Muslim Town, Lahore
| Muslim Town | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
| Country |
 Pakistan
|
| Province | Punjab |
| District | Lahore |
Muslim Town is a town in Lahore, Pakistan located on the bank of [Lahore Canal] and near Gulberg and Shah Jamal Localities. It was founded in 1915 - 30s, by Dr Syed Muhammad Hussain of Kotli Shah Saleem Kala Chechi (presently Tehsil Shakargarh and previously Gurdaspur, where this family was popularly known as Mehlan wale Syed because of their house which was popularly known as the Mahal in the vicinity). Dr Syed Muhammad Hussain (1878-1939) was the son of Syed Alim Shah, who left his village to get an education and rose to become minister of settlement in the State of Jammu and Kashmir in united India. Syed Alim Shah had three sons Syed Nadir Hussain, Syed Muhammad Hussain and Syed Ahmed Hussain and a daughter Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Dr. Hussain was a graduate of Lahore Medical School (predecessor of King Edward Medical University) and the Chief Chemical Examiner of Punjab. He was a renowned physician with a flourishing practice and was a great philanthropist.
In those days Model Town was an exclusive Hindu locality and Muslims could not buy plots in the society. In response to this prejudice Dr Muhammad Hussain bought agricultural land in the outskirts of Lahore on the canal Bank and hired professionals to plan a housing scheme, that was initially named as Islamabad. However, on the suggestion of his friend Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Dr. Hussain decided to rename the housing scheme as Muslim Town to emphasize its Muslim character in response to the exclusivity of Model Town as a Non Muslim locality in pre partition era. Dr. Hussain, initially built a house for himself on 40 kanals of this land at No 7 Muslim Town and donated plots of varied sizes ranging from 10 marlas to 12 kanals to his numerous relatives, friends, family retainers and household help. Some of his famous friends and early settlers included the renowned artist Ustad Allah Baksh, Abdul Majeed Salik (writer), Maulana Ghulam Rasool Mehr, Maulana Muhammad Ali (Translator of Holy Quran), the Faruqi family and the renowned Faqir family. Dr Muhammad Hussain constructed a mosque in Muslim Town ( Aisha Masjid) in memory of his late mother. He also allocated land for a graveyard for his descendants in Shah Jamal and another graveyard in Muslim Town for the benefit of general public. The Shah Jamal graveyard is under the exclusive custodianship of his great grand daughter (by orders of honorable Lahore High Court).Dr Muhammad Hussain's agricultural land around Old Muslim Town was later acquired by Lahore Development Authority as part of Shah Jamal, Gulberg and New Muslim Town Schemes.
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