By Syed Khaled Shahbaaz
Hyderabad: Veteran philanthropist and businessman Ghiasuddin Babukhan was laid to relaxation at Masjid-e-Baqi in Banjara Hills on Monday (August 25, 2025). Hundreds of mourners that included outstanding residents, philanthropists, neighborhood leaders, and beneficiaries of his charitable initiatives, gathered to pay their final respects.
“The passing of Ghiasuddin Babukhan is a superb loss for Hyderabad. He was a devoted philanthropist whose efforts in educating the poor will probably be remembered,” stated Hyderabad Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi in a tweet.
To those that knew him, Ghiasuddin Babukhan was greater than a philanthropist, a businessman, and a pacesetter.
Household legacy
Born into certainly one of Hyderabad’s well-known households, the Babukhans, Ghiasuddin carried ahead the imaginative and prescient and repair he had inherited and exceeded it. His father, Khan Bahadur Abdul Karim Babukhan, and mom, Shehzadi Begum, belonged to a lineage that helped form Hyderabad’s id. The household gave the town and the state iconic establishments – from the Arts Faculty at Osmania College to the Nizam Sugar Manufacturing facility and early landmarks like Deccan Towers and Babukhan Property.
It was his imaginative and prescient that outlined him. Educated at Aaliya College and Nizam Faculty, Ghiasuddin was a profitable businessman. He selected to dedicate his life to philanthropy via training, believing and emphasizing that data is the best equalizer.
In 1993, he based the Hyderabad Zakat and Charitable Belief, a seed that has since grown right into a discipline of alternatives for 1000’s of households. By means of faculties in distant villages, English-medium establishments in city slums, and scholarships for vibrant college students, the Belief has turned despair into hope for youngsters who had no entry to training. Its sister group, FEED, has opened doorways for tens of 1000’s of scholars who at this time credit score their success to the alternatives he helped create. These are last-mile real-impact initiatives that proceed their momentum to at the present time.
For him, charity was empowerment
Ghiasuddin by no means checked out charity as simply aid — he checked out it as empowerment. He cared not just for the poor but in addition for probably the most ignored: widows, orphans, and households who had no voice. Beneath his steerage, the Belief launched a widow remarriage programme, quietly serving to ladies rebuild their lives with dignity. It was Ghiasuddin who prompt the government-aided marriage scheme “Shaadi Mubarak”, which can also be impressed by his initiatives.
He was additionally a builder. As director of Babukhan Properties and Industries, he continued his household’s custom of remodeling Hyderabad’s skyline with initiatives like Deccan Towers and Babukhan Property, whereas contributing to the development of dams, bridges, and industries that supported the state’s development.
However when you ask folks about him, they won’t first speak about buildings or establishments. They’ll speak about the best way he listened, the best way he cared, the best way he handled each pupil, widow, or household that got here to him not as a statistic however as an individual worthy of dignity. He embodied compassion in motion.
His progeny
Ghiasuddin is survived by his spouse, Shujath Babukhan, and kids – Mohsin, Asra, Mansoor, and Mustafa – every of whom continues to hold ahead his imaginative and prescient, each in enterprise and in service. He declared that his lofty Bungalow at Begumpet can be endowed to charity. He continued to pay hire from the identical day until he moved into a unique residence. That is among the many attribute traits that outlined his persona. There are numerous extra, however the constructive ripple impression his many aid and social rehab initiatives had on the impoverished or these affected by the pure disasters and communal riots is second to none.
In a world the place wealth is usually hoarded, he confirmed that true richness lies in giving. His life was a cover of generosity, and underneath its shade, numerous lives discovered hope. His absence will probably be deeply felt, however his roots run deep – in establishments, in communities, and within the hearts of all these whose lives he touched.
Syed Khaled Shahbaaz is a journalist and creator of the ebook, “The Kohinoors: Distinguished Personalities of Hyderabad.” He will be reached at syedkhaledshahbaaz@gmail.com
