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FEREYDOUN KHAZRAI
Knight of Bahá’u’lláh 1914—1994
SHARE YOUR SENSE LOSS [N PASSING KNIGHT BAHA’U’LLAH ROMANIA FEREYDOUN KHAZRAI, STALWART FOLLOWER BAHA’U’LLAH AND DEVOTED SERVANT HIS CAUSE.
RECALL \WITH DEEP APPRECIATION HIS PERSERVERANCE, WITH SUPPORT HIS DEAR WIFE, ARECLA, AT PIONEER POST ROMANIA.
KINDLY CONVEY LOVING SYMPATHY MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY, AND ASSURANCE FERVENT PRAYERS HOLY SHRINES PROGRESS HIS RADIANT SOUL.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ROMANIA BEING ADVISED HOLD NATIONAL MEMORIAL GATHERING.
Universal House ofjustice February 22, 1994
ereydoun Khazrai was born on Naw R62 1914 (March 20, after sunset) in Sabzevér, Iran, to Moghadan ‘Azizu’llsih Khazrai and Tahereh Parvini. He was a grandson of Mullá ‘Aliy—i—Sabzevati, one of the seven martyrs onazd. At birth he was given the name Parvíz, and when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá learned of this, he is reported to have said, “Parvíz was not at all a just king. He would be better named Fereydoun.”
In 1927 his parents sent Fereydoun and his brother to Europe to be educated. World War II forced them to return to Iran,
Fergidazm Khazmi
and from 1940 to 1946 Feteydoun worked with his father, a well—known merchant. By the time of his return he had forgotten his religious heritage, and he felt no adherence to the Faith.
At the end of the war Fereydoun moved to Paris, and in 1950 he was wed to Parvine Ansari, a direct descendent of Mirza’ Sa’id Khan, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the time of Bahá’u’lláh. Two children were born of this marriage—the first, a boy, lived but one week.
Fereydoun moved to Rome in 1952, where he established a business dubbing the sound tracks of American and Italian films into Farsi. He often went to the Embassy of Iran to visit a friend of his father—in—law, a consular official and charge d’aflraires. During a reception at the embassy, he met the distinguished scholar Alessandro Bausani.78 Fereydoun did not know in whose presence he was at the
78 See “In Memoriam," The Bahá’í World, vol. XX,
PP- 895—96
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time, and after Professor Bausani left the embassy, the charge d’afFaires said, “He has become a Bahá’í,” and uttered some insults. Fereydoun later met Dr. Bausani on several other occasions and enjoyed a pleasant relationship with him.
One night after having retired to his bed, he thought to himself, “My God. I don’t know anyone to whom I can turn and ask, ‘Is this story of the Bahá’ís true or false? I would so much like to know the truth!m He fell asleep and dreamed.
Fereydoun writes:
I dreamed that I had come to an immense garden but I did not enter. Much was hidden from my view, but I saw, at the end of a path, a dervish sitting and playing with pebbles. I began to approach him and a voice directed me saying, “Ask him concerning the matters that trouble you.” When I was close enough to him, I spoke to him with respect and asked, “Are they not true, [Siyyid] ‘Ali—Muhammad and Mirzzi Husayn—‘Ah’ [The Báb and Baha’u’llah]?” Continuing to play with the stones, the dervish raised his head, looked at me and said, “Their truths are like the things in my fist." He then opened his hand and there I saw a large diamond and an emerald, sparkling in his palm. The vision woke me and I wept unceasingly. I wept and moaned so much that I woke my wife who asked me ifI was ill. I tried to quiet myself. The Vision was so sudden and the response so peremptory that I could neither hold back my tears not believe its veracity. At that moment I decided to become a Bahá’í, convinced that God was closer to me than my Iife—vein.79 It
79 Cleaning: from the Writings of Babri'u’l/zz’l], sec. XCIII.
is enough to be sincere in our search for God For us to find Him, by whatever means, as long as the desire is enkindled within us.
A month after having the dream Fereydoun departed for Iran to give the news to his mother. When he arrived in Tihtan, his sisters told him that she was in another town. He sent a telegraph to her, telling her to return immediately.
