Hasan M. Balyuzi

Iranian Bahá'í and writer (1908–1980)
Hasan M. Balyuzi (7 September 1908 – 12 February 1980) was a prominent Iranian member of the Baháʼí Faith. He served in administrative institutions of the religion for decades, worked for the BBC, and was a prolific writer. He produced innumerable articles and a series of scholarly books on Muhammad and the central figures of the Bahá'í dispensation: the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l Bahá. His consecration to serving the Faith, and his deep spirituality led to his being named a Hand of the Cause (of God) in 1957. He established a trust and a library for Bahá'í research and donated his works to it. The library contains more than 10 thousand items and continues to grow.

Balyuzi was born in Shiraz, Iran, but he spent most of his life in Britain. Balyuzi was an Afnán, a descendant of the Báb, on both sides of his family. His father became governor of the Persian Gulf ports. The family was exiled to India during WWI where he spent from about age 8 through 16, and there was tutored in Persian, Arabic, went to "Bishops College" of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Poona. Later Balyuzi's family moved back to Iran when his father became Minister of the Interior; Balyuzi attended school in Cyprus. His father died in 1921, his mother moved to Shiraz, and Edward G. Browne assisted in arranging his education in London about a year before his father died. Balyuzi then went on to Beirut and prepared for college. While living in Beirut, Balyuzi met Shoghi Effendi at a time he considered himself a Muslim. It was also in 1938 that he began to publish a biographical article on Baháʼu'lláh, followed by the Báb and ʻAbdu'l Bahá, and used as part of lectures and in discussions. Balyuzi died in London on 12 February 1980.

He left instructions that an Afnan Library Trust for Baháʼí Faith research be established and contributed his own library of materials to it.