In memory of Manuchehr Jamali

For the Obituary page of the Guardian & the Observer

Manouchehr JAMALI (Alias: Mohammad YEGANEH ARANI) who has died in Al-Hurain, Spain aged 84 was an Iranian Iconic figure. He was born in the village of Aran in the province of Kashan, Iran. His mother Ms YEGANEH was a well known evangelist of the Baha’I faith, but jamali himself remained a transcendental free thinker throughout his adult life. He attended school and studied at the University in Teheran. After involuntary exile from Iran he came to Germany. He studied theoretical physics and philosophy in the Universities of Munich, Frankfurt and Tubingen. Amongst his notable tutors were Max Horkheimer and Theodore Adorno. Jamali, whose immense scholarship led him to some original and fascinating interpretations of the poems of Hafez .Attar and Rumi was above all a devotee of the heraldic poet Ferdowsi. Ferdowsi’s Book of Kings  remained the inspirational  source of Jamali’s  revivalist political ideas after the Iranian revolution of 1979 and establishment of theocratic rule. He elaborated the Simorghi  ethos and rites tracing back  to the legendary  phoenix of Persian  folklore, As a  non creationist  thinker Jamali was critical of all religions of Semetic origin: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He was particularly dismissive of Allah whose one and only–ness jamali regarded as the embodiment of absolutism. Jamali was a most prolific writer and authored over a hundred thematic books. He was married and had three children but was cared for and nursed for 40 years by a handsome German lady Bea BURGWINKEL who was fluent in Persian and an admirer of Jamali’s genius.

Dr Manouchehr Sabetian

 09.7.12