Book Review: Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia
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"We have from Lady Sheil an interesting account of the sect of Babees, whose doctrines, notwithstanding the persecution to which their professors have been subjected, appear to have spread widely. The are, according to Lady Sheil, a kind of socialism and communism. The founder of the sect, one Seyid Ali Mohammed, a native of Shiraz, was put to death in Tebreez, but his disciples have not decreased... It is not improbable that the sect may spread and that an extensive movement against the Shah may ensue. One of the peculiarities of the Babees is their intense hatred of Mohammedans, whom they slay without mercy when they fall into their hands." [In his bibliography appending A Traveller's Narrative, E. G. Browne writes about Sheil's work (p. 200-201): "That this information was derived for the most part, if not entirely, from bitter enemies of the new faith, or in other words from persons attached to the Persian Court, is sufficiently evident."]