Bahá’í World/Volume 20/Alessandro Bausani
ALESSANDRO BAUSANI
1921—1988
O my God! O my God! Verily, thy servant, humble before the majesty of Thy divine supremacy, lowly at the door of Thy oneness, hath believed in Thee and in Thy verses, hath testified to Thy word, hath been enkindled with the fire of Thy love, hath been immersed in the depths of the ocean of Thy knowledge, hath been attracted by Thy breezes, hath relied upon Thee, hath turned his face to Thee, hath offered his supplications to Thee, and hath been assured of Thy pardon and forgiveness. He hath abandoned this mortal life and hath flown to the kingdom of immortality, yearning for the favour of meeting Thee.
O Lord, glorify his station, shelter him under the pavilion of Thy supreme mercy, cause him to enter Thy glorious paradise, and perpetuate his existence in Thine exalted rose garden, that he may plunge into the sea of light in the world of mysteries.
Verily, Thou art the Generous, the Powerful, the Forgiver and the Bestower.
Alessandro Bausani was a highly esteemed scholar whose unceasing search for knowledge was expressed through his numerous articles, essays, and books. At home, he was the honoured Professor Emeritus and director of both the School of Oriental Studies and the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Rome La Sapienza. He was also a member of the Lincez National Academy. Abroad, he received many awards such as the Sitara—Imtiyaz, bestowed upon him by the government of Pakistan in 1967 for his work in promoting the spread of the Urdu language and culture.
1 Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre; 1978), pp. 196-7.
Alessandro Bausani
Among Professor Bausani’s best known works were Persiana Religiosa (Religious Persia) and Islam, his translation of the Qur’án into the Italian language, and his excellent translation of The Mystical Poems of Rumi. Yet these titles and accomplishments cannot singularly represent his multi-faceted personality, his versatility and his spiritual knowledge.
Alessandro Bausani was born in Rome on 29 May 1921. He received religious education during his youth, and expressed a capacity for literary studies. His field of specialization was linguistics, and he studied many languages and the relationships between languages. But he also did research in other branches of human knowledge such as astronomy and mathematics.
His international reputation as a scholar of various disciplines was based on his extraordinary ability to express scientific and religious concepts with a kind of meticulous precision. His startling paradoxes would leave his readers not only amazed at his originality, but also extremely interested in his perceptions.
Alessandro was very cordial, taking immediate interest in others. He loved to repeat that everything required a deliberate effort. His endless quest for knowledge led him to believe that all men, including those who could be considered among the most important, are as but nothing when compared to the infinite. He affirmed that people’s potential to acquire value is developed only to the extent that they follow the Manifestation of God.
He had already made a serious study of spiritual reality when, on 8 April 1950, he became a follower of Bahá’u’lláh. He had first learned of the existence of the Faith as an academic. In 1948, he had been the assistant to Professor Rossi, teacher of courses in the Persian language. Mr. Philip Marangella, who was in Rome during that period to teach the Faith, signed up for the class as a way of meeting people. Later, Dr. Ugo Giachery, future Hand of the Cause of God, and then Miss Elsa Scola, future wife of Professor Bausani, joined these courses. Dr. Giachery invited Alessandro to the celebration of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh, and it was this that changed the direction of Alessandro’s search for truth.
From the moment of his declaration of faith, Alessandro’s knowledge and actions converged in service to the Cause. His ardent desire was to share the Message with all he met. He was an untiring speaker at schools, seminars, courses, and conferences, to which he dedicated virtually all of his time. He was director of the Italian quarterly magazine Opinioni Bahá’í from its foundation. He helped sustain every institution or committee, national or local, on which he was called to serve, with his presence and effort. He was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy and Switzerland during all the years of its existence, then was a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy from 1964 to 1984.
The cruel and lengthy illness which struck him during his last years of life kept him from publishing books on the Faith, but his
essays and articles were gathered together and published in one volume in 1991 by the National Publishing Trust of Italy under the title Saggi sulla Fede Bahá’í (Essays on the Bahá’í Faith).
The honour and glory of this sorely-missed friend belong not only to this world but to the world of the spirit as well. Only the message sent to the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy on 15 March 1988 from the Universal House of Justice, three days after his passing, can summarize his rank:
DEEPLY SADDENED PASSING PROFESSOR ALESSANDRO BAUSANI. HIS DEATH DEPRIVES BAHÁ’Í WORLD COMMUNITY ONE OF ITS FEW OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS AND ITALIAN FRIENDS ONE OF THEIR MOST DISTINGUISHED BELIEVERS. HIS LONG YEARS STEADFAST SERVICES AS MEMBER NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY ENRICHED BY ACADEMIC RECOGNITION WHICH HE USED UNSTINTINGLY FOR SERVICE CAUSE LENDING IT AUTHORITY AND PRESTIGE WORLD OF LEARNING ASSURE HIM HIGH HONOR ANNALS FAITH ENDURING LOVING MEMORY ITALIAN COMMUNITY. EXTEND HEARTFELT SYMPATHY RELATIONS FRIENDS ASSURANCE PRAYERS SACRED THRESHOLD PROGRESS HIS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM.