Book & Author
Iftikhar Husain: Eye Donation For The Corneal Blind — From Darkness to Light
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
Chicago, IL
“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3).
And light has been illuminating the cosmos for billions of years. It is said that the seeing eyes are a great gift, and the vision, the greatest blessing from God.
In Pakistan, the name Edhi is synonymous with social welfare. Before Edhi became an icon for social welfare, back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, organizations like All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) and a large group of very dedicated people were busy doing social work in various walks of life. One such person was Mr Iftikhar Husain, the founder, and President of Pakistan Eye Bank Society (PEBS), who transformed the lives of thousands of blind people by restoring their vision via cornea transplantation.
In Eye Donation For The Corneal Blind — From Darkness to Light (Pakistan Eye Bank Society, June 1988), Mr Iftikhar Husain chronicles his pioneering work and struggles spanned over 27 years viz a viz eye donation for the corneal blind in Pakistan. The book has prefaces and forewords for the first and the revised editions followed by ten chapters: The beginning, Breaking the Obstacles, The Struggle, Extension Nationwide, Import of Eyes from Sri Lanka, Local Successes, Casework and Rehabilitation of Patients, Motivation Centers and training of Workers, Eye Donation in the Muslim World, and Why Human Cornea? The epilogue is followed by four appendices: Religious Opinions, Dr F. G. Hudson Silva, Scleral Graft, and Technical Functions of Eye Banks.
Iftikhar Husain was born in June 1912 at Jullundur, British India. Following a brilliant academic career at Bareilly College, Bareilly, he received MSc (Mathematics) degree from the Agra University in 1934. He served with the Government of India (1937-1947) and the Muslim University Aligarh (MUA: 1947-1948), where he had the honor of working with two great vice chancellors: Zahid Husain (who later established the State Bank of Pakistan) and Nawab Muhammad Ismail Khan (a prominent leader of All India Muslim League, and a close companion of Quaid-i-Azam). After migration to Pakistan, he joined an oil company ESSO and served as Finance Director and Assistant General Manager; in July 1973, after 25 years of service (1948-1973) he retired and dedicated his energies for social welfare work. Since 1956, he had participated in social service activities through The Karachi Lions Club, and later served as its Chairman; and in 1961, to help thousands of corneal blinds in Pakistan, he initiated and pursued his pioneering work with dedication for the Eye Donation Movement all over Pakistan.
In an environment where the process of Ijtihad had been stalling due to lack of appropriate training and intellectual mentoring of scholars, Iftikhar Husain faced many obstacles in obtaining favorable fatwas (religious opinions) from religious scholars for the human cornea transplantation. He had addressed these issues in his Urdu book titled Falah Key Juss’taa’Joo (The Pursuit of Well-Being) published in 1999, by Tamsaal Askari, managing editor of monthly Ujallah, Karachi, in collaboration with Pakistan Eye Bank Society.
The book starts with a message from Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali khan. Begum sahiba, after the death (1951) of her husband, the Late Mr Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, continued her dedicated social service activities. She was the Founder President of the All Pakistan Women’s Association (APWA) and active participant of many other important welfare organizations for women based in West and East Pakistan. Begum sahiba had served as the Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherland, Italy, and Tunisia. She also served as Governor of Sindh. In her message, she writes: “I am very happy to learn that an authentic book has been written on the evolutionary stages of development of Eye Donation Movement in Pakistan — Mr Iftikhar Husain has fulfilled a long felt need in doing so. I have studied at first hand with great interest the activities of the Eye Bank during the last seventeen years. The sincerity of purpose and painstaking efforts with which the founder of the movement Mr Iftikhar Husain and his colleagues have struggled to popularize the idea of Eye Donation in Pakistan is praiseworthy. I have no doubt their selfless efforts will meet with further successes. I am of the opinion that every sane Pakistani should feel duty-bound to donate his or her eyes for those of his compatriots who are deprived of the gift of sight. It was under this sentiment that three years ago I also bequeathed my eyes. I am sure this book would be read with great interest among the intellectuals and social workers alike and pave the way for further progress of the Eye Donation Movement. As this Movement makes headway, more and more people would want to know the history and the humanitarian nature of its objectives. For such individuals in general and research workers in particular, this book would be a great source of factual information. There is a great dearth of standard books on Social Services in our country. This book is a valuable addition to the books on this subject. I pray that the Eye Donation Movement may ultimately banish corneal blindness from Pakistan.”
