Wartain.com – Abed Saeed Baghazal, a consultant and donor distributor from Qatar, has been working for 35 years to improve the welfare of Muslims in Indonesia.
The man from the Middle East, who is an entrepreneur and contractor, has worked as a consultant and distributor of funds and donations from Qatari donors for several countries in Africa and Indonesia.
“35 years ago I got a job from the Qatari and Indonesian governments as a distributor and procurer of heavy equipment for a gas installation project in Qatar,” said Abed.
Another factor that drove him to become a consultant for channeling aid was his meeting with Ahmad Riyaz Mukhtar, a kyai who manages an orphanage foundation in Cihideung, Bogor, 30 years ago.
“Since then we agreed to work together to help Muslim communities in the Bogor area and its surroundings who really need Islamic educational and spiritual facilities and infrastructure,” he said.
Although he has known Ahmad Riyaz Mukhtar for decades, the idea to carry out charitable activities such as building mosques, Al-Quran memorization centers, Arabic language schools, and orphanages began three years ago.
“We are committed, my job is to find donors and Ahmad’s job is to find the land and the contractors,” he said.
In the last two years, they have had the honor of building two mosques in Bogor. And in the current two years, they are simultaneously building three more mosques in Sukabumi.
“One mosque in the Palabuhanratu area, one in Cidarah Cibeureum, Sukabumi City, and another one in Sudajayagirang Village, Salabintana, Sukabumi Regency,” he explained.
So far, he said, donors from Qatar have donated more than Rp 7.3 billion. Among them are Mr. Mohamed Ali Al-Ansari (building two mosques), Mr. Ismail Al-Maliki (two mosques), and Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Mulla (one mosque).
According to him, this charitable activity had to be carried out after seeing the conditions directly in the field.
He emphasized that his activity is purely for worship without any reward, and he even bears all travel and accommodation costs himself.***
Editor: Aab Abdul Malik
Reporter: Abah Hamzah
