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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Anonymous, In Memoriam: Amin Banani (1926-2013), bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Amin Banani
(1926-2013)
Amin Banani1 was born in Tehran on September 23, 1926. He
received his elementary education at Jamshid Jam Primary
School and completed the first three years of high school at the
Alborz Secondary School. In 1943, in the midst of the Second
World War, he joined a number of young Persian Bahá’ís who
came to the United States on board a U.S. troopship arriving in
February 1944 to complete their education. Due to the more
advanced curriculum of the Persian schools at the time, he was
able to graduate from high school by June of 1944 as the
valedictorian of his class. In September 1944 he was admitted to
In Memoriam 419
Stanford University and graduated in 1947 with a major in
history. He obtained his M.A. from Columbia University in
1949 and returned to Stanford University to receive his Ph.D. in
1959.
His academic career began with teaching history at the
Overseas Program of the University of Maryland in Athens,
Greece, in 1956-58. Then he taught for one year as an Instructor
at Stanford University, 1958-59; two years as an Assistant
Professor of Humanities at Reed College, 1959-61; two years as
Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at Harvard University,
1961-63. In September 1963 he was invited to UCLA by
Professor Gustave von Grunebaum to start the program of
Persian studies. From the start his teaching was not narrowly
focused but covered both history and literature. This broad
encompassing of Persian cultural history was reflected in his
research and scholarship. From his first book, The
Modernization of Iran, published in 1961, to his latest
contribution to the volume published by the Danish Academy
of Sciences in 2008 entitled Religious Texts in Iranian
Languages, he concerned himself with vital aspects of a living
and continuing cultural tradition.
Some of the more significant writings of Amin Banani are
chapters entitled “Ferdowsi and the Art of Tragic Epic” in Islam
and its Cultural Divergence (1971); “The Conversion of a Self-
Conscious Elite” in Individualism and Conformity in Classical
Islam (1977); “Ahmad Kasravi and Purification of Persian: A
Study in Nationalist Motivation” in Nation and Ideology (1982);
and “Rumi, The Poet” in Mysticism and Poetry in Islam (1988).
His collaborative translation with Jascha Kessler of the poetry
of Forough Farrokhzad was published in 1982 under the title
Bride of Acacias. The same collaborative effort in 2005 yielded
a beautiful volume of translation of the poems of Tahereh, the
nineteenth century heroine of the Bábí movement, who sounded
the clarion call of emancipation of women and equality of
rights of men and women, entitled Tahereh: A Portrait in
Poetry.
420 Lights of Irfán vol. 15
In the course of more than thirty years of teaching at UCLA
he laid the foundation of a broad and integrated program of
Iranian Studies culminating in establishment of the first
Undergraduate Major in Iranian Studies at any American
university.
Amin Banani served on the Board of Directors of the Middle
East Studies Association of North America, the Executive
Council of the Society for Iranian Studies and as Vice President
of the American Association of Iranian Studies.
Unlike some academicians who seek their fulfillment
exclusively in their academic career, Amin Banani from the
beginning led a rich life of service in the Bahá’í community
world-wide. His global-level Bahá’í service began in the 1940s,
when he accepted assignments to represent the Bahá’í
community at a UN conference of nongovernmental
organizations and a human rights commission. In the early
1950s he also served as a member of National Bahá’í Youth
Committee in the United States.
In 1953 he and his wife, Sheila Wolcott, responded to the call
of Shoghi Effendi to move to countries and territories without
Bahá’ís. They moved with their first child to Greece, where they
spent five years fostering the beginnings of the Bahá’í
community. His first university teaching post was in Athens
with the Overseas Program of the University of Maryland.
During this time Amin was called by Shoghi Effendi for
further work in the United Nations to protect the rights of
Bahá’ís in Iran, ultimately being appointed in 1956 to an
international committee for defense of the Faith.
After the family’s return to the United States in 1958, the
National Spiritual Assembly appointed Amin at various times,
from the 1960s through the 2000s, to serve on the Community
Development Committee, Publishing Committee, Persian
Reviewing Board and Payam-e-Doost Governing Board. He was
In Memoriam 421
a delegate to the Bahá’í National Convention several times in
the 1950s and 1970s.
Over the years he was elected to Local Spiritual Assemblies
serving Bahá’í communities in California, Greece, Oregon,
Massachusetts and California again. He taught at various
sessions at Bosch, Louhelen and Green Acre Bahá’í schools; of
summer schools in the United States, England, Iran, Ireland,
Italy, Switzerland and Germany; and of the ‘Irfán Colloquium.
He was elected to the Bahá’í Assemblies of Palo Alto,
California; Athens, Greece; Portland, Oregon; Cambridge,
Massachusetts; and Santa Monica, California. He made
presentations at the ‘Irfán Colloquium sessions held at Bosch
and Louhelen Bahá’í Schools in North America and at Acuto
Center for Bahá’í Studies, Italy, in Europe. He also taught at
the Bahá’í Summer Schools in the United States, England, Iran,
Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. From 1980 to 2006 he
served as the Deputy Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh, a global Bahá’í
philanthropic fund.
Amin Banani was a passionate lover of music both eastern
and western, and found much of his spiritual fulfillment in
enjoyment of that art.
He passed away on Sunday, July 28, 2013, in Santa Monica
and is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica.
The Universal House of Justice in a message of tribute
praising Amin Banani’s services says:
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,
422 Lights of Irfán vol. 15
his was a life that exemplified unwavering devotion to
the Cause and abiding commitment to its high ideals.
