Raḍawī Dār al-Funūn An Idea for Confronting the Activities of the Presbyterian Mission in Mashhad

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mujtabā Khalīfa
• ‘Alī Najafzāda

10.22067/history.v0i0.11037

Abstract

American missionaries were active in Mashhad since Qajar period and the Presbyterian mission first established a hospital in Mashhad and set up a great project for construction of a school and church by purchasing a large piece of land in Pāchinār neighborhood since 1301 sh/1923. This enterprise by the American missioners elicited various reactions from the scholars, businessmen and others to stop their activities.
One of the reactions was by Dr. Amīr A‘lam, the chief of Khurāsān Sanitorium (Ḥifẓ al-Ṣiḥḥa), who proposed to establish Raḍawī Dār al-Funūn to confront the American missionaries’ religious and cultural propaganda. He had some correspondence with the clerics, members of parliament, chief of ministers, and the deputy custodian of Āstān Quds and was able to attract their cooperation. It is attempted in this article to examine the reasons
and the grounds for the inception of the idea of Raḍawī Dār al-Funūn, Dr. Amīr A‘lam’s ideas about it, the features and impacts of this educational institution, and finally, the causes for its failure.

Keywords

• Raḍawī Dār al-Funūn
• Presbyterian
• Mashhad
• Amīr A‘lam

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