AL-HAJ AHMAD SHAH FAQIRI CHARITY COMPLEX · HERAT ف Al-Haj Ahmad Shah FaqiriCharity Complex
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Portrait of Al-Haj Ahmad Shah Faqiri, smiling, wearing a black and white striped turban and an embroidered chapan

Al-Haj Ahmad Shah Faqiri, founder

Endowed forthe people of Afghanistan

A foundation, a charity clinic, a free school for girls, a public library and two halls, funded entirely by their founder.

See the work Meet the founder

Surah Al-Ma’un

Al-Ma’un, the small kindnesses

Seven verses on caring for the orphan, urging others to feed the poor, and never holding back even small help. They are the heart of what the complex does.

سورة الماعون

بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

  1. أَرَءَيْتَ ٱلَّذِى يُكَذِّبُ بِٱلدِّينِ

    Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense?

  2. فَذَٰلِكَ ٱلَّذِى يَدُعُّ ٱلْيَتِيمَ

    For that is the one who drives away the orphan

  3. وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَىٰ طَعَامِ ٱلْمِسْكِينِ

    And does not encourage the feeding of the poor.

  4. فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ

    So woe to those who pray

  5. ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ

    [But] who are heedless of their prayer -

  6. ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ يُرَآءُونَ

    Those who make show [of their deeds]

  7. وَيَمْنَعُونَ ٱلْمَاعُونَ

    And withhold [simple] assistance.

Arabic: quran.com, Uthmani script · English: Saheeh International · Recitation: Alafasy, Al-Husary (Mu’allim), via quran.com

The complex

One complex, five institutions

What began as personal giving grew, year by year, into an educational, cultural and health complex in Herat.

  1. 13932014 The Charity FoundationFood cards for more than 3,500 families, emergency relief, classes for women, and support for orphans, students and people with disabilities. The charity complex seen from above, around its garden courtyard
  2. 13972018 The Charity ClinicTreatment for poor patients across twelve services, including a ten-machine hemodialysis centre. Medicines are charged at cost, without profit. The clinic building, a three-storey house with an ambulance parked outside
  3. 13982019 The Charity SchoolFree schooling for girls, taught entirely by women. Uniforms, bags, books and stationery are provided. Students in white headscarves looking at artwork along a school corridor
  4. 13982019 The Standard LibraryMore than 5,000 books and a computer lab, open free of charge to anyone with a membership card. The Standard Library’s reading room, with shelves along the wall and a long table
  5. 13982019 Two Conference HallsSeating for more than 400 people, offered free for cultural, scientific and educational gatherings. A conference hall with guests seated along a red carpet

Health

The charity clinic

Founded in 1397 SH (2018) for people who cannot afford hospital fees, the clinic treats thousands of poor patients each year. Treatment is free; patients pay only the cost of medicines and medical materials, with no profit taken.

Services

  • General internal medicine
  • Obstetrics and gynaecology
  • Dentistry
  • Ultrasound
  • Hemodialysis
  • Physiotherapy
  • Child malnutrition
  • Midwifery and family planning
  • Laboratory
  • Emergency care
  • Pharmacy
  • Ambulance
The clinic’s hemodialysis room with treatment chairs and machines

27 Sonbola 1399 SH · September 2020

The hemodialysis centre opens

Ten dialysis machines, a USD 150,000 investment, sparing patients the heavy cost of every session. The foundation describes it as the first and largest charity hemodialysis centre in Afghanistan.

The physiotherapy room, with an exercise bike and treatment table
A clinician at the ultrasound station in the clinic
A student in a blue uniform pointing to a map of Afghanistan painted on the classroom wall
A student at the map of Afghanistan in her classroom.

Education

A school where everything is free

Founded in 1398 SH (2019), the charity school takes in children whose families cannot pay, and asks nothing of them but effort.

Free of charge
Tuition, uniforms, bags, books and stationery, up to grade twelve.
Taught by women
Every student is a girl, and the director, teachers and staff are all women.
Chosen on merit
Students sit an entrance exam; teachers hold bachelor’s degrees and were chosen from 200 to 250 applicants.
Followed through
Monthly exams, free winter classes, and support toward bachelor’s and master’s degrees for graduates who need it.
The Pen Celebration welcomes first-grade students each year.
The Pen Celebration welcomes first-grade students each year.
Monthly exams track every student’s progress.
Monthly exams track every student’s progress.
Students gathered for a school ceremony.
Students gathered for a school ceremony.

Record

The record, in the foundation’s own figures

  1. 3,500+families

    hold food cards after a house-to-house survey. Most are women.

    Permanent food aid
  2. 6,000families

    received food packages worth USD 120,000 during the first wave of COVID-19.

    Emergency food aid
  3. 10,000packs

    of masks, soap and health leaflets were handed out in Herat from 8 March 2020.

    Awareness campaign
  4. 150+students

    from poor families were placed at four Herat universities and institutes under 2021 agreements.

    Higher education
  5. 10,000copies

    of the Holy Qur’an were printed and given to mosques and religious schools.

    Publishing
  6. 120+jobs

    have been created directly across the complex.

    Employment

Figures as published by the foundation on asfaqirifoundation.com.

Relief

From Herat to the provinces

When floods and earthquakes strike elsewhere in Afghanistan, the foundation sends convoys in the name of the people of Herat. Aid is handed out after a fair survey of need.

A convoy of aid trucks on the road out of Herat

Hover or tap a province. Herat is home to the complex.

Use the arrow keys to move between provinces and Enter to open details.

Herat

  1. Parwan

    Floods

    Left Herat on Friday 28 August 2020 with 1,000 blankets for flood victims.

  2. Badghis

    Earthquake

    Reached families over snowbound roads with rice, oil, charcoal, blankets and grain.

  3. Paktika

    Earthquake

    Food packages, blankets and carpets for Gyan district.

  4. Khost

    Earthquake

    The same aid for Afghan Dubi village, Spera district.

Culture

Shelves of the Standard Library

A library, two halls and a reading movement

The Standard Library opened in 1398 SH (2019) as a promise kept: Mr. Faqiri pledged it at the close of the first Great Festival of Books and People. Its more than 5,000 books, bought from his own funds, cover religion, law, history, psychology, children’s reading and more, beside a computer lab.

The festival itself, launched in June 2019, ran for about two months and closed with prizes for 30 winners before some 2,000 guests. The complex’s two halls, seating more than 400, are lent free for cultural and educational events.

Founder

Al-Haj Ahmad Shah Faqiri seated, wearing a grey double-breasted suit

Al-Haj Ahmad Shah Faqiri

Founder of the complex and of Pamir Group of Companies

Born in 1329 SH (1950) in Sufyan village, Injil district, Herat, the eldest son of the late Faqir Ahmad. He went into trade in 1349 SH (1970), starting from a single shop in the centre of Herat, and went on to build the Pamir Group of Companies.

For thirty years he has given a significant part of his wealth to charity, most of it for women in need. The whole complex is funded by him personally.

Unity, solidarity and empathy among the people of Afghanistan will end all hardship.

Al-Haj Ahmad Shah Faqiri, as quoted by the foundation (translated from Dari).

Contact

Contact the complex

info@asfaqirifoundation.com
Address
Herat, Afghanistan