JULY 19 ― In the current socio-political climate, it is not easy to find positive news about Islam. It is not because Islam lacks positive role models. Last Ramadan alone, I was very heartened at the work Malaysian Muslims did for orphans.

They collected hundreds of thousands of ringgit for them within such a short period. All on the quiet because charity without publicity is more blessed by Allah, as the Quran teaches us. Not only that, in the UK, Muslims marched against the so-called Islamic state.

They were largely ignored by the mainstream media though. Positive news about Muslims isn’t sexy enough to sell. It is far more scandalous to depict how barbaric yet how overly conservative Muslims are. Not that that is too difficult to do, either.

In the midst of this situation, we find Abdul Sattar Edhi (1928-2016). He had been quietly doing his work for the last 60 years! Abdul Sattar was a humanitarian from Pakistan.

His foundation runs the world's largest ambulance service and operated hospitals, orphanages and shelters in a country which needed all these things badly. When he died, the entire nation mourned.

Not only that, Pakistani expatriates all over the world including some close friends of mine mourned as well. The news then spread to Muslims everywhere and they dutifully spread the news along to the rest of the world. Humanitarianism is a universal religion, so it would seem.

A word here needs to be added about the religious affiliation of Abdul Sattar. Since his death (one wonders why the issue was not raised when he was around to clarify it), there have been attempts to cast doubts about his religious affiliations.

These attempts have been made by Muslim dissenters (ex-Muslims, atheists and agnostics) who are Islamophobes as well as Islamofascists themselves! You may ask why Islamofascists (who should want to co-opt Abdul Sattar) would want to denounce his religious affiliation. The answer lies in the fact that Abdul Sattar was very universal in his outlook. A Facebook meme which has gone viral contains the following conversation:

Questioner: Why do you use your ambulance to help Christians and Hindus?

Abdul Sattar: Because the ambulance is more Muslim than you!

This catchy soundbite-like response was attributed to Abdul Sattar. It may or may not be authentic but it captures the spirit of his thinking nonetheless. The "ambulance” here refers to his ambulance service. He considered it "more Muslim” because he understood being Muslim in a much more universal sense.

It is possible that he acquired his understanding from the Quran which does not limit being Muslim to being a follower of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Rather, in my understanding, a Muslim is one who instigates wholeness and soundness in self and society.

Not coincidentally, Abdul Sattar was said to have declared "no religion is greater than humanity.” This may seem to be a comment which lowers the importance of Islam as his detractors claim but only if one looks at it parochially. If one looks at the Quran, it sees humanity as, in essence, "a single ummah” (Chapter 2 Verse 213).

There are no religious divisions. What divides humanity is our behaviour. Do we choose to elevate humanity or do we choose to exploit it? Abdul Sattar chose to elevate it and that is why I believe he understood Islam in its universal form.

In this day and age, Muslims are in dire need of heroes more than any other people. We are at the receiving end of perpetual media blitzes by those keen to make the most of our otherisation from humanity.

On top of which, we have Islamofascists who are also keen for our otherisation, albeit to depict us as some chosen people for their supremacist project. It is a tenuous situation and so we need to produce Abdul Sattar Edhis by the thousands. People like him speak a language which goes beyond any cultural language ― the language of humanity.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.