Abstract: In the novel, The Banyan (2000), written by Iranian writer Ahmad Mahmud, the banyan is considered as a kind of “material worship”, which is a metaphor of the two extreme cases in the process of modern history in Iran—the religious fanaticism and the wholesale Westernization. The novel describes that the religious fanaticism has converted the religion from an internal belief to an external “material worship”, which reveals that behind the religious fanaticism is the fierce angling of political powers. Meanwhile, the material worship brought by the wholesale Westernization is like the wild growth of the banyan tree, which becomes the new colonial tactic to control the Iranian society. The novel demonstrates that what happens behind the “Banyan City” built by material desires actually is the complete collapse of social ethics and morality. For an ancient civilization in the East like Iran, it is indeed a complicated challenge to figure out how to strike a balance between tradition and modernity, how to achieve modernization without succumbing to Westernization, and how to maintain the vitality of traditional religious culture without a slip into religious fanaticism. The novel shows the author’s deep concern for and perspective on the current politics in Iran and the destiny of humanity.

Key words: Ahmad Mahmud, The Banyan, banyan, "material worship", metaphor