# Balyuzi, Hasan M.

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Richard Francis, Balyuzi, Hasan M., bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Balyuzi, Hasan M.
> 
> Richard Francis
> 
> 1998
> 
> Hasan Balyuzi was born on September 7, 1908 to Mírzá `Ali
> Áqá and Munavvar Khanum in Shiraz, Iran. Through his father, shared the
> same descent as the Guardian of the Faith, that is from the same great-grandfather,
> Haji Mirza Abdu'l-Qasim, one of the two brothers of Khadijih-Bagum, the
> wife of the Báb. Her daughter, Fatimih-Sultan Bagum was Hasan Balyuzi's paternal
> grandfather. His mother also traced her decent from both of the brothers of the
> Bab's wife. Thus, establishing firmly through both parents, what Bahá'u'lláh referred,
> as the Afnan family.
> 
> Hasan spent most of his childhood years in Bushire where
> his father was a diplomat and later Governor of the Persian Gulf Ports and Islands.
> It was here, at the age of four, where Hasan began to master use of the English
> language.
> 
> During World War I, Bushire was occupied by the British
> Forces and his father was exiled to India where the family lived for four years
> in Bombay and then another four years in Poona. It was while in India that two
> outstanding scholars and friends of his father, who were also in exile, tutored
> Hasan in Persian, Arabic, and history. He entered Bishop's College in Poona, an
> English high school, where he was able to perfect his English. He was also learning
> Urdu.
> 
> After the war, he was able to return to Tehran where his
> father became Minister of Interior. He attended Cyprus School under the headmaster
> Prof. Sadiq-A`lam, who later became Persian Ambassador in London and Minister
> of Education. His father died in May of 1921; then his mother moved back to Shiraz.
> Because educational opportunities there were lacking, arrangements were made through
> Professor E. G. Browne by his uncle to take charge of his education in England.
> However, the old professor's health was giving out, having had a heart attack
> the previous year; and therefore, with much regret, he was unable to assume the
> responsibility. Professor Browne died the following year, in 1926.
> 
> Hasan Balyuzi, too young to attend a university in England,
> went to Beirut and attended classes at the Preparatory School of the American
> University. At the age of seventeen, while traveling to Beirut, he received a
> memorable welcome in Haifa by Shoghi Effendi, the young Guardian of the Faith.
> Earlier, he found in his fathers library a copy of Some Answered Questions
> and read it with the intention of writing a rebuttal. He also received a manuscript
> of the Tarikh-i-Jadid, but he remained skeptical, considering himself
> a Muslim. It was the influence of the Guardian that transformed his interests
> and confirmed him in the Bahá'í Faith at age seventeen. He described this occasion:
> ""`My route to Beirut was through the Red Sea, Port Said, and Haifa. It was in
> the latter part of November 1925 and John Ebenezer Esslemont, the immortal author
> of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, lay mortally ill in the old Pilgrim
> House. His illness greatly occupied the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith.'"
> 
> "During my stay of one night (November 21st-22ed) on Mount
> Carmel two eminent Persian Bahá'í physicians who were there, Dr. Yunis Khan Afrukhtih
> and Dr. Arastu Khan Hakim, were called in the early hours of the morning to Dr.
> Esslemont's bedside. Shoghi Effendi sat up with him through the night."
> 
> "The next day I left for Beirut in the company of Dr. Afrukhtih
> and Dr. Hakim."
> 
> "It was that bounty of meeting Shoghi Effendi and all that
> I saw in him, which confirmed me in the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. The course of my
> life was changed.'"
> 
> When he arrived at the American University in Beirut and
> was asked of his religion on the official forms, he said "Bahá'í."
> 
> He spent seven years studying in Beirut, 1925-1932, first
> a preparatory year, then a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, and eventually a Master's
> of Arts in Diplomatic History. He was active in university life, participating
> in football and tennis as well as activities of the Dramatic Society, the Debating
> Society, and the Bahá'í Society. It was a happy time in his life, a large number
> of students participated in the activities of the Bahá'í Faith, often visiting
> the Guardian during vacations and the summers.
> 
> After completing his studies at American University, he
> went to the London School of Economics for post-graduate work. He studied Diplomatic
> History, with special references to the relations of the European Powers to the
> Persian Gulf States. He received his Master of Science degree in 1935; he then
> studied British Public Opinion on Franco-German Relations after World War I for
> his doctorate, but was delayed by the difficulty of finding a suitable supervisor
> and the outbreak of World War II.
> 
> It was at this time (February 8, 1934) that the Guardian
> directed a warning concerning involvement in politics. This was a reply to an
> article that Hasan wrote in a Persian newspaper on the current political situation
> in Europe. This was an act that changed the direction of his life.
> 
> At Ridván 1933, Hasan was elected to the National Spiritual
> Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles and also to the London Spiritual
> Assembly. For over twenty-five years he devoted himself to the progress of the
> administration of the Faith in the British Isles; starting in 1936, he found himself
> working closely with an English Bahá'í who had returned from America to London,
> David Hoffman. Hasan received approval be Shoghi Effendi to work as an administrator
> in the offices of the League of Nations in Geneva, being also advised to maintain
> membership with both the National Spiritual Assembly and that of London, stating
> that his cooperation was greatly appreciated by all our English friends. During
> that same year, there was a marked increase in their Bahá'í activities. Hasan
> became the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly on Ridván 1940. Working for
> the newly formed Persian Section of the BBC, he moved for a short time to Worcestershire,
> where he married Mary (Molly) Brown; and in August 1942, he returned to London
> shortly after the birth of his first son, Hushang.
