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SAMIHEH BANANf
1907—4995
DEEPLY GRIEVED PASSING DEARLY LOVED SAMIHEH BANANf. RECALL WITH PROFOUND AFFECTION HER DEVOTED SERVICES CRADLE FAITH, HER INDEFATIGABLE PIONEER ENDEAVOURS AFRICA IN SUPPORT ACTIVITIES HER ILLUSTRIOUS HUSBAND, FOLLOWED BY HER VALUED EFFORTS IN PROMOTION INTERESTS BELOVED CANADIAN COMMUNITY. FERVENTLY PRAYING SHRINES PROGRESS HER RADIANT SOUL ABHA KINGDOM. ADVISING UGANDA NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY HOLD MEMORIAL GATHERING MOTHER TEMPLE AFRICA. CONVEY HEARTFELT SYMPATHY HER CHILDREN, MEMBERS FAMILY.
Universal House ofjustice May 8, 1995
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amiheh Banani—called “Mamajan,”
first within her own immediate family circle and subsequently by all who came to know her—was born in December 1907 in Tihran, the first child to her parents. She came from a distinguished Bahá’í family. Her father, Siyyid ‘Abdu’l Husayn Ardistani, was a second generation Bahá’í, who, upon the instructions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, undertook extensive teaching trips to India and Burma and later to Najaf and Karbila. Her mother, ‘Atiyyih Khánum, was the granddaughter of Muhammad Rida Javahiri who became a Babi in 1844 and was later martyred in the Siyah—C_hal in 1852. Her paternal grandfather, Siyyid Rafia Ardistani, was a most ardent and devoted believer in the days of the Báb and instrumental in the spread of the Faith in Ardistén. And her maternal grandmother, Maryam Khánum, was one of the earliest educators of girls in Tihran.
Before her birth, her father went on pilgrimage and asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for a name for his unborn baby. The Master graciously suggested both feminine and masculine forms of the name: Samiheh for a girl and Samih for a boy. This gift from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himselftruly mirrored Mamajan’s character, which was generous, kind, gentle, and righteous. The virtues of her name were manifested both physically and spiritually in her nature. She was candor itself; no matter what her mood, you could read her like an open book. Love, sympathy, and goodness flowed from her to all who crossed her path.
Mamajan’s early childhood was spent in Ardistan, her father’s ancestral homeland. At the age of ten she was sent to Ṭihrán to be educated. She resided with her cultivated maternal grandmother, who was known in the family as Bibijan. In addition to attending school during the terrible years of the First World War when Iran was gripped by
THE BAHA’I’ WORLD
famine, disease, and lawlessness, she had to care for her ailing mother and both of her maternal grandparents, who died within weeks of each other in the great Spanish flu pandemic of 1919. It was a time of great hardship that strengthened her ability to face future tests. After her graduation from the newly established Bahá’í Tarbiyat School for Girls in Tihran, she taught for a short time.
In December 1925 she married Mfisa Bana’ni.'3° Her marriage, though traditional and arranged, was quite unusual and the cause of some stir in the community. She came from siyyid stock, descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, and she had married a man twenty—two years her senior of Iraqi]ewish extraction. Between them there were many differences oftemperament and upbringing, of culture and habit, but the magnet that held them together was their love of Baha’u’llah and their ardent desire to raise their children under His shadow. The Cause came first for both of them, in all things. Their marriage lasted forty—six years, during which time their devotion to each other deepened and sweetened.
Mamajan was a very intelligent woman, far in advance ofher time. She had an open mind, a quick wit, and was always eager to learn. This quality remained as keen in her old age as it had been early in her life. Her sense ofhumor, her lightheartedness, and her boundless love, not only for her family but above all for Baha’u’llah, His Covenant, and Shoghi Effendi, the point of guidance for the Cause, left a profound impression upon her children. Her prodigious memory, which to her last day never diminished, was a constant check on family and friends who might
'39 See “In Memoriam," 'I/Jt' Ba/wi'z' World, vol. XV, pp. 421—23.
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IN MEMORIAM 1 992—1997 221
Snmi/Jeh Banlim’
mistemember or misrepresent dates of birth or other important life events.
Her home was always full of people, her table never without guests. When, in 1934, she had the privilege of going to the Holy Land on her first pilgrimage together with her husband and their eldest son Amin, she determined to arise and answer the call of her beloved Guardian to pioneer and serve in distant lands. Although the opportunity to fulfill this desire did not come until seventeen years later, she had been ready and waiting.
For many years she served on the National Committee for the Advancement of Women in Iran, of which her mother had been an original member. She was still active in this capacity in 1950 when she left her homeland. Toward the end of that year, the call of the Guardian had been raised for the friends in Iran to settle in Africa—the call launching the Two Year African Campaign. The flame ofpioneering touched the hearts of both husband and
wife to the extent that, with the ardent joy
ofyouth and with the intoxicated eagerness oflovers, they sold their goods, abandoned their newly built marble mansion in the north of Tihran, and within six months found themselves in Uganda.
The years spent in Uganda from 1951 until 1973 were the happiest years of Mamajan’s life. Their home at 3 Kitante Road in Kampala was the hub ofiocal and national and intercontinental activity; they witnessed the unfolding of the Ten Year Crusade from their front veranda. One of the highlights of that time was their journey to the Holy Land in February 1952. On the last day of their pilgrimage, Shoghi Effendi told Mfisa Banéni that he had been appointed a Hand of the Cause of God. One year later three African pioneers—two of whom became Knights of Baha’u’llah including Enoch Olinga who would later become a Hand of the Cause—set out from the Banani’ home on their journey across the continent to open virgin territories in Central and West Africa. Although Mamajan was her husband’s constant companion and helper, she always maintained her own independent relationship with the Covenant and never justified her actions on the basis of her family’s connections or her husband’s rank. Her faith was her faith alone.
Mamajan loved cooking and feeding all and sundry. She was particularly attracted to youth, for even in old age her spirit remained vigorous and young. She left Africa in 1974 in the wake of the upheavals of Uganda and spent the remaining years of her life in the Canary Islands with her mother and sister, in the United States with her granddaughter, and in Canada with one of her sons. Wherever she lived, she was at the hub of Bahá’í activities and found ways, despite growing infirmities, to raise large sums of money for the Fund through her cooking, which attracted many
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ofher friends. She passed away in Toronto on May 8, 1995, survived by five of her six children, eleven grandchildren, and six great—grandchildren.
Violette Nafljawz’m’
