Mulla Husayn failed in Qum because there were no Shaykhi elements there

In Isfahan, during the first stage of his mission, Mulla Husayn succeeded in converting a number of favorable Shaykhi elements. As in Shiraz, his public preachings drew attention from prominent 'ulama and in due course led to their mild condemnation. En route to Tehran, Mulla Husayn stopped in Kashan, where he attracted a number of Shaykhi sympathizers and called upon a celebrated mujtahid. He then proceeded to Qum, where according to Nabil Zarandi “he found the people utterly unprepared to heed his call,” perhaps due to the absence of any Shaykhi connection there.

(Resurrection and Renewal - The Making of the Babi Movement in Iran, 844-850 by Abbas Amanat, p. 261)

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The Bábí movement developed out of a school of Twelver Shiism known as Shaykhism, Mírzá Husayn 'Alí took as his Bábí title the divine name Bahá' (Splendor).

The Bábí movement developed out of a school of Twelver Shiism known as Shaykhism, so called after its founder Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsá'í (d. 1826), which contained millenarian emphases. Many prominent Bábís were converts from Shaykhism which came under the leadership of Sayyid Kázim Rashtí, al-Ahsá'í's successor….

Mírzá Husayn 'Alí quickly became a prominent figure in the Bábí movement, and increasingly played a low-key leadership role after the government's incarceration of the Báb in Azerbaijan in 1847. When the Báb declared himself the Qá'im, the messianic return of the Twelth Imám, Bahá'u'lláh organized a conference of Bábí leaders in the hamlet of Badasht to publicize this claim and obtain a consensus about it. There, the Bábí disciple and poetess, Țáhirah Qurratu'l-'Ayn, scandalized some of the faithful by casting aside her veil to symbolize the advent of a new dispensation. At this conference, Mírzá Husayn 'Alí took as his Bábí title the divine name Bahá' (Splendor). In the late 1840s, fighting broke out between Bábís and Shí'ís in Mazandaran, Zanján and Nayríz. Bahá'u'lláh was not present when government troops besieged the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí in Mazandaran, where hundreds of Bábís had gathered, because Shí'í adversaries imprisoned him in the town of Amul. They at length released him, but they stripped him of at least some of his property.

(From Iran East and West, edited by Juan Ricardo Cole, Moojan Momen)

https://books.google.com/books?id=7xbzoJ5wFG4C&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3

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Baha'i belief about Imam Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam of the Shi'ih

One Baha'i says:

We do not believe that the Imam Mahdi is the Twelfth Imam or that the Twelfth Imam remained alive and in physical occultation for 1000 years waiting for the time to suddenly appear and make Himself known. We do not believe that the Imam Mahdi will do some of the fantastical and improbable things like leading an army to conquer the world in the name of Islam.

We believe that the promised Imam Mahdi was a spiritual reality and ideal which the Bab manifested. Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim both rejected the Orthodox position in Shi'ih Islam by teaching a spiritual occultation and that the Qa'im/Mahdi would be born and then declare Himself. The Bab was born into this world and is the Imam Mahdi and Qa'im according to the Baha'i Faith. That is one reason the Bab was opppsed by many fanatics in Shi'ih Islam.

Baha'u'llah taught that the 12th Imam died before his father and that the Shi'ih beliefs are in error regarding the occultation of the 12th Imam. See https://bahai-library.com/bahaullah_masumian_existence_qaim/

Source : https://old.reddit.com/r/bahai/comments/1e3k6t8/ahmadi_religion_of_peace_and_light/

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Shaykh Ahmad's dream

Siyyid Káẓim, in his book entitled "Dalílu’l-Mutaḥ-ayyirín,” writes as follows:

“Our master [Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai], one night, saw the Imám Ḥasan; upon him may the blessing of God rest! His Holiness put in his mouth his blessed tongue. From the adorable saliva of His Holiness he drew forth the sciences and the assistance of God. To the taste it was sweeter even than honey, more perfumed than the musk. It was also quite warm. When he came to himself and wakened from his dream, he inwardly radiated the light of divine contemplation; his soul overflowed with the blessings of God and became entirely severed from everything save God.

