IRAN (PERSIA).

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 26, Issue 8, 1 August 1936, Page 4

IRAN (PERSIA).

The point of view of the man m the street m these days, m regard to the modern conception of nature, was stated recently m direct and simple language m one of the daily papers:

This World and the Next.—Whenever civilisation, inventions and discoveries are discussed we are sure to hear that God has given this world to the foreigners and the next world to us. And if you ask: "If the next world belongs to you, then why have you come into this world?" there is no answer. This world, to us, is a sad house where by the force of God we have to live for a time with mourning and sorrow. We must suffer and see hardships. This is the doctrine of our ancestors. We have all kinds of unseen creatures threatening us; such as genii, monsters fairies and evil spirits. We have so

many superstitious ideas that we can't move. No matter what happens to us we say "God is great." So we sit and hope that one day nature will have pity on us.

, Other people look at the world from a different angle. They work hard, learn science and without regarding the angels or devils they do things and make themselves comfortable. We are lost. They have both worlds, while we have neither.

The most notable characteristic of the new attitude towards history is the marked interest that is being shown m all things pre-Islamic m Iran. The name of the present dynasty, Pahlavi (Parthian), is m itself an index of what is happening. The idea is gaining ground that the people of Iran must break loose from the law and customs of Islam, and, building rather on their old national foundations, find their own place right abreast of others m the family of modern peoples. This is what makes the abandonment of the turban and the adoption of "international" hats significant. And as the movement to free women from the curse of the Hidjab (curtain or veil) that has meant their segregation, makes steady progress, and more and more women are able to discard the ugly, stuffy, insanitary black garment (chadar) they have been required to wear m the street,, it means that the country of Iran is declaring to itself and to all the world that the Islamic social system that was forced upon it has had its days and has failed to meet the demands of present-day life.