Fazel Mohammad Khan
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-21 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Graham Hassall, Fazel Mohammad Khan, Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1999, bahai-library.com.
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Fazel Mohammad Khan

Graham Hassall
published in Bahá'í WorldVol. 20 (1986-1992), pp. 839-843

Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1999

Fazel Mohammad Khan came from the
village Khassi near Lahore, a part of India which later became
part of Pakistan. He was born in April 1906 and attended village
school to higher level, and studied English. In November 1932 he
arrived in Australia aboard the R.M.S STRATHNAYER with his
father, Karim Box, in search of a better life. He later returned
to his home and married Hukoomat Bibi and brought her to
Australia, together with his half-brother. The Khans were among
the first Indians to settle in Australia.

Frank was a self-taught and
self-reliant man who rose from humble economic circumstances
through paying careful attention to saving, and through his
genuine concern for others. He at first made his living by
selling clothes door to door, and later opened an electrical
goods store in Mittagong. In 1952-53 the Khans moved from
Mittagong to Wollongong, partly because Frank had come to know
every family resident in the area and had exhausted his
"market", having sold to each of them the major new
electrical appliances as they became available - appliances such
as radios, washing machines and refrigerators. In Dapto the Khans
bought a dairy farm which they eventually subdivided and
developed.

Frank was introduced to the
Bahá'í Faith when Stanley and Mariette Bolton, having read in a
letter from the Guardian that the Australian Bahá'ís should
deepen their understanding of Islam, invited him to address the
Bahá'í Summer School at Yerrinbool. Frank was known throughout
the Australian Muslim community for religious devotion and
learning. He travelled regularly to Sydney to teach religious
classes, and had memorised two-thirds of the Quran.

Before accepting an invitation to
speak to a gathering of Bahá'ís Frank consulted the members of
his family. They agreed that he could do so, and Frank was
motivated by the possibility that he might convert the Bahá'ís
to Islam. He spoke in a series on "Nine great religions of
the World" at the Yerrinbool Winter School at Yerrinbool, in
September 1947. Frank was impressed by the Bahá'ís and the
Bahá'í teachings, but his understanding of Islamic teachings
concerning the "day of resurrection" and the "seal
of the prophets" prevented him from changing his faith. Soon
after, however, the explanations of these doctrines from the
Bahá'í perspective given him by Joseph Perdu, who was then
travelling through Australia, dissolved his concerns.

Frank and Bibi were the first
Muslims to become Bahá'ís in Australia. They declared their
faith at the Yerrinbool Summer School in December 1948 and became
members of the Yerrinbool Bahá'í community. The summer school
committee cabled to Shoghi Effendi:

LOVING GREETINGS THIRTEENTH
SUMMER SCHOOL COMMENCED WITH MOSLEM FAMILY ACCEPTING
FAITH SUPPLICATING PRAYERS FRUITFUL ACHIEVEMENTS

To this cable Shoghi Effendi
replied:

DELIGHTED ASSURE ATTENDANTS
NEWLY ENROLLED FAMILY LOVING FERVENT PRAYERS MAY SCHOOL
SESSIONS PROVE LANDMARK PROGRESS FAITH LEND TREMENDOUS
IMPETUS UNFOLDMENT PLAN DEEPEST LOVE

Upon becoming a Bahá'í Frank was
ridiculed and scorned by his Muslim friends and relatives, whom
he nevertheless continued to visit, and to teach the Faith.
Eventually his two half-brothers became Bahá'ís. On two later
occasions Frank visited his home village in Pakistan and
endeavoured to teach them his new religion. On the first visit
no-one was prepared to listen, but during the second visit a
cousin declared in the town of Sialkote.

In the following years Frank Khan
became one of Australia's most devoted and active teachers and
administrators of the Bahá'í Faith. His subsequent long
association with the Yerrinbool Bahá'í school as both a speaker
and member of the school committee is unparalleled. He was
chairman of the Yerrinbool Summer School committee from about
1950 into the mid 1960s. The existence of considerable tensions
within the community as to how the school should be developed
made this a testing time for Frank, and for other members of the
committee. Despite innumerable difficulties, however, Frank was
proud of the fact that while he was treasurer on the committee,
the Yerrinbool School made a profit on its operations.