(Translation of French Foot-Notes of the Dawn-Breakers - Chapter I)

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Official Baha'i history of the Babi Movement and the Baha'i Religion by Moojan Momen

The approach of the Muslim year 1260 (1844) was accompanied by a general rise in expectancy of the return of the Hidden Imam. This was because that year marked the one thousandth anniversary of the disappearance of the Twelfth Imam and the beginning of the period of Occultation. There were several indications in the Qur'an and the Traditions that the dispensation of Muhammad would be one thousand years long and thus the year 1260 was greatly anticipated throughout the Shi'i world. (according to the Baha'i sources viz. Amanat and Cole)

Sayyid 'Ali Muḥammad Shīrāzī (1819-50), who took the title the Bāb (the Gate), was, until the death of Sayyid Kazim Rashtī in 1843, closely associated with the Shaykhi School. Then, in 1844, he put forward a claim and gained many adherents, initially mostly from among the Shaykhi School. At first the Bab only appeared to be claiming to be the Gate to the Hidden Imam and his followers kept to the Islamic Shari'a. But in 1848 he advanced the claim of being the returned Twelfth Imam himself who had come to abrogate the Islamic dispensation and inaugurate a new prophetic cycle.

Developing the argument of the Shaykhi School, from the Babī viewpoint, just as the Hidden Imam existed in the world of Hūrqalya, the realm of archetypal images, so the return of the Twelfth Imam was not the return of the self-same physical body of the Imam but rather the advent of a man who in the realm of Hūrqalya is the archetypal figure of the Imam. Thus it was that the Shaykhi teachings paved the way for the Bab and it is doubtful if the Bāb would have attracted so many adherents if it had not been for the Shaykhi doctrines.

The Bāb was put to death by a firing squad in Tabriz in 1850. He had appointed as his successor Mirza Yahyā, Subh-i Azal, and had prophesied the advent of another messianic figure whom he called 'Him whom God shall make manifest'. Privately in 1863 and publicly in 1866, Mirza Husayn 'Ali (1817-1892), who took the title Baha'u'llāh (Glory of God), claimed to be this messianic figure foretold by the Bāb. The majority of Babīs became Baha'is. Bahā'u'llāh considerably expanded the scope of his appeal beyond the confines of Shi'i Iran by claiming to be the fulfilment of the messianic expectations of other religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism

Baha'u'llāh was succeeded by his son 'Abbas Effendi (1844-1921), who took the title 'Abdu'l-Bahā (Servant of the Glory). He was given the position of authorised interpreter of Baha'u'llāh's teachings. He appointed his grandson, Shoghi Effendi (d. 1957), as Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Since 1963 the religion has been administered by an elected body, the Universal House of Justice.

(An introduction to Shi'i Islam - The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism by Moojan Momen)

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Bab about Akhbari, Usuli and Shaykh Ahmad

"Now that you know the true significances of this world, know that, today, in the branch of the Isna Ashari, the divergencies have arrived at their summit. Certain ones, known under the name of Ousouli believe in the possession of the truth, because they have the science of Zenn (analogy), on the subject of which they all agree; others, known under the name of Akhbari believe they are in the truth because they do not accept the testimony of brilliant intelligence; others, known under the name of the fire Shaykh Ahmad, son of Zenn ed din-may God bless the dust of his tomb-believe they are in possession of the absolute and pure truth. They have not however understood the tenth (or one tenth?) of the sayings of this illustrious unitarian!"

The Bab (Kitab-i-Bayan Arabic)

There is no doubt that the absolute Truth, in the midst of all these divergences of the Isna 'Ashari sect, is found in one among them. 

