Major Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan

Major Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan (1899-1977) was the pioneer Muslim medical missioner to West Africa. He was an illustrious son of Hadhrat Chaudhry Maula Bakhsh Bhatti Sialkoti, a famous companion of the promised messiah and mahdi, Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. He vividly remembered his meeting with the holy founder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community at age 7. In 1923, he graduated with honors in the subject of Pathology from King Edward Medical College, Lahore. He was among the five Muslims in that graduating class. In 1925 he offered to devote his life for the service of Islam to his holy master, Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-din Mahmood Ahmad, the second successor to the promised messiah. At that time he was advised to pursue his career and serve his faith in whatever capacity he was in. He got married to a very noble soul, Maryam Begum, daughter of Hadhrat Abdul Razzaq Sialkoti, another companion of the promised messiah. She was a simple, contented, compassionate, generous and an extremely prayerful lady who provided him the peace of mind necessary to accomplish his literary pursuits and life goals. Through her he was blessed with six sons and three daughters.
Dr. Khan also had the singular honor for being the sole scribe for the famous lecture by Hadhrat 'Musleh Maoud', the second caliph on the subject of Religion and Science, given at Islamia College Science Union meeting presided by Allama Sir Muhammad Iqbal in Lahore on 3rd March 1927. This lecture's usefulness cannot be over-stated. Original article in Urdu can be found in Anwarul Uloom online.
Dr. Khan was a well traveled and well read personality. He was a prolific writer with more than a hundred articles in half a century to his credit. They were published in various newspapers and magazines of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at both in English and Urdu. His areas of interest and research included scientific and philosophical basis of Islamic injunctions and commandments, revelation, spirituality, virgin birth, death by crucifixion and life after death.
The second caliph in a small gathering once addressed him lovingly as "The Philosopher of Ahmadiyyat". In his Friday sermon of July 27, 1956, the second caliph said about Dr. Shah Nawaz that " since he has a habit of thinking and he writes articles as well, he gets to the depth of an issue sooner".
He donated large sums of money in the service of Islam regardless of the financial consequences to his family of ten.
He was blessed abundantly throughout his life with true dreams, visions and vouchsafed with revelations for which he very meticulously maintained year-wise diaries of each one of them. He once offered himself as a research subject to a Parapsychology group in UK that was involved with the study of extra sensory perception (ESP).
After his retirement from Pakistan Army Medical Corps in 1955, he again offered his services to the second caliph which were accepted and he started preparing to leave for Sierra Leone on the first medical mission being sent by Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
Dr. Khan was awarded a very warm sendoff with garlands and prayers at the railway station in Rabwah, Pakistan before leaving for Karachi by train for an onward journey to Africa.
"Mission plans hospitals" reported the Daily Graphic from Accra, Ghana on October 14, 1960. It states: "Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan, the first Ahmadiyyah medical missionary for West African Ahmadiyyah missions has arrived in Accra by air from Lagos to explore the avenues for medical missionary work in Ghana. After a week's visit, Dr. Khan will go to Freetown where he will take charge of the first Ahmadiyyah Mission hospital in West Africa. Dr. Khan told reporters at the airport that the mission will soon open hospitals in Ghana and Nigeria."

On his arrival in Sierra Leone in October 1960, the newspaper captioned "Ahmadiyyas to open hospital at Bo" wrote: The Pioneer Medical Missioner for West African Ahmadiyya Mission who arrived in Freetown this week by air from Accra has said that the mission will open hospitals here. Dr. S. Khan said that it was more than a quarter of a century since the Ahmadiyya Missions had been healing the spiritually sick but the time was now ripe to open mission hospitals for the physically sick as well. It is thus intended to supplement the efforts of Ahmadiyya missions which were previously directed towards the educational, moral and spiritual uplift with their social advancement and physical improvement as well.
The highly qualified and experienced Doctor Khan, graduated in medicine in 1923 from the Punjab University, India (now Pakistan) after which he practiced and served in the hospitals in East Africa for 17 years including such important appointments as Medical Officer of Imperial Chemical Industries, (Kenya) Ltd. and Arabian American Oil Company in Saudi Arabia.
He was in the Army from 1943 to 1955 as a Commissioned Officer during World War II. He also served on the Burma Front with the West and East African Forces and accompanied the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan in 1946. He later joined the Pakistan Army and the Navy from where he retired in 1955 as a Major.
Dr. Khan has now devoted the rest of his life for the cause of Islam. The Ahmadiyya Mission in Sierra Leone intends to open a hospital at Bo, the headquarters of the mission. The mission intends to open similar hospitals at other places in the country in due course.
