The Forty First Dr. A.M.A. Azeez Commemoration Meeting and the Memorial Oration were held on Friday 10th October 2014 at 4.30 p.m. at the Ghaffoor Hall, Zahira College, Colombo 10. As usual it was a well attended and a dignified function.
The Meeting was jointly presided by Mr. S.H.M. Jameel, President of the Dr. A.M.A. Azeez Foundation and Mr. M.T. Thahasim, National President of the All Ceylon YMMA Conference.
The Meeting commenced with the recital of Qirath followed by Kathamul Quran/Dua by As Sheikh Faleel.
Mr. Jameel welcomed the guests and spoke briefly on the formation and objectives of the Foundation, and said that eleven books have been published by the Foundation. He thanked the YMMA for their continued support from the very inception. He added that the books were published with the information from Dr. Azeez’s records which have been carefully preserved by his son Ali.
Mr. Thahasim spoke on the formation, objectives, achievements and significant contributions made by the YMMA to the community over the last 64 years.
The Memorial Oration was delivered by Mr. A.I. Marikar, Retired Banker and Consultant in Islamic Finance, on the subject of “Islamic Banking – An Alternate Approach to Finance”. It was an educative and inspiring oration on the benefits of Islamic Banking. The excellent Oration was well received by all. Mr. Marikar was an old boy of Zahira College during the Azeez era and is an authority on Islamic Banking in Sri Lanka.
A memento was presented to Mr. Marikar by Mr. Khalid M. Farouk, Secretary of the Foundation, in appreciation of delivering the Memorial Oration.
The book “One Distinguished Family of Moor Street Jaffna” by Marina Ismail and Ali Azeez on the family of Dr. Azeez in Jaffna, was introduced by Mr. P. Balasingham, an old boy and later teacher at Zahira College during the Azeez era. It was released at the Meeting and the first copy was presented to Mr. A.I. Marikar by Mr. Ali Azeez.
The Tamil book “Arivor Parvail Kalanithi A.M.A. Azeez”, edited by S.H.M. Jameel and M. Ali Azeez on the tributes to Dr. Azeez was introduced by Mr. Jameel. It was released at the Meeting and the first copy was presented by Mr. Maruthur Majeed to Mr. V. Anandasangaree, former Member of Parliament and an old boy of Zahira College during the Azeez era.
Mr. M.S. Raheem presented copies of “One Distinguished Family of Moor Street Jaffna” to Mr Trizviy Marikar, Principal of Zahira College, Prof. Tuley de Silva, old boy of Zahira College during the Azeez era and Mr. Shibly Aziz, President’s Counsel.
A gift of appreciation to Mr. M.F.S. Muheed for compering the commemoration meetings over the past years, was presented by Mr. Khalid M. Farouk. Mr. Muheed was an old boy of Zahira College during the Azeez era and continues to be a very active member of the YMMA.
The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Mr, Khalid M. Farouk, old boy of Zahira College and classmate of Mr. Marikar during the Azeez era. He is a very active member of the YMMA and was the National President in the Golden Jubilee year 2000.
The Meeting ended with the recital of Salawath.
The YMMA hosted all those present with refreshment and drinks.
The Compere was Mr. M.F.S. Muheed who did a splendid job as usual.
A slide show of thirty selected photos were shown before and after the meeting arranged by Mr. Shiraz Fouz.