The Bab (Kitab-i-Bayan Arabic)

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/b/bab_bayan_arabic_terry.pdf

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Shaykhi school of thought responsible for the formation of the Babi and Baha'i movements

It will also be observed that there are implications regarding Aḥsāʾı’s intention in bringing an alternative to the mainstream (Usụlısm ), proven by a number of facts, including his efforts to redefine ijtihād, as well as the emphasis on his recurring dreams of the imāms. And last but not least, although Shaykhısm̄ is an autonomous school of thought and should not be evaluated by later events, it was the Shaykhı conceptualization of notions such as leadership, occultation, eschatology, the future return, and the occult sciences that rendered the formation of the subsequent movements of Bābısm̄ and Bahāʾısm̄.

(Leila Chamankhah, The Conceptualization of Guardianship in Iranian Intellectual History (1800–1989) Reading Ibn ʿArabı’s Theory of Wilayā in the Shıʿa World)

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In one dream recounted by him, he believed that he was granted permission to transmit knowledge by each of the twelve Imams.

There is evidence of neo-Qarmaṭī influence in the al-Aḥsā region after the 1760s, but the possibility of links with the shaikh remains purely speculative. He himself indicated that, from early childhood, he developed a predilection for introspection, seclusion, and asceticism. At an unspecified age—probably during adolescence—he experienced a series of dreams and visions, of the type familiar to Shiʿite piety, in which the Imams or the Prophet figured as transmitters of supernatural knowledge. In one dream recounted by him, he believed that he was granted eǰāza or permission to transmit knowledge by each of the twelve Imams.

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ahsai-shaikh-ahmad

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Baha'i faith or Bahaism as a religion had as its background two earlier and much different movements in nineteenth-century Shi'ite Shaikhism

Baha'i faith or Bahaism as a religion had as its background two earlier and much different movements in nineteenth-century Shiʿite Shaikhism (following Shaikh Aḥmad Aḥsāʾī) and Babism. Shaikhism centered on theosophical doctrines and believed that a perfect Shiʿite existed on earth at all times, and many Shaikhis (as well as other Shiʿites) expected the return of the hidden Twelfth Imam in 1260/1844. Shaikhis in particular joined the messianic Babi movement of the 1840s, which shook Iran as Sayyed ʿAlī-Moḥammad Šīrāzī proclaimed himself, first the bāb or “gate” of the Twelfth Imam, and then the return of the imam himself. As the new creed spread, violence broke out between Shiʿites and Babis, ending when Qajar government troops intervened to besiege and massacre the Babis. The government executed the Bāb in 1850. Some Babi leaders in Tehran plotted, in revenge, the death of Nāṣer-al-Dīn Shah, but the assassination failed and large numbers of suspected Babis were tortured and killed.

(Encyclopaedia Iranica Online)

https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/bahai-faith-or-bahaism-COM_6391

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A brief history of Tahirih and how the Babi faith emerged from the Shaykhi movement.

Adapted from addresses given in London by Jinab-i-Avarih, whose great history of the Baha'i Cause is now being published in Persian in Cairo, Egypt

WHEN Qurratu'l-'Ayn was a child there was in Persia a very celebrated mulla, Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai. So great a scholar was he that throughout all the Muhammadan world he had no peer. Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai was the first divine to attack certain established beliefs prevalent among the Muslims, one of which was that Muhammad in his living, physical body departed from this earth and ascended into heaven, a belief similar to that held by many Christians with regard to the Christ. There were other Muhammadans who in their hearts disbelieved this teaching, but Shaykh Ahmad was the first who had the courage to publicly declare against it.

Another Muhammadan doctrine was that of the resurrection of the body. Shaykh Ahmad taught his students that the physical body cannot go to heaven, that it will not rise but will disintegrate; while the spirit will be taken up and will dwell in the presence of God. He explained that it was the spirit of Muhammad, not his body, which ascended.

Again, the Shaykh taught that God always sends teachers to His people, to lead them to His Kingdom, and that this divine bounty had not ceased.

