Makhdoom Muhammad Ameen Faheem was born on 4th August 1939 in the city Hala in Sindh. His father, Makhdoom Muhammmad Zaman was the 17th spiritual leader of Sarwari Jammat and as well a powerful feudal figure in the province. His father was one of the prominent 67 participants who laid the foundation of the Pakistan Peoples Party where he was made the senior vice-chairman of the party and PPP was found at his house in Hala, Sindh. Amin Fahim completed his primary education in 1955 from Hala and did matriculation from a local high school in his native town Hala, in 1957. After passing the university entrance exams, Fahim enrolled in the University of Sindh as an undecided major and declared his major in 1958 at the department of social sciences. Faheem declared major in political science and gained Bachelor of Science (with honors) in Political science from the Sindh University in 1961.
Initially, Makhdoom Amin Fahim was more interested in poetry than politics. However, he had no choice but to jump into the fray as the political heir of Makhdoom family. He once said, ‘Poetry is my first love. I am still fond of saying verses and reading poetry of others’ His forte is mystic poetry. His poetry speaks about love, Peace, and simplicity. He was also the leader of the spiritual group of people called the “Sarwari Jamaat” in Pakistan, consisting of millions of people across the world. He was once married to Dina, elder sister of famous Bangladeshi Singer Runa Laila who later died due to cancer.
During the popular wave of Pakistan People’s Party for 1970 general election, Faheem joined the party as a junior member. He successfully contested in the elections, securing his NA-Thatta constituency in Sindh. He served in the Sindh Assembly on PPP platform, working on human rights affairs and educational development. Since then, he contested eight elections from elections held in 1977, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2008 and 2013, remaining undefeated and creating a national record. Makhdoom Amin Fahim, however, boycotted the non-party elections of 1985 held by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq-led military regime in line with the decision of his party. In 1993 he contested as MPA and MNA, and was the only Parliamentarian in Pakistan to win both seats unopposed. After that he gave up the MPA seat to his younger brother and he even came unopposed on it. He was Communications Minister from December 1988 to August 1990, Railways Minister from December 1988 to March 1989. In the next tenure, he was Minister for Housing and Works from January 1994 to November 1996. He was made the Commerce Minister of Pakistan in November 2008.
Makhdoom Ameen Faheem was always a strong supporter of democracy and was never in favor of Martial Law. Another remarkable quality was that he always supported his party and never left it. He was the most obvious PPP candidate for the Prime Minister, but when Yousaf Raza Gillani was nominated, Mr. Ameen Faheem was heard saying he would not leave the party and had best wishes for Gillani.
He was diagnosed of blood cancer in 2014 and on 21st November 2015, he died in the ICU of a hospital in Karachi. His body was carried to his hometown Hala and there were hundreds of people in his funeral.
