Assessing the Findings of Foreign Travel Writers on the Conditions of the Shiite Population in Iran in the Qajari Era

Travel itineraries are the product of the observations and objective evaluations of their writers. They are considered among the important sources of understanding the identity and culture of a society during the different periods of history on the basis of non-Iranian's views and evaluation. The travel itineraries written by Europeans in recent centuries are of great importance in terms of their subject, interpretation, analysis, evaluation and comparison. Although the works of this group have not addressed the Shiite identity independently and thoroughly, they are worth considering and evaluating due to their being part of the oriental studies, careful consideration which this group gives to some Shiite beliefs and customs and the observations they make about some issues and the special attention given to them by some contemporary orientalists and domestic writers. Among the issues which have been the spcial concern of this group are explaining the Shia's beliefs and ideas about religious doctrines and mentioning their leaders, the Iranian Shiite population's religious practices and rites, the special attention they give to the important sacred sites and the clergy, and assessment of their dogmas. This paper deals with the works of two European travelers (Madame Carla Serena and Eugene Obun), who visited Iran during the Qajar period. It concludes that these two travel writers often uses a purely narrative approach based on their incomplete observations of the rituals of Shiite population; they make mistakes in their attributing some practices to Shi’ism on the one hand, and they provide inaccurate description of some of the Shiah's beliefs on the other hand. A critical - historical method is used in this study, which is centered on Islamic sources and the works of these two travel writers.