The Memon community across the world will be celebrating World Memon Day through the weekend as Eid celebrations coincide with the community’s annual day on April 10. The Memon community will carry out social works with donation drives amounting to crores of rupees across the globe.
For the last nine years, the Memon community has been celebrating World Memon Day on April 10 to promote the community’s culture, embrace communal harmony and organise social welfare initiatives. This year although the Memon community in India had started the celebrations a day prior, the celebrations will continue through the weekend since the day has coincided with the festival of Eid al-fitr.
The All India Memon Jamat Federation (AIMJF) in Mumbai started the celebrations a day earlier by distributing rationing to the needy families. The youth wing also organised cloth distribution at orphanages. Moreover, the jamat in Nanded and Malegaon also distributed clothes and footwear to around 1500 children. Similarly, Memon Jamats across the globe have been celebrating the day with similar initiatives. On Monday, the committee members and donors of AIMJF will also participate in an Eid Milan get-together organised on a cruise boat at the Gateway of India.
Iqbal Memon Officer, the president of AIMJF, said, “I thought that there is a fathers’ day, mothers’ day and a long list of such days, then we should also have a Memon Day. The only aim was to bring the community members together and indulge in social works to uplift the needy people without the barrier of religion or race.”
The Muslim Memon community, which was earlier Hindu Lohanas of Sindh, embraced Islam in the 15th century, and migrated to Kutch, Kathiyawad and Okha in Gujarat. Subsequently, these families spread out to different parts of the country and across the globe. Today, a major chunk of the populace are present in India and Pakistan.
To have a special day for celebrating the roots of the community was the brainchild of Officer. When Officer became the community’s president in 2015, he expressed his wish that the entire community observe a day to celebrate the community and on the first Memon Day in 2015, the AIMJF carried out social welfare works with mere Rs. 10,000.
The next year, more and more Memon jamats across the country started joining this initiative and in 2019, Memon jamats across the world decided to follow the tradition and the Memon Day changed into World Memon Day. The community has nominated brand ambassadors of World Memon Day in countries like Japan, Australia, Kuala Lumpur, United Kingdom and more to attract more members of the community to join the celebrations.
“Jamats across the world are doing exceptional work to commemorate this day. Just last year, only the Memon Association North America distributed food, sanitary, kitchen and home requirements worth Rs. 60 lakhs. Overall the community collectively distributes material worth crores to celebrate the day,” said Officer.
