persia

Interesting...these look a lot like how imams/clerics in Iran dress nowadays (e.g. M. Khatami, who is running for office in June, I believe).

The majority of individuals in this photography are Shia Muslim clerics/imams. Omar your assesment is correct as this is the typical garb worn in Iran by the religous scholars. One will note that some of the individuals are wearing black turbans and some are wearing white. The black turbans are a distinction among the scholars as who is a decendent of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) through his daughter Lady Fatimah Zahra (as). Of the taller individuals in the back wearing fezes, we can make some assumptions that they are either non-clerical individuals or they are Sunni Muslims who are clerics. One last comment and hopefully someone can confirm its autheticity, is this photograph was taken at the time of a academic and scholarly debate between the 2 main sects in Islam in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. The debates themselves were documented in a book known as Peshawar Nights. In a very old copy I have, I found a print of this very picture in that book which is why I believe this picture was taken at that time.

shakir farheen Shakir - That is fascinating! Thanks for the info. I wonder if that book is available for purchase anywhere in English? I'd love to get my hands on a copy.

Br. Omar - It is an interesting book for anyone who enjoys the freedom of intellectual debate. The book is available online for free, however if you wish to purchase it I included a link from Amazon as well below. The version I have is a very old copy so not sure if the new versions have the picture in it or not. [html] www.al-islam.org/peshawar/toc.html [PDF] www.e-resaneh.com/articlefiles/202105819.pdf [Paperback] www.amazon.com/Peshawar-Nights-Islam-Sunni-sources/dp/B00...

is it national football team of Qom city ? :-)

US ambassador to Iran in 1914. John Lawrence Caldwell (1875-1922) — also known as John L. Caldwell — of Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kan. Born in Bourbon County, Kan., July 16, 1875. Son of Thomas Anderson Caldwell and Mary Alice (Hamman) Caldwell; married, June 11, 1902, to Evelyne de Lambert. Democrat. School teacher; lawyer; member of Kansas state senate 8th District, 1901-04; Bourbon County Prosecuting Attorney, 1907-11; candidate for U.S. Representative from Kansas 2nd District, 1910; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Kansas, 1912; U.S. Minister to Persia, 1914-21. Member, Freemasons. Died December 6, 1922 I started a Wikipedia entry for him: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lawrence_Caldwell

Richard Arthur Norton: Thanks for providing us with the additional info. on Caldwell. We'll use it next time we update the description.

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urmia "Due to Urmia's relatively large Christian population growth by the end of the 19th century, Urmia also became the seat of the first American Christian mission in Iran in 1835."

swanq: Thank you for the information regarding the current name of this location in Iran. When we update the record, we will expand the descriptive information.

Doesn't this quote refer to the 18th century?