The Muhammadans believed that there was one—who had been hidden for a thousand years—who would appear suddenly, a great teacher. Shaykh Ahmad said that the Promised One would not come that way; he would be manifest shortly but would be born in the natural way. This teaching of the Shaykh was of utmost importance to the Muslims, because for a thousand years they had been looking for this person who they believed had been in hiding for that period. And now the Shaykh said he would be born, and would appear very shortly.

Although strictly forbidden by the mullás, these teachings found many adherents, until thousands of people became followers of Shaykh Ahmad. They were popularly known as "Shaykhi," and by many of the mullas were called atheists.

At last the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad were carried to Qazvin, the home of Qurratu'l-'Ayn and her relatives. Her father and her eldest uncle, both of whom were mullás, opposed the Shaykh. But her two younger uncles believed him and secretly became his followers. Qurratu'l-'Ayn's father and uncle had many discussions about the Shaykh, calling him, in private, "Kafir", which means, "Turned away from God and not of the Muhammadan religion." Qurratu'l-'Ayn. then between thirteen and fourteen years of age, listened to these conversations. and said, "The Shaykh is right and my father and uncle are wrong." She secured the books and writings of the Shaykh and read them constantly. Whereupon her father and uncle said to her, "Read our books. Read our writings. We know better than he."

Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai went from Karbala to Khorassan and thence to Tihran where he met Shah Fathe Ali who so honored him that he offered to share with him his throne. But the Shaykh refused, and left for Karbala, on his journey passing through Qazvin.

After the death of Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai, his disciple Siyyid Kazim, carried forward his teachings, constantly telling his disciples and students that soon, within a few years, the Promised One would appear. Through the assistance of her younger uncle, who believed in Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim, Qurratu'l-'Ayn and able to correspond with Siyyid Kazim and secure his writings. She watched eagerly for the Promised One, and often told her younger uncle that unless the new order appeared and the Muhammadan religion was changed the condition of women in the East would become much worse. She would say, "Will a day come when new laws and revelations will be revealed, and shall I be one of the first to follow those teachings and give my life for my sisters?"

Her longing for the coming of the great Teacher and the new era became so strong that at last she besought her uncle, her father and her husband for permission to make a pilgrimage to Karbala. She knew that there she would be able to meet Siyyid Kazim. Through the efforts of her younger uncle this permission was at last granted and she set out upon her wonderful journey, accompanied by this uncle. What were her sorrow and disappointment to hear, three days before her arrival in Karbala, the news of the death of Siyyid Kazim! However, she soon remembered that the Siyyid had left glad tidings of the One to come, and who would come quickly, and her heart was again filled with happiness. She journeyed on to Karbala and there visited the family of the Siyyid, who gave her access to many of the Siyyid's unpublished writings, some of which were not even finished. As she read she exclaimed, "Behold, how much the Shaykh and the Siyyid have left us. They have left us a sea of writings."

There was no one to take the place of Siyyid Kazim and teach his students. So Qurratu'l-'Ayn came forward and announced that she would take this place, would teach his followers just what the Siyyid had taught and impart to them his knowledge.

This caused much discussion among the Siyyid's followers. Then thirty-two of the students said, "We will go and hear her once or twice. If we are satisfied we will advise the others to come, and she will teach them."

It was extremely dangerous and difficult for Qurratu'l-'Ayn to teach men and for them to come to hear her for in those days—and even at the present time in many places—women were kept veiled and in utmost seclusion. But Qurratu'l-'Ayn overcame all difficulties, had a curtain arranged in the room, and behind this sat and taught those thirty-two students who came to hear her. They soon recognized her as the one who could best teach them and saw that she was greater than all the divines in Karbala. For more than a year she taught these students, and all the time she wept and prayed that when the Promised One came she might recognize him. And she urged the people to watch for him and obey Him who was shortly to come into the world.

When Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú'i visited the Báb and became convinced that he was the Promised One, he told the news to Mullá 'Ali Bastami, who likewise became a follower of the Báb, the second disciple. Mullá 'Ali Bastami then went to Karbala, and there announced the great tidings that the New Light had arisen. When Qurratu'l-'Ayn heard this news she summoned him to her presence and asked, "What proofs have you, and where is he?" Mullá 'Ali gave her some of the writings and prayers of the Báb. She took them, and straightway became a believer. The following day when her pupils came for their lesson she announced the glad tidings that the long-expected time was at hand, saying, "All the promises given by the Shaykh and the Siyyid have come to pass. The Promised One is on earth today!"

(Star of the West/Volume 14, Page 269)

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Shaykhism is "something very close to a Shi'ite Sufi order".

His [Shaykh Ahmad's] essentially Sufi metaphysics and his emphasis on experiential religion, on dreams and visions and meditations, created space for popular involvement in the Shaykhi order - which became something very close to a Shi'ite Sufi order.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad's mystical cosmology and Kabbalah

The close parallels between Shaykh Ahmad's mystical cosmology of the letters and the gematria of the Kabbalah is striking. Moses Cordovera of the sixteenth-century Safed school in Ottoman Palestine saw the Pentateuch or Torah as made up of divine letters, themselves manifestations of the divine light, which go on to form the names of God and ultimately worlds and worldly beings, as the letters undergo a "fall" or materialization. The gnostic motif of the material universe as "fallen" or evil is missing in Shaykhism, though gross matter is seen as inferior to subtle spirituality. But similarities between the two movements clearly exist, and they derive in part from a common Mediterranean heritage of ancient Jewish conceptions, Neoplatonism, and Gnosticism, which percolated into the Shi'ism of the eighth century and into medieval Judaism. The possibility that Muslim mystics and Kabbalists in places such as Muslim Spain, Isma'ili Yemen, and Ottoman Palestine influenced one another also cannot be dismissed. Beyond such a shared legacy of ideas, Kabbalism and Shaykhism developed some of their resemblance because the masters of both employed a similar spiritual logic in reworking this heritage.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad's attitude towards Ibn Arabi and Mulla Sadra

The radical aspect of Shaykh Ahmad's thought is apparent in its revisionism and its dynamism. On the one hand, he clearly was motivated by what Harold Bloom called the "anxiety of influence", the desire of creative thinkers to somehow escape the conceptual and literary structures erected by their forebears where these are perceived as limiting. Shaykh Ahmad's acceptance of much in Ibn 'Arabi's metaphysics while sharply criticizing the Andalusian Sufi himself, and his love-hate relationship with previous Shi'ite theosophers such as Mulla Sadra and Mulla Muhsin Fayz Kashani demonstrate this anxiety no less than do his doctrinal innovativeness and his idiosyncratic scripture commentary.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad's cosmology

Shaykh Ahmad creates his poetic and imaginative cosmology by juxtaposing the idea that the world is like an organism with the notion that the world resembles a language. Like an organism, it develops over time, growing from a simple seed into an ever more complex being, putting out ramifying branches. Like a language, it is a system made up of a finite number of discrete units that are combined and recombined according to regular laws.

By appealing to both symbols in the same treatise, indeed, Shaykh Ahmad powerfully transcends the dichotomy between nature and culture. If the natural world is spelled out by primal, divine letters, then nature is cultural. If humans are microcosms of the world-tree's leaf, then culture is natural. Nature is cultural insofar as it, like an orthographic system, "makes sense", and letter symbolism thus acts powerfully to reject an understanding of the universe as random and meaningless. It was argued by the great anthropologist, Claude Levi-Strauss, that myths in primitive culture were often about the transition from nature to culture, and that the contradiction between the two was expressed symbolically, so that nature is represented by fresh food that spoils whereas in culture raw food is cooked. In contrast, Shaykh Ahmad's cosmologies, the product of a highly sophisticated and literate intellectual tradition, deny the nature/culture contradiction by challenging the validity of this binary opposition and showing how each of these opposing concepts demonstrates characteristics of the other. The identification of the microcosm, the human soul, with the macrocosm of the primal leaf even undermines the distinction between the self and the world. In transcending these contradictions, Shaykh Ahmad forcefully underscores the sacredness of the universe, which reflects in its orthographic and organic meaningfulness the creative design of the divine Mind.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad about the creation of Mohammed and his other myths

