• “During the war when there was a shortage of food, the present Principal, Mr. A.M.A. Azeez, was one of those who helped me considerably in the food drive. From that time I had developed a great affection for Mr. Azeez. He was then a member of the Ceylon Civil Service but he worked really as a citizen of the country”.
Hon. D.S. Senanayake, Prime Minister, at the Prize Day of Zahira College, Colombo on 26th March,1949
• “I was anxious to find a successor in whose hands the future of Zahira College will be safe and under whose direction the possibilities of progress will be unlimited, a successor who will meet the situation created by free education with the enormous increase of students and the impending educational changes in the country. It was no easy task, scholarship, administrative experience, faith in the future of the Muslim community, spirit of service in the best sense of the word – these qualities I considered as essential. I passed many anxious moments till I succeeded in persuading Mr. A.M.A. Azeez to give up an alluring career in the Civil Service for National Service with great possibilities of achievement which his talent specially fitted him. He had already shown promise of what could be expected of him, by the great confidence placed in him by Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake and by the large measure of success his Muslim Scholarship Scheme achieved while he was still a Civil Servant. It did not take long for Mr. Azeez to make his influence and presence felt as Principal. He entered on his duties as to the manner born. During the last nine years he has not only maintained the College at its highest level, but has won a recognized place among the educationists of the country”.
Dr. T.B. Jayah at the Prize Day of Zahira College, Colombo on 15th February, 1958
• “He, more than any one else, ensured the continuity of my academic career”.
Prof. Karthigesu Sivathamby on his dedication to his book ‘Being a Tamil and Sri Lankan’
• “The speech was not only elegant but was also full of fresh ideas. One knows that the hon. Muslim Senator was, until recent times, a brilliant star in our administrative firmament and that he answered the call of his community and the country. He made a bold sacrifice, which very few people had made before to espouse the cause of education and culture. It is a great pleasure to have him in our midst. His maiden speech, which was not only couched in beautiful language but was also replete with fresh ideas, is a foretaste of what is to come. I feel sure that this honourable House is the richer by his presence. The hon. Senator’s speech was both illuminating and incisive. Let us only hope – and I say it in all sincerity – that my hon. Friend will make more contributions to debate in this House in times ahead”.
Senator The Hon. Sir Lalitha Rajapakse, Minister of Justice, on Senator A.M.A. Azeez’s maiden speech in the Senate on 25th February, 1953
• “I consider Azeez as one of the makers of Sri Lankan Muslim mind. After Siddi Lebbe, he was the most influential intellectual that the Muslim community ever produced. He was more modern than any of the Muslim leaders of his time not in appearance but in thinking and action. He tried to meaningfully integrate modernity with tradition. He was a realist, a pragmatist and a rational thinker who wanted his community to be continuously in progress. He thought that modern education is the only tool for the progress and upward social mobility of the Muslim community from its backwardness. He also thought that choosing a proper language for education is essential for the advancement and integration of the Muslim community. He has extensively written and spoken on the subject of language and education of Sri Lankan Muslims, continuously for more than three decades from the early 1940s. Even after forty years of his demise in 1973, I think, most of his writings on this subject is still relevant to us, as we could not overcome the dilemma of language and education that we have been experiencing for the last hundred years. We follow the tract of history blindly without knowing our destination”.
Dr, M.A. Nuhman BA, B.Phil, MA, PhD, Retired Professor of Tamil, University of Peradeniya, at the Fortieth Dr. A.M.A. Azeez Memorial Oration on 4th October, 2013.
