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42-719: He was a native of the Al-Ahsa region (Eastern Arabian Peninsula ), educated in Bahrain and the theological centres of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq . Spending the last twenty years of his life in Iran , he received the protection and patronage of princes of the Qajar dynasty . His ancestors were nomadic Sunnis. Shaykh Ahmad diverged from the Usuli school on key issues related to eschatology ,

84-598: A has been inhabited since prehistoric times because of its abundance of water in an otherwise arid region. Natural fresh-water springs have surfaced at oases in the region for millennia, encouraging human habitation and agricultural efforts (date palm cultivation especially) since prehistoric times. The oasis region and specifically the name Hajar (also Hagar, Haǧar) may be related to the Ancient Near East toponym Agarum , mentioned in Dilmunite inscriptions as

126-433: A landscape of accumulated sand with an impermeable layer underneath. When rain falls onto such a landscape, the water soaks through the sand (which prevents it from evaporating) and is retained by the impermeable base layer, forming an aquifer. Wells drilled into the earth can then provide access to a cool spring. The area used to be called Pit-Ardashir ( Classical Syriac : ܦܝܛܐܪܕܫܝܪ ) by Assyrians and Persians. Al-Ahsa

168-1079: A large number of his works take the form of commentaries on Surahs from the Qurʼan, important Hadiths of Muhammad or the Imams, or writing by earlier mystical or theological writers. The most comprehensive bibliography of Ahmad's known works identifies twelve wide subject areas addressed by individual works: • Sharh al-Hikma al-Arshiyya - a multi-volume commentary on the al-Hikma al-Arshiyya of MuIla Sadra (Tabriz, 1854) • Sharh al-Fawa'id . Lithographed. N.P. (Tabriz: 1856). • Jawami' al-Kalim . Lithographed. N.P. (Tabriz: 1856-59). • Sharh al-Masha'ir . Lithographed. N.P. (Tehran: 1861). • Sharh al-'Arshiyya . Lithographed. N.P. (Tehran: 1861). • Sharh al-Ziyara al-Jami'a al-Kabira . Chapkhaneh Sa'adat (Kirman: 1972), 4 Volumes. • Rasa'il al-Hikma . Al-Da'ira al-'Alamiyya (Beirut: 1993). Al-Ahsa Oasis Al-Ahsa Oasis ( Arabic : الْأَحْسَاء , al-ʾAhsā ), also known as al-Ḥasāʾ ( الْحَسَاء ) or Hajar ( هَجَر ),

210-520: A mainstream Shiʻite, not as a sectarian leader. Yet he clearly innovated in Shiʻi thought in ways that, toward the end of his life, sparked great controversy. Among the contentious arenas he entered was that of the nature of religious authority. He lived at a time when his branch of Islam was deeply divided on the role of the Muslim learned man. Was he an exemplar to be emulated by the laity without fail, or merely

252-527: A means of divine grace to their devotees. The Imams are also guided by preserved texts in their possession, such as al-Jafr , al-Jamia , and unaltered past books the Torah and Injeel . Imamat, or belief in the divine guide, is a fundamental belief in the Twelver Shia doctrine and is based on the concept that God would not leave humanity without access to divine guidance. According to Twelvers, there

294-608: A minority following in Iran and Iraq. After the death of Shaykh Ahmad's successor, Kazim Rashti , many Shaykhís converted to Bábism and the Baháʼí faith ; the two Shaykhí leaders continue to be highly regarded by the Babis and the Baháʼís, being seen as spiritual forerunners to their religions. Little is documented about the early life of Shaykh Ahmad, except that he was born in al-Ahsa , in

336-541: A region that is otherwise sand desert. The oasis became a World Heritage site in 2018. It has also been part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network since December 2015. According to one author, the oases of Al-Ahsa and Al Ain (in the U.A.E. , on the border with Oman ) are the most important in the Gulf region. Al-Ahsa is the plural form of "Al-Ḥisā" ( Arabic : ٱلْحِسَى ) which refers to

378-514: A series of dreams and visions. In one such dream recounted by him, he believed that he was granted permission to transmit knowledge by each of the twelve Imams . In another dream he saw Imam Hasan teaching him Quranic verses. Asha'i theology is deeply influenced by that of Shihab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi . Notably on the ethereal existence of the Hidden Imam in the unseen realm,