In the preface (First edition: March 31,1978), the author highlights the objectives of the book: “The Eye Bank idea was conceived initially as the start of another Social Welfare Agency in Karachi like many others in existence. But establishing even one Eye Bank in a Muslim country could not be possible without changing the peoples' thinking on the subject, without changing their attitude towards traditional ideas and notions inherited from father to son for centuries and without receiving their willing cooperation. The broad objective of obtaining local donor [Surayya Begum] eyes could only be achieved by a widespread movement aimed at people generally and not confined to motivating a small section of any area. I have therefore, referred to the motivation efforts as the EYE DONATION MOVEMENT in this book and in fact it is, and has all along been, a MOVEMENT. When the Eye Donation Movement was started in Karachi in 1961, the problems and obstacles in its way appeared insurmountable in a Muslim country. I never expected that local donor eyes would become available in my lifetime. The only result I expected was that the public opinion would be educated and motivated gradually so that, maybe after 20 years, local donor eyes might start coming in small numbers. However, contrary to this expectation, a cornea from the first local donor eye was grafted in 1966... This book is primarily meant as a help to newcomers in the field of Eye Donation Movement. The book is more of a compilation of some of the articles and notes I wrote during the period and also includes some of the points the voluntary workers and I have been making in discussions and speeches on the subject…This book has been written for another purpose also. If the Eye Donation Movement has become a reasonable success in a Muslim country like Pakistan, a similar success can be expected in other Muslim countries also. Certain Muslim countries are already impressed with its success in Pakistan and are starting Eye Donation Movement in their respective countries. This book will be of some help to them in planning and programming their ventures ...”
In the foreword (revised edition) Justice (Retd) Qadeeruddin Ahmed, Chief Justice of the High Court of West Pakistan, reflecting on the opposition to eye donation, writes: “Those who oppose the grafting of corneas also contend that it amounts to blinding a healthy eye in the next world for giving sight to a diseased eye in this world. Leaving aside the question of spiritual validity of the argument, one may point out that those who object to transplant do not seem to worry at the prospect that healthy eyes are buried in graves after death and become dust. If blinding a healthy eye after 'death’ in this world amounts to making it blind in the next world, then not a single eye will have eyesight on the Day of Judgement because all eyes are bound to rot and perish before that Great Day...”
Referring to the legal vacuum that exists in the area of eye donation, Justice sahib states: “Mr Iftikhar Husain points out that there is absence of law that may be helpful in this work. I for one attach more importance to the support of the people among whom we live and work. The real task is to win them over and let them feel that donation of eyes is like giving the most precious articles in charity for the benefit of the deceased. It is the gift in the name of Allah of two rarest pearls of the first water. Happily, the kith and kin of the deceased persons are by and by convinced that the Movement has a very bright side. Our citizens have already begun to donate their eyes. Mr Iftikhar Husain's cool, calm and persistent efforts are clearing up the cobwebs of confused thinking and soon, we hope that many a blind shall see the daylight.”