How many times had she begged me to make my declaration and I always refused! I told her of the change I had undergone, but she did not believe me. Only after sharing with her the story of my prayer and my dream did she accept what I was saying and offer thanks to Baha’u’llah. I asked for books so that I could deepen my knowledge of the Teachings. Acting on my mother’s advice, I went to find Mr. Furt’itan who was then secretary of the National Assembly of Iran. I went to the Bahá’í Center at 6 AM and waited. I walked the paths about the Hazirat’ul-Quds and Mr. Furutan arrived about a half hour later followed by a dozen people. He saw me from afar and was very surprised. He knew the story of my family well. He asked me, “What are you doing here!” I smiled at him and with respect said, “I have come to enrol,” and he led me to his office.
The following evening Fereydoun met with the Local Assembly of Tihtan and was admitted into the Faith. Fereydoun returned to Italy, met with the Hand of the Cause Mt. Ugo Giachery, and attended his first Bahá’í event in Rome, the commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Báb. About this time, when many changes were transpiring in his life, his marriage dissolved.
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Fereydoun lived in Rome from 1952 to 1961 and served on the Local Assembly and on its Reception Committee, often rising at 2 or 3 AM to meet someone at the airport. His mother visited him, and with the encouragement of Mr. Giachety, she decided to apply for pilgrimage. This gave Fereydoun the inspiration of applying as well, and in the latter months of1956 the Guardian invited him to come.
Of his time in the Holy Land Fereydoun
wrote:
One day during my pilgrimage, the Guardian spoke with enthusiasm and spontaneity of the countries of the East and those behind the Iron Curtain and, as if the words were being taken out of my mouth, I interrupted him and asked ifI would have the privilege of going there.
This awkward interruption startled the other pilgrims, but the Guardian calmly repeated, “Try and you will sueceed! Try and you will succeed!” And then he continued his talk. I was left in a dream and hardly knew where I was, or who had spoken to me. When I came to myself, I found myselfin the company of the others in the Shrine of the Báb. I listened as the Guardian chanted the Prayer of Visitation. The prayer over, he went out and I was obliged to follow. The others remained in the Sacred Shrine.
Outside the Guardian asked me, in a friendly tone, ifI would like to participate in the great Crusade. I was again speechless. Not a word would leave my mouth. With my habitual bad luck I knew that I would not succeed. As I hesitated, he posed his question again, but with a bit more impatience. I lost my train of thought and the command of my tongue, and yet I wanted
to explain my bad luck and the slips of my tongue. “IfI have the dignity for this,” I said, although I wanted to say that I hardly qualified for this honor. The Guardian waited for me to explain and grimaced. “Dignity?” he repeated after me. Then he recalled his earlier statement to me, “Try and you will succeed! Try and you will succeed!"
On the day of farewell, Dr. Ḥakím accompanied me to the house of the Guardian to say our goodbyes . . . The Guardian gave me his recommendations. “You are going to leave forTihran. Put your agairs in order and return to Rome from where you will begin your pioneering career. In Tihran, speak to no one of this matter. It is in Rome that you will make your application to enter Romania as a pioneer. After, you will return here like Mr. Banani, Mr. Faizi, Dr. Muhájir, a conquering victor.”
In 1968 Fereydoun went to Romania, remaining there until 1981. He wrote:
I never found work in Romania, nor was I able to conduct commercial transactions. I struggled for three years to secure a resident’s visa, during which time I had to return to Rome each month to get temporary visas . . . To get the authorization of marriage, one had to apply to the President of the Republic, an easy enough thing, since Romania had excellent relations with the Embassy of Iran. But For the administrative formalities, I had to go to the secret police. They asked me to collaborate with them by making regular reports of all cocktail and reception discussions between Visitors and members of the embassy. I refused on principle. They responded by threatening me. They said that one day I would
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return to them on bended knee asking for their help and then they would have their revenge.
Fereydoun married in the late 19605, and his wife, Arecla (Spulber), became the first Romanian Bahá’í. 'Ihey had three Children: a son, AziZ—Georges, and two daughters, Tahereh—Hottense and Marie Bahieh.
Their residence, like those of the other foreigners, had its telephone tapped, and their every movement was monitored. Anne Marie Kr'tiger, granddaughter ofDr. Auguste Forel and secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany, and Miss Doris Katzenstein, also of Germany, were the first to realize such strict surveillance.
