Amín Banání
Amín Banání | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 23, 1926 Tehran, Iran |
| Died | July 30, 2013 Santa Monica, California, USA |
Dr. Amín Banání (September 23, 1926 - July 30, 2013) was a Persian Bahá’í who moved to America where he established a successful academic career in addition to being an active Bahá’í. He was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to Greece with his wife Sheila.
Biography[edit]
Early life & education[edit]
Banání was born in Tehran in 1926.[1] He was the eldest child of Músá Banání,[2] and in 1934 he went on pilgrimage with his parents meeting Shoghi Effendi.[3] In his youth Banání studied at the Jamshid-e Jam Zoroastrian School in Tehran and he achieved the best results in Tehran in the sixth grade and was able to enter the Alborz School, also referred to as the American College, in 1941.[1]
In 1944 Banání moved to the United States of America to study as part of a group Persian Bahá’í youth including Firuz Kazemzadeh.[2] He enrolled in Stanford University and completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in history in 1947 and he then moved to Columbia University where he completed a Master of Arts in 1949.[1] In 1949 he represented the Faith at a United Nations Conference of non-governmental organizations,[4] and was also a Bahá’í representative to a UN human rights commission in the late 1940's.
In the early 1950's Banání was appointed to the U.S. National Youth Committee.[2] In February 1951 he married Sheila Wolcott, the daughter of Charles Wolcott, who he met at a youth conference in Los Angeles and after marrying they wrote to Shoghi Effendi about pioneering to Africa to join Banání's father but the Guardian advised Banání to complete his graduate studies and then pioneer to Europe.[5]
Pioneering to Greece[edit]
In July 1953 Banání attended the Intercontinental Conference in Stockholm, Sweden, held to launch the Ten Year Crusade while his wife and daughter remained in America. After the conference the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany advised him to pioneer to Greece with his family and he traveled by train from Stuttgart to Athens and received a cable from the Guardian when he arrived.[5] After arriving he was able to secure a residence permit using a letter of introduction from a Bahá’í to a former member of the United Nations Secretariat in Greece. He found work teaching English to Bulgarian refugees and he later became editor of Athens News, an English language newspaper and earned enough money to have his wife and infant daughter, Susanne, join him in Greece and they arrived in September 1953. Both Banání and his wife Sheila were named Knights of Bahá’u’lláh for opening Greece to the Faith.[6]
In March 1954 the Banání's were forced to return to America due to Banání only having a Persian passport which prevented him from securing a longterm residence permit however Charles Wolcott assisted him in securing U.S. citizenship and the family were able to return to Greece in September 1954 where he began teaching at the Anglo-American School in Athens.[7] He also taught history at the Overseas Program of the University of Maryland while in Athens.[1] In 1957 the Local Spiritual Assembly of Athens was formed with Banání as a member however that year a new government came to power in Greece which was linked to the Greek Orthodox Church which began targeting foreign religions resulting in it becoming impossible to extend Banání's work permit.[8] In July 1958 his work permit expired and the family traveled to Germany by train and then returned to the United States.[8][1]
Later life in America[edit]
After returning to America Banání began working at Stanford University as an instructor and in 1959 he completed a PhD at Stanford and moved to Portland, Oregon, and worked as Assistant Professor of Humanities at Reed College. In 1961 he moved from Reed College to Harvard University where he worked as a research fellow and Assistant Professor. In 1963 he was invited to establish a program of Persian studies at UCLA and moved to the University where he remained for the rest of his career,[1] ultimately becoming chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.[2] He went on to also serve on the Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, as Vice-President of the American Association of Iranian Studies, and as a member of the Executive Council of the Society for Iranian Studies.[9] In 1967 he visited Iran briefly.[10]
In 1980 Banání was appointed as a deputy trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh and in 1984 he was appointed to the Board of Trustees for Ḥuqúqu’lláh in the United States and prepared deepening materials on the topic serving on the Board until 2006.[2] In 1991 the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States established what developed into the Association of Friends of Persian Culture and appointed Banání to the advisory board.[2]
In 2013 Banání passed away in Santa Monica in California survived by his wife Sheila, two daughters, and two grandchildren.[1] The Universal House of Justice conveyed the following in a message after his passing:
“Whether in the pioneering or administrative fields, he served with distinction — a service that was ever characterized by humility and self-effacement. … [W]e recall with heartfelt admiration and gratitude his staunch and effective defense of the Faith, the signal contributions he made to the advancement of both Bahá’í and Iranian studies, and his twenty-six years of service to the institution of Ḥuqúqu’lláh. In all respects, his was a life that exemplified unwavering devotion to the Cause and abiding commitment to its high ideals.”[2]
Publications[edit]
Books[edit]
- 1961 - The Modernization of Iran
- 1967 - The Epic of Kings, editor
- 1971 - Iran Faces the Seventies
- 1971 - Islam and Its Cultural Divergence
- 2004 - Tahirih: A Portrait in Poetry, translated with Jascha Kessler & Anthony A. Lee.
- 2014 - Rumi: 53 Secrets from the Tavern of Love, translated with Anthony A. Lee.
- 2016 - Love Letters from Persia, with Sheila Banání.[11]
Articles[edit]
- 1971 - The Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
- 1981 - Ahmad Kasravi and the "Purification" of Persian: A Study in Nationalist Motivation
- 1989 - Bahá’í Calendar and Festivals
- 1999 - Modernity and Millennium, by Juan Cole: Some Reflections
- 2007 - The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh
Talks[edit]
- 1967 - A Bahá’í Glossary and Pronunciation Guide
- 1969 - A View on Islam
- 1983 - Religion or Foreign Intrigue
- 2003 - The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Ehsan Yarshater, Professor Amin Banani, 1926–2013: A Prominent Scholar of Iranian Studies, Iranian Studies, Vol. 47, No. 2, pp 347-351
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Amin Banani was an influential scholar and a Knight of Bahá'u'lláh, published in The American Baha'i online, accessed 17 August 2021
- ↑ Baha'i World In Memoriam 1992-1997, p 221
- ↑ https://www.bic.org/timeline/lake-success
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Earl Redman, The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: Oxford. p 361
- ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: Oxford. p 362
- ↑ Earl Redman, The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: Oxford. p 363
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Earl Redman, The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press: Oxford. p 364
- ↑ https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/in-memoriam:-amin-banani-founder-of-the-iranian-studies-program-at-ucla
- ↑ https://www.blurb.com/b/7337340-love-letters-from-persia
- ↑ https://www.blurb.com/b/7337340-love-letters-from-persia
