Dr Farid Uddin Khaled Shariff migrated to Canada in 1960, a few years after graduating from the Dhaka Medical College in the 1950s. Having completed his internship training at the Regina General Hospital, Dr Shariff had a challenging and exciting year of practice at the Grey Nuns in Ile-a-la-Crosse before travelling to Edinburgh, Scotland for further study.
Winnipeg, Canada, became his home since 1965, where Dr. Shariff completed the lengthy and intensive training to become a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. During his 42 years of Orthopedic Practice, Dr. Shariff’s priority was always and without exception the safety and well-being of his patients.
As a young medical student, Farid Shariff was politically engaged, participating in the Bengali language movement in 1952. Despite his busy schedule, Dr. Shariff was able to make time for important volunteer work throughout his life. In 1971, he returned to the newly formed country of Bangladesh and took care of patients injured in the Liberation War. There was incredible need for surgeons at this time, and he and his colleague Dr. Ted Hiebert answered the call. Always involved in community activities and looking after the welfare of the Bangladeshi diaspora, Dr. Shariff founded the Canada-Bangladesh Association, which has been an important organization for connecting Bengalis in Manitoba since its inception in mid-1980.
Dr. Shariff was also one of the early contributors to the Manitoba Islamic Association when it was founded in 1969. While devoted to his family, the Bangladeshi community, and most importantly his patients in Canada, Dr. Shariff travelled frequently travelled to Bangladesh to oversee his many medical and educational projects in his home village, Pirkhain, Chittagong. He was more than satisfied with the successful completion of the Moulana Ashraf Chowdhury High School and a mosque. Not always patient, but a man with a generous heart, demonstrating with conviction that he truly was his brother’s keeper.
Dr. Shariff was also a keen outdoorsman and enjoyed sailing, boating, and fishing. On the weekends throughout the summers, he would spend time at his cottage at the Lake of the Woods in Kenora – about 2 hr 16 min (209.2 km) away from Winnipeg. He often hosted family friends to partake in Canadian cottage life. He was a talented carpenter and made many of his own additions to his cottage and to friends’ homes. He built a beautiful outdoor deck for one of his oldest and closest friends, Dr. Mujibur Rahman, just so that his friend could enjoy the outdoors while at home.
Dr. Shariff passed away peacefully in the presence of his family on Monday, 17 November, 2023. His loving family includes his wife Rosemary and children Iftekhar (Apu), Khaled, Mary, Tahara, and Shane; and grandchildren Dakota, Roan, Gabriel and George.
Dr. Mohammad Mujibur Rahman’s illustrious career spanned over three continents and six decades. He worked as a Family Physician in Manitoba for 40 years – in Winnipeg and throughout the province including Flin Flon, Steinbach, Stonewall, Vita, Eriksdale, Sprague and Cross Lake.
Indeed, being a doctor was an intrinsic part of his identity. He loved medicine with a passion, and deeply respected and appreciated the doctors, nurses and all those he worked with.
Dr. Rahman thrived on helping patients with complex medical problems. Using his keen intellect and astute clinical knowledge and skills Dr. Rahman often was able to make diagnoses that evaded others. His patients knew him as a caring and compassionate doctor. Dr. Rahman was always very generous with his time and would do everything possible to get to the bottom of his patients’ issues and endeavour to heal them.
Dr. Rahman had extremely humble beginnings, and was met with early challenges of hunger and poverty. Just as a rocket needs explosive energy to reach the moon, he had to face incredible odds and seemingly impenetrable barriers to reach his goal of becoming a physician. Dr. Rahman had his MBBS degree from Dhaka Medical College, and achieved his highest level of training in the UK as a specialist in Internal Medicine and a consultant in Geriatrics: Member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) and later was made Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Glasgow and Edinburgh (FRCP).
Dr. Rahman never forgot his humble beginnings and consistently supported his relatives, friends and the most vulnerable and needy people. He recognized ‘diamonds in the rough’, as he was one himself, and he supported them to the best of his capacity. Although he may not have described himself as such, he was a staunch feminist. He would contribute regularly to causes that supported the education and empowerment of women and girls.
Dr. Rahman also had a strong love for animals and creatures great and small. He was always greatly disturbed by incidents of animal cruelty or negligence and gave many donations to animal welfare groups. He also loved nature, the outdoors and the family cats. One of his favourite pastimes was canoeing on the Seine River.
Dr. Rahman was very humorous and a wonderful story teller who could captivate any audience with riveting tales of his own amazing life and those of the many inspiring adventure stories that he had read as a child and recalled with particular detail. He was a life-long learner and regularly collected and studied his many books on medicine, history, religion, philosophy, nature and personal development. He never stopped attending medical conferences and talks on general topics of interest.
Dr. Rahman deeply respected and admired those who valued knowledge, no matter their age or station in life. He was a true visionary who loved people and whose ideas were often ahead of their time. He cared greatly about community welfare, present and future, and always endeavoured to build and strengthen local institutions.
Dr. Rahman played a founding role in Al-Hijra Islamic School, the Grand Mosque and Winnipeg Central Mosque. Throughout his life, he gave openheartedly and unselfishly of his time, money and energy to all who needed him. If he was able to help someone, he would do so immediately and without hesitation. He made helping others a priority ahead of himself and did not procrastinate when it came to doing good work.
A dear and loving husband and father, a talented and skilful healer, an inspirational visionary, a generous benefactor, a staunch protector, a patient teacher, a devout worshipper, Dr. Rahman passed away on 25 January, 2018 at the age of 82. His is survived by his affectionate family – wife Firdaus, son Abdullah (Babu) and daughters Jennifer, Saira and Nilufer.
We pray to the Most Gracious and Most Merciful to over look Dr. Shariff’s and Dr. Rahman’s shortcomings, accept their good deeds and grant them the highest place in the Paradise.
Based on the obituaries for Dr. Shariff and Dr. Rahman
