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Founder Message
The September 2013 issue of the Memon Alam magazine labelled the founder of Tasty as the pride of the Memon community and it did so rightly because the mission, vision and works of Abdul Razzak Tasty (Shaheed)reach well beyond the scope of business, ethics and religion and set an unmatchable bar to date that continue to inspire us.
Late Haji Abdul Razzak Sorathia was born in the kharadar area of Karachi on 17th may 1955. His father, Abdul Rehman Sorathia hailed from the no.2 Nawabi, Rriasat city of Verawal, Gujrat, India. After completing his intermediate from S.M. College, he joined the united bank as a clerical cadre to meet the expenses of the family as the sole breadwinner of the family. His sheer dedication and hard work from the onset promoted him to the ranks of an officer in a very short time. At the same time, though. His religious affiliations were getting stronger and upon learning that bank jobs have the element of interest in them, he left his job and plugged whatever little resources he had into the cloth and sweet supari business upon the advice of a close friend. Needless to say that when a work is done with devotion and sincerity and tawakkul in heart, it is bound to meet with success and so with years of struggle but relentless devotion, the deceased flourished in his business and his name stood among the most prominent businessmen of his time making Tasty supari a brand synonymous with reliability and ingenuity.
He was a person who wholeheartedly lived by the philosophy ….. “You rise by lifting others”. It was during his visit to India in 1980 when he was the living conditions of the poor people on the pavement of Mumbai that sparked his hidden spirit for social service. There was no stopping then. He immediately arranged and allotted a plot of land to the families who were living on the pavements. In addition, he also wholeheartedly and financially supported the patients of Muslim Ambulance Hospital near Zakaria Mosque, Mumbai. While in India, he also visited his native villages of Verawal, Talala, Viasur and Kodinar.
On his return to Pakistan, he brought back with him the burning desire of social upliftment which only increased with time and is evident in the fact that he associated himself with several social organizations such as Chairman, Alamgir Welfare Trust, President Jamiat-e-Taleemul Quran, Trustee Siddiqui Trust, Member Islamic Institute of Media Research, Chairman Madresah Medical, Chairman Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Child Ward Welfare Committee, Chairman Hajiani Mariam Bai Sorathia Trust, Chairman Memon Khidmat Forum, Karachi, Trustee, Memon hospital, Burns Road, Chairman Sindh Public Education Nazimabads, President, Pakistan Memon Educational and Welfare society and so on. He held all these assignments and rendered valuable services towards Huququl-Ibad until he breathed his last.
He wholeheartedly and openly ventured into the industrial sector as well. He was chairman of Mariam Textile, Hajiani Food Industries. In addition to this, he intervened into the construction sector with Saima Group and a few projects of Al-Jauhar where he rendered valuable services.
In his last days, he was asked to shoulder the responsibility to serve the Memon Community when he was selected Chairman of All Pakistan Memon Federation Supreme Council. This was a challenge which he accepted wholeheartedly with seriousness.
In recognition of his social services, his name was included in the Supreme Council of International Memon Convention held in Dubai during October 2000. In his speech in Dubai at The first international memon convention in 2001, he stressed upon the importance of working towards the welfare of memons in particular residing all across the globe. He wished that a memon, in whichever country or region he is in, must be self-sufficient, happy and contented and be free from all troubles. He was confident in the fact that the torch which he helped lit will go on to light the world for time immemorial. He talked about the importance of today’s banking, insurance and trade to aid their projects. He contrasted the state of different communities to that of the memons and said that memons are far ahead in business across the world and they are also known for their philanthropic actions since forever. He highlighted the very crucial fact that despite raising heavy funds under the zakat banner, we are failing to put that to effective use such as schools, interest free banking systems, blood banks and hospitals because we are not united and one in our efforts. He suggested the formation of MEMON ISLAMIC BANK and subsequent conventions of the supreme memon council to be held across different countries so that helping and uplifting the memons could be made a continuous procedure by which we could respond to the call of every distressed memon.
The world memon organization (WMO) has become a global phenomenon and the credit goes to Shaheed Abdul Razzak Tasty and his four colleagues whose great vision to work for the memon community at a global level under the international platform of the WMO has borne great benefits for the less fortunate members of the memon community worldwide.