NOTE
For more information on the life history and academic achievements of
Professor Amin Banani see Professor Ehsan Yarshater’s article on Amin
Banani, Journal of Iranian Studies, Vol. 47, 2014.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Amin Banani
(1926-2013)
Amin Banani1 was born in Tehran on September 23, 1926. He
received his elementary education at Jamshid Jam Primary
School and completed the first three years of high school at the
Alborz Secondary School. In 1943, in the midst of the Second
World War, he joined a number of young Persian Bahá’ís who
came to the United States on board a U.S. troopship arriving in
February 1944 to complete their education. Due to the more
advanced curriculum of the Persian schools at the time, he was
able to graduate from high school by June of 1944 as the
valedictorian of his class. In September 1944 he was admitted to
In Memoriam 419
Stanford University and graduated in 1947 with a major in
history. He obtained his M.A. from Columbia University in
1949 and returned to Stanford University to receive his Ph.D. in
1959.
His academic career began with teaching history at the
Overseas Program of the University of Maryland in Athens,
Greece, in 1956-58. Then he taught for one year as an Instructor
at Stanford University, 1958-59; two years as an Assistant
Professor of Humanities at Reed College, 1959-61; two years as
Research Fellow and Assistant Professor at Harvard University,
1961-63. In September 1963 he was invited to UCLA by
Professor Gustave von Grunebaum to start the program of
Persian studies. From the start his teaching was not narrowly
focused but covered both history and literature. This broad
encompassing of Persian cultural history was reflected in his
research and scholarship. From his first book, The
Modernization of Iran, published in 1961, to his latest
contribution to the volume published by the Danish Academy
of Sciences in 2008 entitled Religious Texts in Iranian
Languages, he concerned himself with vital aspects of a living
and continuing cultural tradition.
Some of the more significant writings of Amin Banani are
chapters entitled “Ferdowsi and the Art of Tragic Epic” in Islam
and its Cultural Divergence (1971); “The Conversion of a Self-
Conscious Elite” in Individualism and Conformity in Classical
Islam (1977); “Ahmad Kasravi and Purification of Persian: A
Study in Nationalist Motivation” in Nation and Ideology (1982);
and “Rumi, The Poet” in Mysticism and Poetry in Islam (1988).
His collaborative translation with Jascha Kessler of the poetry
of Forough Farrokhzad was published in 1982 under the title
Bride of Acacias. The same collaborative effort in 2005 yielded
a beautiful volume of translation of the poems of Tahereh, the
nineteenth century heroine of the Bábí movement, who sounded
the clarion call of emancipation of women and equality of
rights of men and women, entitled Tahereh: A Portrait in
Poetry.
420 Lights of Irfán vol. 15
In the course of more than thirty years of teaching at UCLA
he laid the foundation of a broad and integrated program of
Iranian Studies culminating in establishment of the first
Undergraduate Major in Iranian Studies at any American
university.
Amin Banani served on the Board of Directors of the Middle
East Studies Association of North America, the Executive
Council of the Society for Iranian Studies and as Vice President
of the American Association of Iranian Studies.
Unlike some academicians who seek their fulfillment
exclusively in their academic career, Amin Banani from the
beginning led a rich life of service in the Bahá’í community
world-wide. His global-level Bahá’í service began in the 1940s,
when he accepted assignments to represent the Bahá’í
community at a UN conference of nongovernmental
organizations and a human rights commission. In the early
1950s he also served as a member of National Bahá’í Youth
Committee in the United States.
In 1953 he and his wife, Sheila Wolcott, responded to the call
of Shoghi Effendi to move to countries and territories without
Bahá’ís. They moved with their first child to Greece, where they
spent five years fostering the beginnings of the Bahá’í
community. His first university teaching post was in Athens
with the Overseas Program of the University of Maryland.
During this time Amin was called by Shoghi Effendi for
further work in the United Nations to protect the rights of
Bahá’ís in Iran, ultimately being appointed in 1956 to an
international committee for defense of the Faith.
After the family’s return to the United States in 1958, the
National Spiritual Assembly appointed Amin at various times,
from the 1960s through the 2000s, to serve on the Community
Development Committee, Publishing Committee, Persian
Reviewing Board and Payam-e-Doost Governing Board. He was
In Memoriam 421
a delegate to the Bahá’í National Convention several times in
the 1950s and 1970s.
Over the years he was elected to Local Spiritual Assemblies
serving Bahá’í communities in California, Greece, Oregon,
Massachusetts and California again. He taught at various
sessions at Bosch, Louhelen and Green Acre Bahá’í schools; of
summer schools in the United States, England, Iran, Ireland,
Italy, Switzerland and Germany; and of the ‘Irfán Colloquium.
He was elected to the Bahá’í Assemblies of Palo Alto,
California; Athens, Greece; Portland, Oregon; Cambridge,
Massachusetts; and Santa Monica, California. He made
presentations at the ‘Irfán Colloquium sessions held at Bosch
and Louhelen Bahá’í Schools in North America and at Acuto
Center for Bahá’í Studies, Italy, in Europe. He also taught at
the Bahá’í Summer Schools in the United States, England, Iran,
Ireland, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. From 1980 to 2006 he
served as the Deputy Trustee of Ḥuqúqu’lláh, a global Bahá’í
philanthropic fund.
Amin Banani was a passionate lover of music both eastern
and western, and found much of his spiritual fulfillment in
enjoyment of that art.
He passed away on Sunday, July 28, 2013, in Santa Monica
and is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Santa Monica.
The Universal House of Justice in a message of tribute
praising Amin Banani’s services says:
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,
422 Lights of Irfán vol. 15
his was a life that exemplified unwavering devotion to
the Cause and abiding commitment to its high ideals.
NOTE
For more information on the life history and academic achievements of
Professor Amin Banani see Professor Ehsan Yarshater’s article on Amin
Banani, Journal of Iranian Studies, Vol. 47, 2014.
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