> 
> He continued his work for the BBC full time until 1958;
> he wrote short stories, plays and talks on current affairs, producing more than
> a thousand radio programs on Iran and Persian history. He had four other sons,
> Robert, Felix, Richard and Simeon. He often commented that "there hasn't been
> a girl baby born into the family for over two hundred years."
> 
> Upon his return to London, he became the Chairman of the
> National Spiritual Assembly, traveling and lecturing around the country. He participated
> in Bahá'í committees such as the Assembly Development Program,
> New World Order Literature Revues, Archives, and Public Relations.
> He also became a significant influence on the work of the Ten Year World Crusade,
> 1953-1963.
> 
> In 1938, Hasan Balyuzi published his first real literary
> work on the Bahá'í Faith, an essay on the life of Bahá'u'lláh. Encouraged by the
> Guardian, he later published essays on the life of the Báb and Abdu’l-Baha. However,
> the pressing Baha’i duties prevented him from continuing his literary work for
> many years, until 1958, when his poor health mandated that he step down from most
> of his administrative positions and their related activities.
> 
> Hasan Balyuzi, representing the Afnan, was appointed by
> Shoghi Effendi as a Hand of the Cause of God on October 11, 1957. This was one
> of the Guardian’s last messages to the Bahá'í world before his sudden passing
> on November 4, 1957. Hasan assembled along with the other twenty-five Hands of
> the Cause of God in the Holy Land. He was among the nine selected to search the
> Guardian’s apartment for a will or testament. After a "thorough search," none
> was ever found. Hasan became one of the "chief stewards," guiding the Bahá'í Faith
> through the next six years, known as the Custodial Period, until the formation
> of the Universal House of Justice on Ridván, 1963.
> 
> Beset by health and financial problems after retiring from
> his work at the BBC, Hasan reluctantly stepped down from most of his Bahá'í administrative
> activities. He resumed his literary work in 1963, by completing a trilogy on the
> central figures of the Bahá'í Faith.
> 
> The first book was a biography of `Abdu'l-Bahá, first initiated
> over twenty years earlier when Shoghi Effendi first encouraged him. Concurrent
> with this work, he found the subject of Prof.. Browne's relation with the faith
> worthy of a monograph. In 1970, he published Edward Granville Browne and
> the Bahá'í Faith, then the following year, he published `Abdu'l-Bahá:
> The Center of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. He completed his trilogy with
> The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days, published in 1973, becoming
> the first book on the Bahá'í Faith making extensive use of official documents
> from governmental archives.
> 
> Realizing that the literary work was incomplete, he soon
> found that there was no accurate historical account of Islam. In 1976, he had
> published: Mohammad and the Course of Islam.
> 
> Hasan Balyuzi acquired a research assistant to help carry
> out his monumental work, Moojan Momen. Dr. Balyuzi's' work on Bahá'u'lláh:
> The King of Glory was in progress when he suffered a heart attack in October
> 1979.
> 
> He made some recovery and completed his first volume and
> made considerable progress on the second when he passed away in his sleep on February
> 12, 1980. His earthly remains were laid to rest near those of his beloved Guardian.
> 
> He left instructions to set up the Afnan Library
> Trust for Bahá'í Faith research, donating all of his books and papers. He hoped
> that it will someday develop into a research library for all scholars. Moojan
> Momen wrote of Dr. Balyuzi's work: "Balyuzi's character and ability. . . it must
> be left to future writers to assess these adequately. . . Much of his writing
> ran counter to present-day styles of scholarly prose. But his work was imbued
> with two qualities which will cause it to be remembered. . . First was his assiduous
> pursuit of truth. He would take endless trouble to track down even the most minor
> fact or date. . . Second, was his integrity. There are no hidden motives in his
> writing. . . He wrote only what he thought correct after due consideration. His
> books clearly show him to be a Bahá'í, but nothing is concealed or distorted to
> protect the Bahá'í Faith, or anyone, or anything. He always maintained that it
> was best to tell it "warts and all."'
> 
> The following is a list of publications by Dr. Hasan M.
> Balyuzi.
> 
> English Works:
> 
> "Bahá'u'lláh," London: Baha’i Publishing Trust,
> 1938.
> 
> "A Guide to the Administrative Order," London:
> Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1941.
> 
> "Bahá'u'lláh: A Brief Life," followed by an
> essay on the Manifestation of God entitled: "The World made Flesh."
> London: George Ronald, 1963.
> 
> "Edward Granville Browne and the Baha’i Faith,"
> London: George Ronald, 1970.
> 
> "Abdu’l-Baha: The Center of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah,"
> London: George Ronald, 1971.
> 
> "The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days,"
> Oxford: George Ronald, 1973.
> 
> "Muhammad and the Course of Islam," Oxford:
> George Ronald, 1976.
> 
> "Bahá'u'lláh: The King of Glory," Oxford:
> George Ronald, 1980.
> 
> "Khadijih Bagum: The Wife of the Báb," Oxford:
> George Ronald, 1981.
> 
> "Eminent Bahá'ís in Iran During the Time of Bahá'u'lláh,"
> Oxford: George Ronald, 1985.
> 
> Persian Works:
> 
> "Nabaradari." Tehran: Chapkhanih Taban, 1351.
> 
> "Tundbad Havadith," Tehran: Chapkhanih Farus,
> 1353.
> 
> "Vazhih-hay-i Farsi dar Zaban Ingilisi," Tehran:
> Chapkhanih Farus, 2535.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views22265 views since posted 2004-10-07; last edit 2018-08-16 11:24 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../francis_balyuzi_biography;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> Citation: ris/1561
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> — *Balyuzi, Hasan M. (Used by permission of the curator)*