Over a period of four decades,
also, he was a source of knowledge concerning Islam and the Quran
for the Australian Bahá'ís, who utilised his learning at both
local and national levels. Although his mother tongue was Urdu,
and English his second language, Frank learnt to read and speak
Farsi and Arabic after becoming a Bahá'í, in order to read
Bahá'u'lláh's words in the original. He learnt the meaning of
words by comparing a text in several languages simultaneously. In
the teaching field Frank was most fearless, and continued to call
his Muslim brothers to the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. He ordered
many Bahá'í books in the Urdu language to teach fellow-Indians
in Australia.

In 1950, soon after becoming a
Bahá'í Frank was elected as one of two delegates from the
Yerrinbool Local Assembly to National Convention. He was elected
to the National Assembly and became treasurer. Dulcie Dive, the
former treasurer, was appointed his assistant. Frank was elected
to the National Spiritual Assembly for three consecutive years,
1950-53; and again for two years 1964-66. Frank was subsequently
elected delegate to Annual convention many times.

As national treasurer in 1950 he
wrote to the Australian Bahá'ís on the "lowness of the
funds":

Bold decisions and
large scale plannings that are required to carry forth
the blasts of the Twice Blown Trumpet of This Might and
World Wide Resurrection cannot be taken because the Funds
in the Treasury will not permit it...

The Seed is not
being scattered in the soil of the mentalities of
Australian and New Zealand brothers and sisters in a way
that we should if we were to discharge our obligations to
our slumbering brethren on this holy soil. The day is
coming, my brothers and sisters, when the Cause shall be
accepted. The Supreme God, Who sent down this Mother
Book, this perfect Law, is most certainly potent of
having it accepted and followed. This stage that we are
passing through now is but a Passing Phase. "Surely
with difficulty is Ease and surely with difficulty is
Ease"...

Will each and
every brother and sister give this matter their most
serious consideration and act now, to gladden the hearts
of your brethren, the N.S.A., to put new and vigorous
life into the Cause which assuredly will prevail, which
you have fortunately chosen to back, which each nation is
now summoned to obey, which is the Salvation of Mankind,
which is the command and Cause of the Potent, the
Powerful Mighty God, the Lord of the Worlds.

Humbly in His
service,

F.M. Khan.

This eloquent written
appeal to the Australian Bahá'ís conveys something of the
melodic quality of Frank's speaking style. He possessed a deep
and resonant voice, the sound of which conveyed a conviction to
match the words he uttered. He spoke words of praise for the
prophets, and conveyed a love of God and of spiritual qualities
at all times. He offered his services as a public speaker in the
far flung cities and towns of Australia and the Pacific Islands.

On many occasions he spoke
at public events held by the southern NSW communities of
Mittagong, Bowral, Yerrinbool and Wollongong. For Yerrinbool's
1953 Naw Ruz celebrations held at the Bowral C.W.A. rooms, for
instance, Frank read an "eloquent exposition of the Bahá'í
Faith" at which was published in the local press. He was a
champion lawn bowler, and through friends made in pursuit of this
sport, gave innumerable talks to Apex and Rotary clubs. He was
also travelled on many occasions to the cities and towns of
Victoria and New South Wales.

In July 1952 Frank made
the first of his visits to Fiji, where his efforts in teaching
both Hindu and Muslim Indian-Fijian communities were quite
successful. He gave two talks to the Literary Club of Suva, two
radio broadcasts on ZJV, one in Urdu and another in English,
addressed Suva's Rotary Club, and a gathering of some 40 Hindus.
On another night he failed to show up to a dinner given in his
honour, because the organisers forgot to invite him. Gretta
Lamprill, then secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly,
included in her report of 21 May 1953 to Shoghi Effendi
concerning teaching activities of the Australian Bahá'ís:
"The report to the N.S.A. of Mr. Fazel M. Khan on his recent
teaching trip to Fiji was received by us with great happiness as
Fazel feels confident that a Spiritual Assembly will be
established in Suva at the beginning of Bahá'í Year 110".

Between June and August
1958 Frank worked with Bill Washington to erect the Bahá'í
school in Port Vila, in the New Hebrides. A short report appeared
in the Bahá'í Bulletin.

In the final three years
of the Ten Year Crusade, 1960-63, Frank travelled to most
Australian States giving fireside and public meetings. In 1960 he
visited Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria. In Brisbane in September
Frank addressed three meetings on the fulfilment of Christian
prophecy, each with an average attendance of 20, including 6
non-Bahá'ís; Speaking on the Covenant at a NSW state teaching
conference in November he related firmness in the Covenant to
working toward the 10 Year Crusade goals. The years until the
completion of the plan were filled with efforts toward achieving
the goals of the plan. In November 1961 Frank & Bibi left
Australia to visit the grave of the Guardian, to make their
pilgrimage in Haifa, and to visit Bahá'í communities in Europe
and Asia.

