Farman Ali Khan: A man to remember

Swat’s Farman Ali gave up his own life rescuing others during the Saudi floods of 2009, earning a name for posterity.

At a time when all stories from Swat came through the one lens of terrorism, 22-year-old Farman Ali Khan made headlines for saving lives.

It was November 26, 2009, when Jeddah, the thriving western port city of Saudi Arabia, transformed into a picture of destruction and death.

Ferocious flash floods swept away anything and everything that came their way; streets were strewn with crumbled bridges, cracked roads and floating vehicles.

As havoc unfolded before his eyes, Farman didn’t think twice and decided that he had to help the people stranded on Tareeq Makkah Qadeem (old street to Makkah).

He tied one end of a rope to a pipe and the other to his waist, and jumped into the roaring flood water to pull them out.

One by one, he saved 14 lives until, in his attempt to rescue the fifteenth person, Farman lost his own.

Farman had come to Saudi Arabia in 2001 to earn a living for his family back home. In a family of ten children, he was the third child of Umar Rahman, a respected elder of the Khawza Khela area in Swat valley.

Farman left behind his wife and three daughters, Zubaida, Madeeha and Jaweria — now  seven, six and four respectively — in Pakistan in order to run a grocery shop located in the Kilo 13 District of Jeddah.

Farman’s elder brother Azizur Rehman, who also lived with him in Jeddah, remembers the day when he received the fateful phone call from Farman’s Egyptian friend about his death.

“Farman was a very kind man and could not see others in trouble. That day when flash floods hit Jeddah, Farman was at his shop. His friends said that when he saw people that people were trapped and drowning, he handed them his wallet and mobile phone, tied himself with a rope and started rescuing people,” he says.

One such friend testifies to his gallant spirit and sympathetic heart. “It was lunch time and our food was ready. I asked him to eat, but he got upset at me and said that people were in trouble while all I could think about was food. He did not eat, and instead started rescuing people,” says Farman’s friend.

Even before the heroic rescues, Farman had built a favourable reputation among both locals and expatriates who knew him for his warmth and friendly nature. “No one has forgotten him since his death. He is remembered by everyone,” says Azizur Rehman fondly. “Even local Arabs cried at his death.”

In his own hometown in Swat, Farman is known as a courageous man and incidents of his bravery are often narrated, much like folk tales and legends. “Since childhood, he was very brave and would always be the first to offer help in times of emergency. He would never hesitate to plunge into water or even fire to rescue people,” says Shamsher Ali, a childhood friend, adding that Farman was always just in all his relationships and never deceived anybody in his life.

Farman received his early religious education from his mother and then earned an intermediate degree from Matta College. He then set up his own shop in Khwaza Kehla bazaar. “He wanted to go to Korea to earn a living, but I did not let him go there. I sent him to Jeddah to his elder brother, where he opened a shop and became very successful. He was so busy in business that he came home only twice during all this while,” says his father.

“On the day of his death, he called his mother on the phone and informed her about the heavy rain and floods. He asked her to pray for everyone’s safety. That day he also called all his relatives and friends and asked them to pray,” Umar says.

Farman’s spirit to excel and help humanity has been inherited by his three young daughters who are all bright students and have received accolades for their academic and extracurricular performance in school.

“He would always tell me to study hard. He wanted me to become a doctor, and my aim is to fulfil this wish,” says Zubaida, Farman’s eldest daughter, a fourth grader who has received distinctions in speech competitions. His youngest daughter, Jaweria, also wants to become a doctor like her eldest sister while Madiha, the middle one, who is studying in the second grade, wants to become a headmistress.

For his act of gallantry, Farman’s efforts have not gone unacknowledged. The governments of both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have posthumously honoured Farman with the highest civil awards and his family was invited by King Abdullah, custodian of the two Holy Mosques, to perform Hajj as his guests in 2011. The Saudi ambassador in Islamabad called him an “Islamic hero” and held a meeting with his brother and father. He was posthumously awarded the King Abdul Aziz Medal of the First Order, while President Asif Ali Zardari conferred upon him the highest civilian award of the country that was received by his wife. His children have been allotted a plot in Islamabad and a given a cheque worth Rs500,000 by the government  and the family has been awarded honorary shields and cash prizes by the Saudi and Pakistani community in Jeddah.

For Farman’s humble family, the attention and honours — that too from heads of state — are something they could never even have imagined getting. “I really have no words to express my gratitude to the government of Saudi Arabia for honouring us and inviting us to perform Hajj. I will never forget the great respect and affection they gave us,” his father says. He says the family is also grateful to Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Farooq Sattar for facilitating the honours bestowed by the Pakistani government.

As a tribute to Farman, a mosque is being constructed in his name with financial assistance from Al Nadwa Shabab Islami, a charity organisation in Saudi Arabia. The three-storey mosque, which will accommodate over 2,000 worshippers at one time, is being constructed to replace an old mosque which was badly damaged in a suicide attack in 2009. Even during his lifetime, Farman had pledged to commit personal funds for its reconstruction.

For Farman’s family, his early death is an irreparable loss. His little daughters have lost a loving father, the parents an obedient son and the family a sturdy earning arm. But it lifts their spirits when they see his heroic sacrifice being recognised and honoured. It may not bring him back from the dead, but it will go some way in immortalising his name.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, September 2^nd, 2012.