In the foreword (First Edition) Dr Aquila Kiani, Professor and Chairman (1964-1972) Department of Sociology, University of Karachi, reflecting on the Eye donation movement, writes: “Never has the mind's eye perceived an account so vividly as the story of the Eye Donation Movement in Pakistan. Its direct appeal to the readers lies in the sincerity of purpose of the founders established both through words and deeds. The pioneering spirit permeates throughout the arduous struggle for helping people to restore their vision. The seventeen years of persistent efforts gradually dispelled the despair and darkness that seemed to hinder the Movement in its beginning years….It is gratifying to note that a Muslim country like Egypt has a law based on the Fatwa by the Mufti giving a ruling in favor of removing eyes from dead bodies for the purpose of corneal graft operations…”
Expounding on eye donation viz a viz Islamic values and laws, Dr Aquila Kiani observes: “In fact, any act intended for the good of humanity should be regarded as ‘MUSAL-E-MURSILA’ which is one of the accepted source[s] of Law in Islam by all the Muslim jurists and can be legalized. Besides there are many verses in the HOLY QUR’AN giving guidance for the application of the laws of the QUR’AN under the universe of "ISLAH-E-BAINUN-NAS" for the moral, physical and intellectual betterment of the Muslims. After all, what are the HAQOOQ-UL-IBAD? The individual owes a duty to his fellowmen. If he wills in his lifetime a part of his body to be used after his death to benefit a person in need of such a part, this should be considered as the most sublime human act and the person as the most righteous and noble. The primary objective in the entire episode of the Eye Donation Movement has been to make people of Pakistan alive to their duties towards those who stand in need of them and to show a concern for others so that we as true Muslims are able to fulfil HAQOOQ-UL-IBAD in the true sense of the term. The performance of such humanitarian duties alone can give stability to an Islamic Social Order which we all are so much desirous to establish.”
Discussing the obstacles in acquiring the donor eyes, the author states: “… Some of the difficulties are discussed below: (1) Legal: The legal position of taking eyes out of dead bodies is not clear. In advanced countries there are laws providing that every adult person has the right to sign a will, authorizing donating his/her eyes to an Eye Bank, after death for use in restoring the sight of some blind person or for research seeking to prevent blindness and to find cure for diseases of the eye... In Pakistan there is no such law. We hope that the Government will assist us by promulgating a law on these lines. (2) Religious: Many traditional-type religious leaders frown upon any move designed to disfigure or dismember dead bodies, including removal of eyes. Personally, belief that any action intended for the good of humanity at large cannot be against religion because religion itself is for the good of humanity…My informal discussions with certain Muslim religious leaders show that whereas they are not yet prepared to support openly the transplant of corneas, they tacitly agree to the action. (3) Emotional: Imagine a family just bereaved of a dear one and within three hours of death, a doctor arriving with equipment for removing eyes from the dead body. The shock of the bereavement generally is so great that it blunts the power of reasoning, at least in the first few hours after death and there will be very few people who, in that state of mind, agree to the removal of eyes from the dead body. This is the field in which the social worker has to work with persistence in order to educate the people to act rationally in such situations".
In 2016, after the demise of Abdul Sattar Edhi sahib, per his will, his eyes were used to restore vision for two blind persons in Karachi. Pakistan has the third highest population (two million) of blind and impaired-vision persons in the world. According to the Pakistan Eye Bank Society (PEBS), Pakistan receives around 300 to 400 eyes annually from Sri Lanka International Eye Bank, Colombo, but Pakistan’s annual requirement is in thousands which could only be met through raising awareness for eye donation.
Today, Pakistan Eye Bank Society (PEBS), established in the 1960s by late Mr Iftikhar Husain for the prevention of blindness and cure eye-related diseases, has grown into a PEBS Eye & General Hospital (1993) in Karachi. During the past four decades, the hospital has diversified its services which now include Gynecology, Maxillofacial, Physiotherapy and Laboratory Testing. It is very saddening to find that on the PEBS’s website (https://www.pakistaneyebank.org.pk/) there is no photograph or biography of Mr Iftikhar Husain. It is so unfortunate that our society forgets our heroes and pioneers so quickly!
Eye Donation For The Corneal Blind — From Darkness to Light by Iftikhar Husain is a historical document that chronicles the evolution of institutions and practices for the prevention of blindness and eye cures in Pakistan during the 1960s and 1970s. It is an interesting read; people who want to excel in social work can benefit from this important work.
[Dr Ahmed S. Khan (dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org) is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar (2017-2022)]