In July 1962 Frank spoke
on Islam in a series organised by Bahá'ís at University of
Queensland; and in October he addressed firesides and public
meetings in Gawler, Salisbury, Murray Bridge, Tailem Bend,
Glossop, Hoxton and Renmark, during a two week teaching trip in
South Australia. While in Adelaide he and Goro Jorgic visited a
mosque where he held an "animated discussion" with some
30 Muslims. He also addressed a public meeting at Glossop in the
Murray Valley, attended by some 50 enquirers, mainly aboriginals.
Frank and Goro moved on to NSW, where Goro spoke in Sydney,
Wollongong, Blacktown and Newcastle, and Frank spoke at meetings
in the goal towns of Orange and Mudgee.

Frank returned to South
Australia in December 1962 to teach in the assembly goal areas of
Salisbury, Gawler and Murray Bridge. During this 10 day trip his
theme was that the coming of Bahá'u'lláh is the fulfilment of
the prophecies and promises recorded in the Bible and Quran.
According to a report in the Bahá'í Bulletin,

As a result of the
devoted teaching work of the local communities in these
areas, and the assistance of Mr. Khan and other
travelling teachers, many new believers were enrolled in
the Goal areas in the latter part of December, bringing
them to the verge of Assembly status, which Murray Bridge
subsequently achieved.

In January 1963 Frank
visited Tasmania and Victoria, giving most firesides in Hobart,
Devonport and Ballarat. Once again, he spoke on Devonport's radio
7AD.

With the glorious years of
the Ten Year Crusade at a close, the tasks of consolidating the
existing Bahá'í communities in Australia increased, and the
task of further proclaiming the message of Bahá'u'lláh
continued. Frank continued throughout the Nine-Year Plan to
travel in both Australia and the Islands of the Pacific.

In 1965 Frank spent three
weeks in Fiji: His visit was widely publicised over the radio and
two of his talks were broadcast. He spoke with Muslims at their
centre in Samabula, with Sikhs in their village at Tamavua and
later in their Temple; furthermore an invitation was extended to
him to address the Arya Samaj sect of the Hindus. Most of his
time was spent at small gatherings in the homes of some Indian
believers and their contacts, the result of which was the
enrolment of several believers.

In December 1967, as part
of a national proclamation campaign to mark the centenary of
Bahá'u'lláh's addresses to the Kings, Frank addressed a meeting
of Wollongong local government council for ten minutes.

Throughout the 1960s Frank
continued to educate the Australian Bahá'í community through
his talks at Yerrinbool Summer School. In January of both 1968
and 1960 Frank spoke on the Teachings of Islam. According to a
report of his talk during the latter school:

Basing his talks
on quotations from the Quran and the Gleanings, which he
occasionally read or chanted beautifully in Arabic, Mr
Khan conveyed not simply the teachings of Islam but also
the spirit of Islam. The series showed the close and
wonderful spiritual link between the Bahá'í and Moslem
Dispensation, and how a true understanding and love of
the Moslem Revelation gained by Bahá'ís can greatly
increase our awareness of the great station of the Bab
and Bahá'u'lláh and this Cause.

At Summer School in
January 1970 Frank's knowledge of Islamic scriptures was "of
great benefit to the friends" in a study of the
Kitab-i-Iqan.

Late in 1969 Frank and
Bibi travelled through Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, Woolgoolga,
Lismore, Tambalgum, Brisbane, Glen Innes, Mudgee, Wellington,
Parkes and Orange. Frank's report of his time in Brisbane
includes:

rang the Mullah of
the Mosque and asked to present the Mosque library with
Bahá'í books. At first he refused, then agreed to
receive us...The Mullah was there (not very friendly) and
the chairman of the Islamic Society. We requested that
our Bahá'í books be accepted but they refused to accept
them from us and said Bahá'u'lláh is an imposter. We
told him to fear God and don't say such a thing.

Although unreported, Frank
was on several occasions chased out of mosques, and even
threatened with beating by sticks.

Toward the end of the Nine
Year Plan, as at the end of the Crusade which preceded it, Frank
travelled extensively to give firesides and public meetings,
particularly in country towns. In May 1971 Frank & Bibi
travel teaching in Mudgee, Goulburn, Young, Orange and Parkes. In
Mudgee, Frank spoke of the insurmountable barriers that exist
between the religions of the world and illustrated that only
through the Bahá'í Faith could any genuine unity or religion be
achieved. He also stressed the unity of the prophets and their
message, but highlighted the uniqueness of the Bahá'í
revelation. In Orange he conducted firesides on "A New World
Order" at the home of Mr & Mrs Colin Cole, using wall
charts to illustrate his points. During such teaching trips Frank
often discussed the long obligatory prayer with his hosts, and
took delight in demonstrating for them the correct genuflections
which were an important part of it.