The famous British religious journalist, Cecil Northcott in his article titled "Islam's Progress in West Africa" writes: "On the day I left Sierra Leone the first medical missionaries of Islam arrived. The news occupied only a few lines in the local press, and as far as I know no Church leader lost any sleep about it. But to me it was another sign of the resurgence of Islam and a token that the missionary impulse of Islam is assuming some of the habits of Christian missions. Islamic Medical Missions? That appears to be part of deliberate policy of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Movement which is the spear-head of the Islamic infiltration in West Africa."
The Foreign Missions Report from Sierra Leone, published in "The Review of Religions" - Feb. 1962 shows: Major Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan, medical missionary presented an address of welcome to Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh on Her Majesty's auspicious visit to BO on November 27, 1961. Her Majesty the Queen sent through her Private Secretary her thanks to Major Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan.
The small sampling that was planted in the form of First Ahmadiyya Dispensary at BO in 1960, has in 50 years flourished into more than 30 Ahmadiyya Hospitals in whole of Africa.
True to his name "Shah Nawaz" meaning "Cherisher of Kings", he was awarded a gold plated sword by the Emperor of Japan in 1946 for helping the victims of nuclear holocaust, presented the welcome address at BO in 1961 before the Queen of Great Britain and met His Majesty the King Hussain of Jordan in June 1971 while his son Air Commodore (R) Rashid A. Bhatti, a recipient of "TOP GUN AWARD" (1961) from United States Air Force (USAF) Advance Fighter Flying Academy, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, was deployed in Jordon as member of the Pakistan Air Force contingent.
The Meeting with King Hussain Of Jordan
In May 1971 Dr. Khan was going from Karachi to UK and had planned a visit to Amman, Jordan to meet his son Air Commodore (R) then Squadron Leader Rashid A. Bhatti. When Dr. Khan was leaving Amman for UK , Air Cdre Bhatti, Mrs. Shahida Bhatti and her sister Bushra had gone to Amman International Airport to see off Dr. Khan. While they were all waiting at the departure lounge, they saw His Majesty the King Hussain of Jordan at the VIP departure lounge standing with his wife Princess Mona. King Hussain had come to the Amman Airport to see off his wife who was also traveling on the same flight to UK.
Dr. Khan asked his son Air Cdre Bhatti if he could meet the King Hussain. Air Cdre Bhatti replied that he will try to arrange a meeting with the King. Mr. Bhatti talked to the Brigadier General Saleha Kurdi the Commander-in-Chief of Royal Jordanian Air Force, who was also present at the Amman airport, and told him that Dr. Khan (his father) wants to meet His Majesty the King Hussain. He said let me talk to King Hussain. He spoke to King Hussain who showed his willingness to meet Dr. Khan. During this process the flight boarding was announced and Dr.Khan sat in the bus, carrying the passengers to the Aircraft. At the same time Brigadier General Saleha Kurdi asked Air Cdre Bhatti where is your father? The King Hussain wants to meet him. Dr. Khan came out of the Bus and met King Hussain. This is how this meeting took place.
Descendants
# Mehmood Ahmad Bhatti - Consultant Auditor
# Professor Dr. Bashir Ahmad Bhatti - Ph.D. in Political Science, Author: Great Britain, India, Pakistan and The Kashmir Dispute.
# Professor Naseera Shahnawaz - Masters in Philosophy and Counseling Psychology
# Munir Ahmad Bhatti (Late) - Ex-Population Welfare Officer
# Lt. Col (R) H/Dr. Rafique Ahmad Bhatti - Homeopathic Physician and Masters in International Relations.
# Air Cdre (R) Rashid Ahmad Bhatti - Masters in War Studies, Ex-Director Institute of Flight Safety, Karachi, Pakistan.
# Wing Commander (R) Professor Hameed Ahmad Bhatti - Masters in Psychology, Ex-Director Air War College, PAF, Karachi, Pakistan.
# Salima Shahnawaz - Masters in Psychology, Author: Prayers of the Prophets (Urdu Language)
# Naeema Khalid - Housewife and a mother of two daughters and a son.
Sources
* [http://books.google.com/books?idJMzaAAAAMAAJ&q%22Major+Dr.+Shah+Nawaz+Khan%22+-inpublisher:icon&dq=%22Major+Dr.+Shah+Nawaz+Khan%22+-inpublisher:icon&as_brr0&cd1 Science and Technology in the Islamic World, Volume 11, page 17 (1993)] cites Major Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan's newspaper article published in the Id supplement of The Pakistan Times, Lahore in 1970 titled "The Philosophy and Hygiene of Fasting"
* [http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Devotion-of-Life.pdf The Devotion of life - Its Importance and Blessings by Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad Ayaz OBE, Former Ameer Jamaat U.K. (2009)]. Major Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan's photograph on page 481 (Courtesy of Lt. Col (R) H/Dr. Rafique Ahmad Bhatti)
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