page_title: C. Abdul Hakim
section_title: Siddique Sarai Mosque
hierarchical_section_title: C. Abdul Hakim / Siddique Sarai Mosque
caption_attribution_description: English: Siddique Sarai Mosque 1
context_page_description: Nawab C. Abdul Hakeem Saheb, one of the respected natives of Melvisharam, Prince among traders and one time Sheriff of Madras. He was a Muslim trader and politician from the Madras Presidency. He set up a tannery in 1907 and emerged as a prosperous businessman serving as President of the Southern Indian Chamber of Commerce. He founded the Melvisharam Muslim Educational Society in 1918 with a golden dream of transforming his town into a splendid seat of great learning to cater to the educational needs of youth. Like the winds that have no barriers of caste or community, the Nawab’s generosity lighted the lamp of joy and contentment in several poverty-ridden families. His colorful dreams have all been realized by the Melvisharam Muslim Educational Society that strove hard to transform Primary, Secondary and Higher Education into splendid segments of pristine enlightenment irrespective of caste, creed, community or social status. The work continues even now with zeal and rejuvenating spirit.
context_section_description: Siddique Sarai Mosque is a choultry built in 19th Century for Muslim travelers in Park Town area of Chennai, the capital of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu by C. Abdul Hakeem. 
  . 
  When Abdul Hakim’s ailing father once arrived at Central from Bombay he found that there was no choultry nearby with facilities for Muslim travelers. Build one, he suggested to his son. And so, Abdul Hakim bought land opposite Ripon Building in an auction for Rs. 50,000 and laid the foundation stone for the Sarai in 1919. Claiming that the building was coming too near its tracks, the South Indian Railway raised objections to its construction.
  The consequent case went up to the Privy Council and, eventually, after its ruling, the building was completed and inaugurated in 1921. The Sarai is now vested in the Jamaath of the Periamet mosque. Among Abdul Hakim’s other contributions are the Muslim High School in Triplicane, of which he was one of the founders. In Melvisharam, a higher secondary school and an engineering college bear his name. He was Sheriff of Madras in 1930 and in 1937 was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly from North Madras.
caption: Siddique Sarai Mosque 1
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