Birth Anniversary of Mahomedali Habib. (2000-5)

Mahomedali Habib born on 15th May 1904 in Bombay, the third son of Habib Ismail was endowed with exceptional qualities of leadership and tremendous vision and foresight. He was destined to play the most important role in establishing the \"House of Habib\". He founded \"Habib Bank Ltd.\" in August 1941 (with the full support of his brothers particularly Dawood Habib). Habib Bank, the flagship of the House of Habib formalized the Habib Group\'s Merchant Banking activities (since 1841).

To pay a tribute to the memory of his much-loved father, Mahomedali Habib named the Bank after him. Habib Bank soon became the largest and the most important Bank of Pakistan.
Mahomedali Habib, in an amazingly short period of time, created a family business empire covering banking, insurance, shipping and many other industries. The Group companies were market leaders in everything they did and employed more than 7,000 people.
Mahomedali Habib was not only Advisor to Quaid-e-Azam, but was also one of the leading figures of the Pakistan movement. Of the numerous meritorious services of Mahomedali Habib to the nation, he is best remembered for the Blank Cheque that he presented to the Quaid-e-Azam to meet the newly established state\'s financial obligations in the wake of partition, when Pakistan\'s Treasury was empty. The Indian Government had willfully not transferred the funds of Pakistan from the Exchequer of undivided India, which had created a crisis situation averted by the timely assistance from Mahomedali Habib. The loan thus given, in hundreds of millions of rupees to the Government of Pakistan was interest-free.

He was an Architect, Builder, Patriot, Philanthropist, Champion of the poor, a devout Muslim and a true believer in God. He compiled a translation of Holy Quran with footnotes and other religious literatures, which he published under his pen-name M.H. Shakir. His deep concern for the welfare of the poor led him to establish more than 20 Benevolent Trusts for Education, Medical relief, Hospitals, Housing for the poor, Orphanages, Mosques, food, clothing etc. and even Burial Grounds.

Mahomedali Habib was a family man, a loving husband and a very caring father. He had the ability to make every member of the Habib family feel special and created time for everyone. A remarkable motivator of people, he was very successful in training the young generation of Habibs to accept the challenges of the future and commanded a level of loyalty and respect that has become a hallmark. A keen sportsman, his motto was \"work hard, pray hard, and play hard\".

Mahomedali Habib, a legend of a man, died peacefully on 30th March 1959, at the age of 55 years.

Courtesy: House of Habib

To commemorate the Birth Anniversary of Philanthropist of Pakistan Mahomedali Habib, Pakistan Post Office is issuing a commemorative postage stamp of Rs. 2/-denomination on May 15, 2000.