420-492: A similar transformative journey. This concept echoed the well-established idea of the "Perfect Man" (ensan-e kamel) found in speculative Sufism . Ahsa'i offered a resolution to the perplexing question of the Hidden Imam 's thousand-year longevity in a non-physical state by proposing the existence of his celestial prototype in the “ horqalya ” sphere. While Ahsa'i never explicitly articulated this in his often cryptic works,

462-529: A wide array of literary forms. The largest number of his works consist of correspondence with other members of the ulama or his students, usually intended to expand upon a teaching advanced in another work, or provide answers to vexing questions of theology or jurisprudence. Treatises and lessons composed independently by al-Ahsáʼí make up a smaller number of his works, but tend to be longer than his correspondence and more commonly studied and reprinted. In keeping with Islamic and Persian literary and academic tradition,

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504-606: Is an oasis and historical region in eastern Saudi Arabia . Al-Ahsa Governorate , which makes up much of the country's Eastern Province , is named after it. The oasis is located about 60 km (37 miles) inland from the coast of the Persian Gulf . Al-Ahsa Oasis comprises four main cities and 22 villages. The cities include Al-Mubarraz and Al-Hofuf , two of the largest cities in Saudi Arabia. With an area of around 85.4 km (33.0 sq mi), Al-Ahsa Oasis

546-516: Is at all times an Imam of the era who is the divinely appointed authority on all matters of faith and law in the Muslim community. Ali , a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, was the first of the Twelve Imams, and, in the Twelvers view, the rightful successor to Muhammad , followed by male descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah . Each Imam was the son of the previous Imam, with

588-604: Is home to the largest conventional oil field in the world, the Ghawar Field . Al-Ahsa is known for its palm trees and date palms. Al-Ahsa has over 2.5 million palm trees which produce over 100,000 tons of dates every year. The oasis is a popular tourist destination for Qatari nationals, who would make the 160-km cross-border drive to visit local attractions, as well as to find bargains for food, spices and clothing in Al-Ahsa's bazaars. Economic ties were severely disrupted by

630-513: Is part of the region known historically for its high skill in tailoring, especially in making bisht , a traditional men's cloak. Al-Ahsa was one of the few areas in the Arabian Peninsula in which rice was grown . In 1938, petroleum deposits were discovered near Dammam , resulting in the rapid modernization of the region. By the early 1960s, oil production levels reached 1 million barrels (160,000 m ) per day. Today, Al-Ahsa

672-587: Is the largest oasis in the world. A large part of the oasis is located in the Empty Quarter , also referred to as Rub' al Khali in Arabic. This covers almost three-quarters of the land in the oasis, while residential areas constitute 18%. There are more than 2.5 million palm trees including date palms in the oasis, which is fed from a huge underground aquifer and irrigated by the flow of more than 280 artesian springs , allowing year-round agriculture in

714-610: The Qatar diplomatic crisis , which led to the closure of Saudi Arabia's land border with Qatar. With the crisis' resolution and border reopening in 2021, however, Qatari tourists have gradually returned to Al-Ahsa; albeit in smaller numbers, due to improved Qatari self-sufficiency in goods. A road between Oman and Saudi Arabia, through the vast Empty Quarter sand desert, was completed in September 2021. Between 700 and 800 kilometres (430 and 500 miles) long, it extends from Al-Ahsa to

756-613: The Shaykhí movement until his death. He taught his students how to recognize the Mahdi and the Masih ( the returned Jesus ). After his death in 1843, many of his students spread out around Iraq and Iran to search for a new leader. Shaykh Ahmad was a prolific writer, he is known to have completed 71 published works during his career, of which 354 contemporary manuscripts are known to be still extant. Writing primarily in Arabic, his work spanned

798-742: The Awal Islands (the islands that comprise present-day Bahrain) from the Jabrid ruler Muqrin ibn Zamil. The Jabrids struggled to maintain their position on the mainland in the face of the Ottomans and their tribal allies, the Muntafiq . In 1550, Al-Ahsa and nearby Qatif came under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire with Sultan Suleiman I . Al-Ahsa was nominally the Eyalet of Lahsa in

840-785: The British representative in Kuwait , had met with Ibn Saud to settle the border issue between Kuwait and Najd. The result of the meeting was the Uqair Protocol of 1922 , in which Britain recognized ibn Saud's sovereignty over territories claimed by the emir of Kuwait. Al-Ahsa was taken from the Ottomans in 1913, bringing the Al Sauds control of the Persian Gulf coast and what would become Saudi Arabia's vast oil reserves. Al-Ahsa

