The Patni HousingSociety · Surat

Surat city came in existence in 1530 A.D. Surat was a port city and was also known as Babul Makkah. Our fore fathers who were mostly business men and some had overseas business also gradually started migrating to Surat from Patan.

The exact date of forming an organisation as Jamaat is unknown. But it is also a fact that a community’s one of the major requirement is a Qabrastan where they can bury their dead relatives so a part of land of our Maqbara Qabrastan was donated by Janab Abdur Rahman bin Muhammed bin Abdur Rahman in 1751 A.D.

This shows that some sort of Jamaat organisation must have come in force before this date.

A hand written diary of Janab Gulam Mohiyuddin bin Gulam Nabi Mombasawala from 1880 A.D. onwards shows many Jamaat Activities at that period of time. Such as: Jamaat spent Rs.333 and 9 ana on 3 day picnic on 15-7-1881. In 1876 a shawl (cost Rs.30) was presented to Jamaat Ameer (President). Jamaat membership fee of Rs.286 and 12 ana collected (2 ana per year per person) from 173 families in 1876.

This shows that activities of our Jamaat were highly organised in those early days. At present Jamaat consists of more than 1500 families living in Surat, Ahmedabad, Bharuch, Ankleshwar, Bardoli, Vyara, Songadh, Valsad, Mumbai, Pune and also in foreign countries like, Canada, America, England, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan. It is much more organised Alhamdu Lillah.