Women's Missionary: Reflections on Mariy Bird's Propaganda Goals and Methods with Emphasis on Book of Persian Women and Their Creed

During the nineteenth century, due to factors such as the domination of Western colonialists in the East and the gradual improvement of relations, the presence of Christian missionaries in Iran and the Islamic world became more widespread. Meanwhile, the church sent a female missionary named Mary Rebecca Stuart Bird (1859–1914) as part of a medical mission, paving the way for relatively new phenomena in the process of missionary activity, which can be called women's missionary work. What makes this concept even more meaningful is not only the emphasis on the role of women missionaries, but also the focus on the propagation of Christianity among women. Accordingly, the present article tries to examine Mary Bird's book entitled Persian Women and Their Creed and of course the use of other sources and research to explain this female missionary and for the basic research questions, namely the nature of her mission, her approach to Islam, His methods and propaganda tools to find a suitable answer. According to the research findings, the type of approach to Islam, the skillful use of different angles in propaganda, the use of medical needs and social problems of women are very important in advancing the ideal goal of Mary Bird, trying to Christianize Iran.