In his inscrutable ways, Allah has also snatched this precious gift away from me. But Allah has preference over me. He wants to have the best among us to be with Him rather than with us. For me, I can only thank Allah for the memories that Rasul Bhai has left, the four decades of friendship and camaraderie that span my youth and my middle age that now is galloping toward old age. While we mourn his loss, we also would like to celebrate the life and memories of this great soul (May 1 was his anniversary of birth) who gave us so much to thank him for.

They say it is impossible that a man could unite the talents of head and heart, and still be a good business leader. To succeed in business or in your profession, you separate the head from your heart, they say. You keep your charms for more convivial settings, parties for example, they further say. But Rasul Bhai was the anti-thesis of this conventional image. He succeeded in his profession not only for the head that he carried over his shoulder but also the heart that he carried inside. He was a brilliant student, an outstanding business leader, a decorated diplomat, an admirable social leader, and above all, a loving father to his children Rawaya and Rafay, and an endearing husband to his wife Sultana Nizam.

My memories of Rasul Nizam the man I knew, a mentor I revered would need years to recount. More difficult is that I do not know where to begin. For brevity of time, I will recount only a couple.

The most oft remembered anecdote puts me back to 1973. I was Private Secretary to Mr Kamruzzaman, Commerce Minister at that time. The country was still recovering from the chaos of the war, and our commerce and industry were faltering at best -- much due to the vacuum created by the departure of experts who had managed many of the industrial and commercial establishments. While the country at large suffered the loss of experts, there were our own nationals who profited from this exodus. The expatriate managers were replaced with our nationals.

Against this backdrop, Rasul Nizam who I had come to know only a year before made an unusual request to my minister. Could he please do something to persuade the British Director of National Brokers company to stay in Bangladesh for a couple of more years? Was he crazy, I asked? Everybody in Bangladesh wanted the expatriates to leave so that they could occupy those chairs. Would not Rasul Nizam, who was the second man in the company benefit from the exit of his British boss? "Yes", Rasul Nizam answered; "but that would benefit me only, and not the business or my company. My company needs his expertise", he added. I think the British Director did stay for a longer period, and Rasul Bhai did not lose the expertise right away. To this day I cannot think of another person who made personal gains secondary to the larger goal of the community and the country.

The second is more personal. This took place in December of 1981 when I was visiting New York, on my winter break from Cornell University. Rasul Bhai happened to be visiting New York and was staying with Farooq Sobhan, our Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN that time. Farooq Sobhan invited me to the New Year's party that he was having at his Manhattan apartment, and Rasul Nizam was one of his guests of honour. This was a double delight for me, and I appeared there much before midnight. I cannot recall the guests list, but all I remember there was Rasul Nizam surrounded by a host of colourful people of both sexes, and was at his height entertaining them with his wit and savvy that he always carried with him. When I was pondering if it was appropriate for me to break the court that he was holding, he saw me and ran to embrace me. From that moment I became the centre of his attention. We would actually chat through the whole night.

The hostess reminded Rasul Bhai several times that there were other guests also who would like to chat with him. Rasul Bhai replied he could meet them later, but could not let go of me as I was leaving the next morning. To him it was more important to give time to an old friend who had come a long way to meet with him (Cornell is 250 miles away from New York city) than party with people he barely knew. These traits, love, care and attention, were hallmark of Rasul Nizam persona -- the traits that endeared him to the countless of his friends, relatives, and well-wishers.

Khuda Baksh, the great Indian scholar who founded the famous Oriental Library in Patna, was known for such dedication to reading and library collection that he would lose contact with his family for days. It is said of him that when informed of his son's death while he was researching in the library, he just lifted his head once and said "Innah lillah...." and went back to his studies. A few months later Khuda Buksh was again informed in the library that his brother had died. This time, Khuda Buksh threw away the books, and started crying like a child. Puzzled by his behaviour the informer asked Khuda Buksh why he was unmoved when his son had died, and now he was crying to no end when his brother had died. Khuda Buksh replied, "When I lose a child I can beget another, but when I lose a brother I cannot get back another brother." I have lost Rasul Bhai, I cannot get back another Rasul Bhai. But his memories will last forever. May Allah bless his soul!

Ziauddin Choudhury works for the World Bank, Washington DC.