Late Syed Ghulam Akber was a man of varied interests. He was an engineer by profession but rendered his services as Secretary Finance at Jamaat-e-Islami Hind headquarters for about 14 long years. He was also interested in the promotion and advancement of education and science. Committed to the core to the cause of Islamic Movement, Er. Ghulam Akber was a distinguished personality not only in his professional career but in his being very kind-hearted and benevolent as well as in making and maintaining close personal relations with everyone who came in contact with him. This was the consensus emerged during a condolence meeting organised to pay tribute to him at JIH headquarters in the Capital here on May 9. Er. Ghulam Akber passed away on Apr 29.
Presiding over the meeting, JIH Ameer Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Omari recalled his close personal relations with Er. Ghulam Akber. He also said, “Ghulam Akber always held high posts in India and Saudi Arabia and earned a lot. But he did not like to save money for posterity. He used to spend all he had in the way of Allah so much so that towards the end of his life he lived and left his family behind in a rented house in Hyderabad. It was also the greatness of his spouse that she cooperated with him in infaq fi sabilillah.”
Addressing the gathering, Naib Ameer Muhammad Jafar said, “Er. Ghulam Akber was a man of strong character and firm determination. On his return from Moscow, where he had been doing specialisation in Anticorrosion Engineering, he got a job in a big company in Calcutta (now Kolkata) that required a person with proficiency in the Russian language as well as good professional skill. One day the Director of the company told him he was very much pleased with his performance and would reward him with a precious gift, which he thought would impress the latter so much so that he would never leave the company. In the evening, Er. Ghulam Akber received a locked refrigerator along with its key. As he was fond of sweets, he thought the refrigerator might be full of delicious sweets. But when he unlocked it in the night, to his utter shock he found it full of bottles of imported liquor. The next morning he tendered his resignation, and when the Director tried to persuade him not to do so he said the former had misunderstood him and then there was no point in talking to him.”
Those who expressed their feelings on the occasion included JIH Secretary-General Nusrat Ali, Finance Advisor Dr. Waquar Anwar, Manager MMI Publishers Syed Atiqur Rab, former Editor Urdu monthly Science Muhammad Khaleel, Journalist A.U. Asif, General Secretary ICIF H. Abdur Raqeeb and Editor Radiance Viewsweekly Sikandar Azam. JIH Assistant Secretary Intizar Naeem conducted the programme.