882-634: The Faith of Islam, could achieve the regeneration of this perverse people. He knew, [...] that nothing short of a new and independent Revelation, as attested and foreshadowed by the sacred Scriptures of Islam, could revive the fortunes and restore the purity of that decadent Faith. While it is unclear how much of Nabil's interpretation is consistent with Shaykh Ahmad's true feelings, the underlying motivations for reform, and ultimately for messianic expectation, become somewhat clearer. Shaykh Ahmad, at about age forty (1784 or 1794 - circa), began to study in earnest in

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924-709: The Omani town of Ibri . The Omani side of the road measures approximately 160 km (99 miles), and the Saudi side 580 km (360 miles). Al-Ahsa has a hot desert climate ( Köppen Climate Classification : BWh ), with long, extremely hot summers and short, very mild winters. The oasis has a very low annual precipitation of 83.3 mm (3.28 in), but receives a small amount of rain in winter and spring. The Twelve Imams The Twelve Imams ( Arabic : ٱلْأَئِمَّة ٱلْٱثْنَا عَشَر , al-ʾAʾimmah al-ʾIthnā ʿAšar ; Persian : دوازده امام , Davâzdah Emâm ) are

966-780: The Ottoman administrative system and was usually a vassal of the Sublime Porte . Qatif was later lost to the Portuguese. The Ottomans were expelled from Al-Ahsa in 1670, and the region came under the Banu Khalid Emirate . Al-Ahsa, along with Qatif, was incorporated into the Wahhabist Emirate of Diriyah in 1795 but returned to Ottoman control in 1818 with an invasion ordered by Muhammad Ali of Egypt . The Banu Khalid were again installed as rulers of

1008-760: The Qarmatian state of Al-Ahsa was overthrown by the Uyunids . Al-Ahsa subsequently fell under the rule of the Bahrani dynasty of the Usfurids , followed by their relatives, the Jabrids , who became one of the most formidable powers in the region, retaking the islands of Bahrain from the princes of Hormuz . The last Jabrid ruler of Bahrain was Muqrin ibn Zamil . In 1521, the Portuguese Empire conquered

1050-651: The Shaykh's preference for intuitive knowledge, which he claimed to obtain directly by inspiration from the Imams, would seriously undermine the authority of their position. Momen has commented on Shaykh Ahmad's doctrines and his succession during which the conflict with Shiʻi orthodoxy intensified. Bahá'í scholar, Nader Saiedi in his Gate of the Heart (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2010) has characterised his followers by their fervent millenarian expectations , their complex mystical and esoteric knowledge, their insistence on

1092-532: The Shiʻi centres of religious scholarship such as Karbala and Najaf . He attained sufficient recognition in such circles to be declared a mujtahid in Karbala , an interpreter of Islamic Law. He contended with Sufi and Neo-Platonist scholars, and attained a positive reputation among their detractors. He declared that all knowledge and sciences were contained (in essential form) within the Quran , and that to excel in

1134-535: The absolute transcendence of the divine Essence, their rejection of the doctrine of wahdatu’l-wujúd , their reinterpretation of the traditional doctrine of bodily resurrection ( ma'ad-i-Jismani ), and their ambiguous assertions concerning the necessity of the presence of a living Gate (a Báb) to the Hidden Imám for the guidance of the Shí'i community. Shaykh Ahmad appointed Kazim Rashti as his successor, who led

1176-652: The celestial domain. Within the imaginative landscape of “ horqalya ”, the Hidden Imam remained invisible to humanity, much like the souls of believers awaiting the Day of Resurrection . In this realm, believers who honed their intellectual and moral capacities could contemplate the presence of the Imam of the Age and encounter his "manifestation" in the corporeal world. Ahsa'i identified the "Perfect Shi‘a" as one who attained this state of visionary perfection, capable of guiding others along

1218-551: The exception of Al-Husayn , who was the brother of Al-Hasan . The twelfth and final Imam is Muhammad al-Mahdi , who is believed by the Twelvers to be currently alive, and hidden in the Major Occultation until he returns to bring justice to the world. It is believed by Twelver and Alevi Muslims that the Twelve Imams have been foretold in the Hadith of the 12 accomplishers . All of the Imams met unnatural deaths, with

1260-510: The first among equals, bound by a literal interpretation of the sacred text just as was everyone else? Or was he, as the Sufis maintained, a pole channeling the grace of God to those less enlightened than himself? How may we situate Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i with regard to these contending visions of Shiʻi Islam? Bahá'í scholar, Moojan Momen in his Introduction to Shiʻi Islam (George Ronald, Oxford, 1985) states that many mujtahids were afraid that

