Modern Persia — Reading Notes

A Missionary's Apologetic Purpose

The preface reveals that Daniel wrote in response to specific queries from 'godly ministers and devoted people' about the fruits of mission work in Persia. He cites a letter from Rev. O. N. Hunt asking about the 'moral condition of Persia to-day in comparison to what it was when the missionaries began their work.' This question drives the book's apologetic framework. Daniel does not claim to be neutral; his stated object is 'to encourage the mission spirit' and 'to hasten the day when millions that now sit in darkness... may set their faces toward the light.' The reader should expect a work that measures Persian society against Christian moral standards, not an ethnographic survey.

Shiite Rituals Described in Detail

Daniel devotes considerable attention to Shiite religious practices, particularly the ten-day mourning period for Hussein. He describes believers shouting, 'O Hassan and Hussein, let my soul be a sacrifice for thee,' and notes that some preserve tears in bottles as relics, citing the Psalmist's phrase 'Put thou my tears in thy bottle.' The account includes vivid details: barefoot processions of governors with servants, and men walking around mosques to stay awake during the final night. Daniel emphasizes that 'not one word is said in condemnation of sin' during these ceremonies, a claim that frames the rituals as morally empty compared to Christian teaching.

Islamic Cosmology and the Houries

In the chapter on heaven and hell, Daniel outlines Islamic eschatology based on the Koran. He describes seven heavens, with the highest reserved for prophets and martyrs, and Mohammed as 'mediator between God and believers.' The earthly paradise includes gardens, vineyards, and 'many bathing pools of glass.' A striking numerical detail: each vine bears '7,000 clusters of grapes, and every grape contains 7,000 gallons of juice.' Daniel also reports that ordinary believers receive '72 houries or female angels,' with more for martyrs. These descriptions are presented as factual summaries, but the tone implies criticism of what Daniel sees as a materialistic and sensual conception of the afterlife.

The Author's Position and Sources

Daniel identifies himself as 'Rabbi Mooshie G. Daniel, McCormick Seminary' and notes his previous role as 'Professor of Ancient Syriac in Oroomiah College, Persia.' He acknowledges using the International Encyclopedia for dates and Dr. Philip Schaff's Church History for the account of Mohammed. The book is dedicated to the Class of 1897 of McCormick Theological Seminary. These details situate the work within a specific late-19th-century American Protestant missionary context. Readers should note that Daniel writes as an insider to Persian culture but an outsider to Islam, and his comparisons consistently elevate Christianity as 'the sun shining in its fulness' against 'the darkness of midnight.'

Daniel's Modern Persia is best read as a primary source on how an educated Persian Christian presented his homeland to an American audience at the turn of the century. The book's value lies less in its factual accuracy about Islam—which is filtered through a polemical lens—than in its documentation of missionary attitudes and the specific questions Americans asked about Persia. Readers interested in comparative religion should supplement this text with works from Islamic perspectives.

Reading about Persia’s Shiite beliefs, I remembered sitting on my grandfather’s porch while he described the afterlife in whispers, his hands still. That hush returned when I later found Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life — Reading Companion, its old pages carrying the same patient wonder. Two distant worlds, yet both left me feeling the quiet weight of what people hold sacred.