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2014 SPECIAL SESSION I


HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 553
Celebrating the life of Kafayatullah Rahmani.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, September 18, 2014

 

WHEREAS, Kafayatullah Rahmani of Manassas, a devoted member of the Prince William County community and a successful engineer who offered his guidance and leadership to many projects worldwide, died on July 20, 2014; and

WHEREAS, born and raised in Ludhiana, India, in 1927, Kafayatullah Rahmani moved to Lahore, Pakistan, after the partition of India in August 1947; he later traveled to England, then earned an engineering degree in 1957 from the University of Edinburgh; and

WHEREAS, from 1960 to 1970, Kafayatullah Rahmani served as a district engineer with the East African Railway Corporation, which spanned Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; in East Africa, he met and married Jane Carol Berling of Ironwood, Michigan, and together they raised three sons and a daughter; and

WHEREAS, in January 1971, Kafayatullah Rahmani and his family moved to Hong Kong after he accepted a position as a civil engineer with the Public Works Division of the Hong Kong government; in this position he participated in several key projects between 1971 and 1985; and

WHEREAS, Kafayatullah Rahmani worked on the design and construction of the platforms for the Hung Hom Station (for the Kowloon-Canton Railway), which was opened by Elizabeth II, Queen of England, on May 5, 1975; and

WHEREAS, Kafayatullah Rahmani also participated in the doubling and electrification of the Kowloon-Canton Railway line between Hung Hom and Lo Wu, which more than doubled the railway traffic with use of faster trains, and the resurfacing and regrooving of Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport’s single runway in the early 1980s; and

WHEREAS, Kafayatullah Rahmani’s most fulfilling project in Hong Kong was the reconstruction of the Kowloon Mosque on Nathan Road, for which he served as chairman of both the reconstruction and fundraising committees; and

WHEREAS, reopened in 1984, the Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre replaced the small, original mosque constructed in the 19th century at the same Nathan Road location, and Kafayatullah Rahmani had planned to return to Hong Kong in 2014 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the grand reopening of the Kowloon Mosque; and

WHEREAS, Kafayatullah Rahmani was also a longtime president of the Hong Kong Hockey Association, as well as the Pakistan Association in Kowloon; he represented Hong Kong at an international level as a player in regional and international veteran field hockey tournaments; and

WHEREAS, after leaving Hong Kong and moving to the United States in 1985, Kafayatullah Rahmani continued to take on new professional challenges and served as chief engineer of the Prince William County Roads Division for two decades; and

WHEREAS, after an astonishing engineering career spanning more than 60 years and railway, airport, and road projects on four continents, Kafayatullah Rahmani retired in April 2010 at the age of 83; and

WHEREAS, Kafayatullah Rahmani was very active in community affairs and established the Muslim Association of Virginia in 1989; his most fulfilling project in Virginia was the design, construction, and completion of the new Dar Al-Noor Islamic Community Center in Prince William County, which opened on July 14, 2007; and

WHEREAS, Kafayatullah Rahmani will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by his loving wife, Jane; children, Adnan, Ziad, Imran, and Sameena, and their families; and numerous other family members and friends throughout the world; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Delegates hereby note with great sadness the loss of Kafayatullah Rahmani, a respected engineer and an admired community leader in Prince William County; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Kafayatullah Rahmani as an expression of the House of Delegates’ respect for his memory.