In addition to these
travels, Frank was active in his own community. He reported in
October 1970 children's classes he was conducting in Wollongong,
which consisted of:

1. the Founder and
Principal figures of our Faith - Bahá'u'lláh, the Bab,
Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi

2. About earlier
prophets of God - Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Noah,
Hud, Abraham, and any stories about them all.

3. Their life
stories, the places or countries they lived in, the kind
of persons they were and other human interest factors
about them

4. Our laws of
prayer, ablutions, the method of prayer and why, and our
administrative order.

5. About God and
His presence with us at all times

6. Our duties to
God, to ourselves and to other people

7. Health laws of
cleanliness, healthy work and play.

Late in 1971 Frank and his
grandson, Peter Vohradsky, addressed forty young people at the
Methodist Church, Wollongong.

In 1972 Frank and Bibi
made their second pilgrimage and once more travelled through
Iran.

April 1974 Frank gave
firesides and deepenings in Orange.

Although gaining in years,
Frank continued to speak regularly at Summer School. Through his
many years of success in business Frank was able to become
benefactor to the House of Worship, the Yerrinbool School; and
through his philanthropic nature he extended assistance to
individuals in need. Frank died on Wednesday 10 September 1986.
His funeral was conducted at Shellharbour Cemetery on 15
September. The Universal House of Justice cabled

DEEPLY GRIEVED
LEARN PASSING DEVOTED SERVANT FAITH FRANK KHAN HIS
OUTSTANDING SERVICES CONTRIBUTIONS FAITH AUSTRALIA AND
PACIFIC UNFORGETTABLE KINDLY CONVEY MEMBERS HIS FAMILY
OUR HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES AND ASSURANCE LOVING PRAYERS
HIS IMMORTAL SOUL ALL WORLDS GOD

ENDNOTES

Note: The footnote numbers have been lost in this online version.

. Bahá'í Quarterly
45, October 1947, 6.

. Bahá'í Quarterly,
47, April 1948, 6.

. Bahá'í News
Bulletin 10, January 1949, 2.

. At Summer school in 1948
Frank spoke on the "Seven Valleys". In January 1949
Frank gave a talk at Summer School on "The
Resurrection": Bahá'í News Bulletin 11, February
1949, 8. At Summer School in January 1951 Frank spoke on the
Koran and the Tablet of Ahmad (Bahá'í News Bulletin 36,
February 1951, 7). On the 1955 SS program. Jan 58 he spoke on
"heralds of the Day of God" and "The Seven
Valleys". At Summer School, Jan 1959 Frank spoke on
"Prayer and fasting" and the Dispensations of
Abdu'l-Bahá and Bahá'u'lláh. Joy spoke on the history and
teachings of Islam, and Peter on progressive revelation. Joy was
on the Summer school Committee.

Service on committees in 1959, 1961, 1965-67 (1967 Bibi also on committee)

. Frank wrote to NSA 25
May 1958 wishing to resign from the committee in frustration at
the control over schools still exercised by the Boltons: Frank
Khan to NSA 25 May 1958. 0241/0060.

. In July Frank spoke on
the Koran and the Bahá'í Faith at a fireside in the home of Mr
& Mrs McMiles at Caringbah: Bahá'í News Bulletin 19,
September 1949, 10.

. In May 1949 the NSA
ordered books for Frank from India: NSA (M Bolton) to F Khan 18
May 1949. 0554/0165. In June 1949 he had two Pakistani Muslim
families to dinner, and wished to send them "The Book of
Resurrection" in Urdu. He had given a book to his brother,
who he thought might declare at the next summer school (F Khan to
NSA 20 June 1949. 0554/0165). Mariette Bolton invited Frank's
friends Mr Basheer and Mr Afeef to Lang Road.

. The other delegate was
Stanley W. Bolton. During the convention Frank stressed the
importance of unity in thought, spirit and action: Bahá'í
News Bulletin 27, June 1950, 6.

. Frank received 9 votes -
Alvin Blum received the highest (15) and Gretta Lamprill was the
ninth member (7): Bahá'í News Bulletin 28, July 1950, 6.

