Labíb Isfahání
Labíb Isfahání (1923 - 2013) is an Egyptian Bahá’í who was named a Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for pioneering to French West Africa.
Biography[edit]
Isfahání developed fluency in several languages speaking Arabic, French, English, Italian, Greek, and Persian. In his professional career he was a successful banker as of 1952 living and working in Port Said. In 1953 the Ten Year Crusade was launched and Isfahání secured a transfer to a bank in Dakar in order to open French West Africa to the Bahá’í Faith as part of the Crusade.[1]
Isfahání arrived in French West Africa by plane on November 5, 1953, and a customs officer initially refused him entry to the country despite him coming to work for a bank however while he was waiting at the airport to leave the country the officer summoned him again and asked if he knew English. As he could speak English the officer had him assist him in translating some correspondence and then granted him entry to the country. He lived in Dakar until 1955 when he pioneered to Abidjan. He met Lucienne Arakélian in Abidjan in 1958 and they married and had it recognized as a Bahá’í marriage by writing to the National Spiritual Assembly of North West Africa in Tunis.[1]
In 1964 Isfahání returned to Dakar and worked for the bank again. He was later transferred to Koalack where he served as branch manager and while living there he was appointed to a National Teaching Committee and made teaching trips to Gambia with Husayn Ardikání.[1] At some point he was transferred to a branch in Nigeria and while living in the country he helped organize an International Bahá’í Conference and assisted with teaching work in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba, and Kano.[2]
In 1983 Isfahání and his family moved to France and he passed away in Versailles in 2013.[2]
