Dwight M. Donaldson

Dwight M Donaldson was an American orientalist.

Biography

Dwight Martin Donaldson was an American Islamic scholar and orientalist born in Washington in 1884 who worked as a missionary of the American Presbyterian Church. For 16 years he lived in Mashhad, Iran, researching and writing about Shias in Persia until his expulsion in 1940. Subsequently, he moved to India and became the principal of the Henry Martyn School of Islamic Studies in Aligarh. He married a fellow American Presbyterian missionary Bess Allen in 1916 and died in 1976 at the age of 91.

Books and Articles

Books

• The Shi’ite Religion: A History of Islam in Persia and Irak (Iraq), Luzac & Co., 1933
• Studies in Muslim ethics, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1953

Articles

• “Modern Persian Law”, The Muslim World, 1924, p. 341-49
• “The First Missionaries to the Parthians”, International Review of Missions, 1929, vol. 18, p. 481-494
• “What to Conserve, and What to Abandon”, International Review of Missions, 1931, vol. 20, p 422-428
• “Intellectual Awakening in Modern Iran”, International Review of Missions, 1936, vol. 25, p. 172-183

Academic Activities

• Gave lectures on Shia Muslim Ethics in Iran, India and US
• Member of the Editorial board of ‘The Muslim World’

References

• Encyclopedia Iranica: https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/donaldson