1302-515: The imams are a guide and model for the community to follow; as a result, they must be free from error and sin (known as ismah , or infallibility) and must be chosen by divine decree through Muhammad. It is believed in Twelver Shi’ism that the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his household are infallible, possessing Hikmah . Their oppression and suffering served greater purposes and were

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1344-496: The implication emerged that the Hidden Imam would eventually manifest himself in a new earthly form at the culmination of time. Juan Cole summarises the situation at the advent of the Shaykhi School, and the questions that were unfolding as his views crystallised and he acquired an early following: When Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i wrote, there was no Shaykhi school, which only crystallized after his death. He saw himself as

1386-474: The means by which one could recognize him, and the timing and circumstances surrounding his anticipated advent. Ahsa'i's quest for salvation for humanity transcended mere religious obligations, focusing instead on an intuitive engagement with the sacred within a conceptual space he termed " horqalya ." This realm, borrowed from the twelfth-century Iranian philosopher Shihab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi, served as an intermediary zone between earthly existence and

1428-456: The northeast of the Arabian peninsula, to a Shiʻi family with Sunni ancestry in either the year 1166 AH (1753 CE), or 1157 AH (1744 CE). Nabíl's Narrative , a history of the Baháʼí faith , describes his spiritual awakening as follows: He observed how those who professed the Faith of Islam had shattered its unity, sapped its force, perverted its purpose, and degraded its holy name. His soul

1470-460: The original home of their chief deity Inzak . If so, Agarum probably referred to the mainland area of Arabia lying opposite Bahrain . According to the hypothesis, the Dilmun civilization originated at the oases of Eastern Arabia, but later relocated to the isle of Bahrain. This interpretation is not without criticism, however, and other sources place Agarum on the isle of Failaka . Eastern Arabia

1512-556: The region but, in 1830 the Emirate of Nejd retook the region. Direct Ottoman rule was restored in 1871, and Al-Ahsa was placed first under Baghdad Vilayet and with Baghdad's subdivision Basra Vilayet in 1875. In 1913, ibn Saud , the founder of modern Saudi Arabia , annexed Al-Ahsa and Qatif into his domain of Najd . On 2 December 1922, Percy Cox officially notified Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah that Kuwait's borders had been modified. Earlier that year, Major John More,

1554-605: The role of the ulama , and the proper interpretation of the mystical hadith of the Twelve Imams . These divergences, according to Bahá'í scholar Peter Smith , resulted in accusations of heresy from orthodox members of the Shia ulama, and instances of persecution against Ahsá'í and his followers occurred during and after his lifetime. His teachings were complex, thus he often practised Taqayya concealing his controversial ideas from his opponents. Today, Shaykhí populations retain

1596-529: The sciences, all knowledge must be gleaned from the Quran. To this end he developed systems of interpretation of the Quran and sought to inform himself of all the sciences current in the Muslim world. He also evinced a veneration of the Imams , even beyond the extent of his pious contemporaries and espoused heterodox views on the afterlife, the resurrection and end-times, as well as medicine and cosmology. His views on

1638-547: The soul posited a "subtle body" separate from, and associated with the physical body, and this also altered his views on the occultation of the Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi . His views resulted in his denunciation by several learned clerics, and he engaged in many debates before moving on to Persia where he settled for a time in the province of Yazd . It was in Yazd that much of his books and letters were written. He experienced

1680-534: The spiritual and political successors to the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Twelver branch of Shia Islam , including that of the Alawite and Alevi . According to Twelver theology , the Twelve Imams are exemplary human individuals who not only rule over the community with justice, but also are able to keep and interpret sharia and the esoteric meaning of the Quran . The words and deeds of Muhammad and

1722-629: Was conquered by the emerging Rashidun Caliphate during the 7th century. It was later inherited by the Umayyads and Abbasids . In 899 the region came under the control of the Qarmatian leader Abu Tahir al-Jannabi and was declared independent from the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad . Its capital was at al-Mu'miniya near modern Hofuf . By circa 1000, Al-Ahsa became the ninth largest city worldwide supporting 100,000 inhabitants. In 1077,

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1764-485: Was filled with anguish at the sight of the corruption and strife which characterised the Shí'ah sect of Islam [...] Forsaking his home and kindred, on one of the islands of Bahrayn, to the south of the Persian Gulf, he set out, [...] to unravel the mysteries of those verses of Islamic Scriptures which foreshadowed the advent of a new Manifestation [...] There burned in his soul the conviction that no reform, however drastic, within

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