest welfare organization in Pakistan.

Since its inception, the Edhi Foundation has rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, rehabilitated over 50,000 orphans, and has trained over 40,000 nurses.

It also runs more than 330 welfare centres throughout rural and urban Pakistan that operate as food kitchens, rehabilitation homes, shelters for abandoned women and children, and clinics for the mentally and physically challenged.

The Edhi Foundation is funded entirely by private donations and full services are offered to people irrespective of ethnicity, religion or status.

It runs the world's largest volunteer ambulance service (operating over 1,500 of them) and offers 24-hour emergency services.

It also operates free nursing homes, orphanages, clinics, women's shelters, and rehabilitation centres for drug addicts and the mentally ill.

Outside of its main base of operations in Pakistan, the Edhi Foundation has ran relief operations in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Caucasus region, Eastern Europe, and the United States.