DAʿWAT AL-ESLĀM

 

DAʿWAT AL-ESLĀM, a biweekly Persian journal published in Bombay by Ḥājj Sayyed Moḥammad Dāʿī-al-Eslām from 1 Ramażān 1324/19 October 1906 until the end of 1326/1909; it was the organ of an association of the same name, which had its center in Bombay. The journal was religious, and its contributors engaged in polemics against faiths other than Islam and against other, more nationalist Persian publications in India. It also included world news and news about Indian Muslims. It was frequently endorsed by ranking religious leaders and received financial assistance from wealthy believers.

All the articles in the first issue were published in both Persian and Urdu. Beginning with the second issue, the articles were published in Persian with a supplement in Urdu, consisting mainly of translations of the Persian articles. The first fourteen issues were lithographed on sixteen double-column pages, measuring 12.5 by 28 cm; the remainder were set in type and measured 16.5 by 19.5 cm. There were no illustrations. The title page contained the name and address of the paper, subscription price, and date of publication. The annual subscription rate for India was 3 rupees with the Urdu supplement and 2 rupees without it (3 annas for a single issue), for Persia 1 toman, for the Ottoman empire 1 majīdī, for the Caucasus and Turkestan 2 rubles, and for other regions 4.5 French francs.

Serial collections are kept in the central library of Tehran University, the library of Āstān-e qods-e rażawī in Mašhad, the Asia Institute at Shiraz, the library of the University of Cambridge, and the Bibliothèque Nationale at Versailles.

Daʿwat al-Eslām was also the name of an underground newspaper published in Tehran during the month of Rabīʿ I 1327/March 1909.

 

Bibliography:

Browne, Press and Poetry, pp. 85-86.

N. Dānešvar ʿAlawī, Tārīḵ-e mašrūṭa-ye Īrān o jonbeš-e waṭanparastān-e Eṣfahān o Baḵtīārī, Tehran, 1335 Š./1956.

I. Hamed, “Un journal persan de l’Inde,” RMM 2, **, p. 146.

H. Mawlānā, Sayr-e ertebāṭāt-e ejtemāʿī dar Īrān, Tehran, 1358 Š./1969, p. 114.

Bāmdād, Rejāl VI, pp. 255-56.

H. L. Rabino, Ṣūrat-e jarāyed-e Īrān wa jarāyed-ī ke dar ḵārej az Īrān be zabān-e fārsī ṭabʿ šoda ast, Rašt, 1329/1911.

Ṣadr Hāšemī, Jarāʿed o majallāt II,pp. 290-92.

U. Sims-Williams, Union Catalogue of Persian Serials and Newspapers in British Libraries, London, 1985, p. 119.

G. Šokrī, “Fehrest-e rūz-nāmahā wa majallahā-ye fārsī dar moʾassesa-ye Āsīaʾī-e Dānešgāh-e Šīrāz,” FIZ 27, 1366 Š./1987, p. 367.

M. Solṭānī, Fehrest-e majallahā-ye fārsī az ebtedā tā sāl-e 1320-e šamsī, Tehran, 1356 Š./1967, pp. 56-57.

Idem, Fehrest-e majallāt-e mawjūd dar ketāb-ḵāna-ye Āstān-e qods-e rażawī I, Mašhad, 1361 Š./1982, p. 148.

(Nassereddin Parvin)

Originally Published: December 15, 1994

Last Updated: November 18, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. VII, Fasc. 2, pp. 139-140