. elected delegate with SW
Bolton in 1951, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960. Delegate 1967. As
delegate at 1956 Convention Frank recommended that the NSA
circularise the communities to explain the necessity for further
funds, and urging generous contributions; and to investigate the
procurement of ringstones and burial rings in Australia: Bahá'í
Bulletin 24, June 1956, 7.

. "Treasurers
Message", Bahá'í News Bulletin 29, August 1950, 13.
At 1951 convention Frank outlined to the community the NSA's
resolve to send £1,000 to the Guardian in the next year (Bahá'í
Bulletin 40, June 1951, 2). Frank was re-elected to the NSA
(11 votes) but Dulcie Dive was elected treasurer (Bahá'í
Bulletin 40, June 1951, 5. 1952).

. On 8 July 1950 Frank was
one of three speakers at a public meeting at the C.W.A. Hall in
Bowral, commemorating the Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Bab.
Frank Wyss spoke on "The World to Which the Bab came",
Mariette Bolton spoke on the "Martyrdom of the Bab",
and Frank spoke on "The world since the Bab". Joy Khan,
who had just become a Bahá'í youth, provided musical items: Bahá'í
News Bulletin 29, August 1950, 11. On January 21 1951 Frank
spoke in Wollongong at a meeting of Yerrinbool and Wollongong
communities in commemoration of World Religion Day ( Bahá'í
Bulletin 37, March 1951, 5).

. Bahá'í Bulletin
61, May 1953, 6. In 1953 Frank was "local public relations
officer" for Yerrinbool Assembly.

. In November 1950 Frank
spoke twice by invitation of the Melbourne Community at their
"Day of the Covenant" program: Bahá'í News
Bulletin 35, January 1951, 8.

. On this visit, of two
weeks from 3 July 1952, Frank was the guest of the Nur Ali
family: Bahá'í Bulletin 53, September 1952, 6.

. NSA (Lamprill) to
Guardian 21 May 1953. 0504/0181. Frank spoke of developments in
Fiji and New Caledonia at the 1953 National Convention: Bahá'í
Bulletin 62, June 1953, 2.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
50, August 1958, 7.

. Annual Report
Bahá'í Year 117 (1960-61), 10, 12, 13.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
76, November 1960, 4.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
78, Jan 1961, 5.

. In January 1961 he spoke
in Mitcham, in Victoria, Hobart, and Devonport, where he received
newspaper coverage in the Advocate, and an 8 minute
address over 7AD radio: Bahá'í Bulletin 80, March 1961,
9.

. Their departure was
noted in Bahá'í Bulletin 89, December 1961, 6.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
97, August 1962, 11.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
100, November 1962, 9.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
101, December 1962, 14.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
102, January 1963, 4.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
103, February 1963, 14.

. He visited Melbourne for
World Religion Day and other firesides in January 1964. Bahá'í
Bulletin 116, April 1964, 5. In November 1966 Frank visited
Newcastle, visited Bahá'ís at Raymond Terrace, and spoke on
"Proofs of the Bahá'í Faith": Bahá'í Bulletin
137, January 1966, 10. 1966 teacher training institute held at
Hazira following convention, Frank spoke on "the
significance of the Universal House of Justice".

. Bahá'í Bulletin
136, December 1965, 10. A fuller report appears in Bahá'í
Bulletin 150, February 1967, 14.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
164, April 1968, 12.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
174, February 1969, 9.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
185, January 1970, 9.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
182, October 1969, 10.

. in August 1970 Frank
spoke at a public meeting in Penrith: Bahá'í Bulletin 195,
November 1970, 11.

. Australian Bahá'í
Bulletin 202, June 1971, 14.

. Australian Bahá'í
Bulletin 201, May 1971, 14.

. Late in 1970 Frank and
Bibi hosted barbecue for Featherstones: Australian Bahá'í
Bulletin 197, January 1971, 5.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
194, October 1970, 11.

. Bahá'í Bulletin
207, November 1971, 10,

. Australian Bahá'í
Bulletin 232, May/June 1974, 6.

. Australian Bahá'í
Bulletin 292, February/March 1980, 11. In 1982 he spoke on
proofs of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation from the Quran at a deepening
institute in Wollongong organised by Auxiliary Board Member Bizan
Vahdad, and attended also by Collis and Madge Featherstone: Australian
Bahá'í Bulletin 311, March 1982, 15.

. Australian Bahá'í
Bulletin 353, October 1986, 4.

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-- Fazel Mohammad Khan (Used by permission of the curator)