In this difficult environment Fereydoun seized every opportunity to talk of the Faith. It was a great joy when two medical students and their mother from TaguMures accepted the Faith. They endured pressure and persecution by the secret police until threats on the part of the Faculty of Medicine ordered them to break their relations with the Khazrais and to never see them again. The Romanians who were allowed to visit the Khazrais were those who were approved by the secret police.
In 1972 the vice president of the Iranian senate, and the owner of the largest newspaper and magazine business in Iran, was invited to Romania. He introduced Fereydoun to the director of the press as a representative of his newspaper, E TTELA’AT, and Fereydoun was officially accredited as a foreign journalist. A few years later he was in the employ of the Iranian Embassy in Bucharest. Fereydoun wrote:
During an official visit, Amir—Abbas Hoveyda, Prime Minister of Iran, met with me to persuade me to leave Romania and to accept an important post in Germany. During a reception held in his honor, he continued to press
his ofFer. At that time I was receiving a rather insignificant salary from the embassy in Bucharest. When I refused the offer, the Prime Minister admitted, “You are surely a fool. I do not understand [your refusal]. IF you change your mind, come and see me at my hotel.”
Fereydoun was grateful. Foreigners officially representing their governments were usually posted for about two years; five years was the maximum. Fereydoun felt that the government had officially granted him the privilege of promoting the Faith, remaining in Romania for thirteen yearstruly a miracle.
In 1979 the Shah of Iran was dethroned, and Fereydoun lost his position with the embassy. He and Arecla remained in Bucharest in the hope that the political situation in Iran would change. In March of 1981 he lost his second post—that of foreign journalist, and even though he had not been paid since the revolution, the authorization had allowed them to stay in Romania. The Ministry of the Interior sent two policemen to their house to inform them that they were “persona non grata” and that they had twenty—four hours to leave the country.
They spent the next year in Germany. With the encouragement of the Universal House of Justice, they then pioneered to Strasbourg, which was then a goal of the National Assembly of France. Soon there were declarations, and a month later the National Assembly Chose for them the goal of Lille, where a Local Assembly was formed in 1983.
Ihe fall of the Iron Curtain and the revolution, which toppled the regime in 1989, restored their hopes of returning to Romania, and they decided to sell their house to raise the capital needed to establish a business there. This attempt was among
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many efForts they made for a permanent return to Romania. All were unsuccessful. “He, verily, doeth what He willeth, and ordaineth that which He pleaseth.”80
At Riḍván 1991 Fereydoun and Atecla were invited to attend the election of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Romania. Fereydoun addressed the Convention, “My dear friends. We were forced to leave Romania in 1981 and today I live in material comfort in France, but know that since that day I have been unhappy because my heart remains in Romania.” He then began to weep. He was also overwhelmed by the success of the Faith in the country, which then numbered more than six thousand Bahá’ís. They remained a month, traveling among the towns_ and villages, visiting the Bahá’ís and participating in teaching campaigns.
In 1992 Fereydoun attended the gathering of the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh in Haifa for the Commemoration of the Centenary of the Ascension of Baha’u’llah. In December of that year, in spite of a number of heart attacks and the debilitating effects of diabetes, he traveled once more to Romania, again with the hope of finding a solution for their permanent return. During this trip he experienced another heart attack, and the friends encouraged him to quickly return to France.
Fereydoun’s health had suffered from the time of his forced departure from Romania. In 1984 he underwent openheart surgery, and his convalescence was prolonged. In December 1993 he was again hospitalized in Lille, and his treatment was complicated by a serious pulmonary infection. He recovered somewhat but had to be readmitted in February. Subsequent interventions were unsuccessful, and he passed
80 Gleaningsfmm [be Wiring: of Ba/yd'u 'lla'la, p. 116.
to the Abhá Kingdom on February 14, 1994. In his testament Fereydoun had written:
How happy I am to have come into this world in this fertile century of divine spirituality. My children, my friends, work for the progress of the Cause of God. You will receive your fair reward.
Adaptedfrom a manuscript
written in French [7} Arecla K/mzmz' which draws mbstantia/lyfiom the memoirs of Fertydozm Kbazmi
