James Lyman Merrick

There he met Malik Qāsim Mīrzā, an uncle of the Shah, and spent three months in his residence teaching English, learning Persian and discussing religion.

[5] Finally in August 1838 he settled in Tabriz, intending to make it his permanent base, and the following year he married Eunice Taylor, the sister of an English army officer stationed in Persia.

In November 1839, the executive committee of the American Board, which had already expressed doubts about the viability of Merrick's mission, withdrew its support for his work among Muslims.

Conflict with his missionary colleagues over mission policies led to further deterioration in relations with the American Board executive, culminating in his recall in 1845.

[9] In 1850 he published The Life and Religion of Mohammed, his translation of al-Majlisī's Hayāt al-Qulūb, calling attention in his preface to the need to correct "imperfect views of the Mohammedan system", and especially of Shiite Muslim beliefs, held in Christian nations.