Shaykh Ahmad in his mystical and theological anthology quotes a passage from "one of the learned", about how God created the Tree of Certainty (shajarat al-yaqin), from which he in turn made the light of Muhammad bloom from one of its branches in the shape of a peacock, which praised God for seventy thousand years. After this time, God created a mirror in which it could see itself, and the cosmic peacock then bowed to God five times, thus originating the five daily prayers of Islam. God created from the light of Muhammad the spirits of the believers, and their station in life was determined by which part of the Prophet's body of light they first saw upon coming to consciousness. The origins of this cosmological myth may plausibly be seen to lie in ancient Iranian mythology, with the Saena tree as the Tree of Certainty, the Saena bird or Simurgh as the peacock, and the five Zoroastrian daily prayers as the bird's five prostrations.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad was influenced by mythologies

The other symbol to which Shaykh Ahmad appeals in this treatise is more obviously a "cosmic reality", a natural phenomenon that, as Ricoeur has said, both manifests and signifies higher realities. The world-tree, a powerful mythological image in many cultures, has especial resonances for mystics in the world religions, for it immediately suggests the spanning of earth and sky; more, it speaks of development, of the growth of a towering complex being from a tiny kernel. The Indo-European root deru is the origin of both the English word "tree" and the word "true". "Druid", the name for holy men in Celtic Europe, means the "knower of the tree (or the true)" (deru-wid). In ancient Iranian mythology, preserved in Zoroastrian texts, the Saena tree that stood in the midst of the cosmic Lake Vourukasha was said to be the source of all seeds. In this fabulous Tree of Healing (vispobish) nested the Saena bird, with the head of a dog and the body of a fowl, which from time to time flapped its enormous wings, sending the multifarious seeds of the Saena tree flying over the earth, upon which they landed and from which they grew into the vegetation that covered it. In Islamic mysticism, many elements of this myth were taken over. The Saena bird, for instance, became for Suhrawardi and Faridu'd-Din 'Attar (d. ca. 1230) the "Simurgh" (a contraction of Saena meregh), and they see it as symbol of the soul's mystical unity with God. It is said that its haunt is the mystical mountain of Qaf (a transformation of an Iranian mythic geographical symbol) beyond the world-sea (i.e. Vourukasha). Kazem Tehrani has pointed out that for Suhrawardi, the tree of all seeds is associated with a return of the soul to the "first form" (shakl-i avval), identified with the nest of the Simurgh, a conception that differs slightly from 'Attar's notion of the mythical bird as a mirror in which the soul sees itself. The Iranian idea of the Saena tree was probably mediated to Shaykh Ahmad through writings of such Iranian mystics, and it has for him, as well, connotations of the soul's return to its primal, pure estate.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad's belief about the creation of the universe.

The plane of the Universal Intellect, the first emanation from the divine Will, is also called the One (wahid), since it is on this plane that number and specification first appear. On this plane God pronounces nineteen letters, creating the lower nineteen levels of existence: the nine spheres, the four elements, the three kingdoms of nature, man, jinn, and angels. The nineteen letters form the words, bism Allah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate", whereby the chapters of the Qur'an begin. This phrase is the universal manifestation of all the levels of contingent being, and for that very reason consists of nineteen letters. When the numerical value of the One (wahid) is added to numerical value of the higher divine plane of Unicity (ahad), the results is equivalent to the letters forming the name kaf, corresponding to the Roman K. The letter kaf, in turn, stands for the Divine Will. It is also the first letter of the Arabic phrase "Be !" (kun) whereby God created the universe. This kaf revolves, and from it emanate all things. A similar discussion occurs in the important treatise of Ibn 'Arabi, The Tree of Being (Shajarat al-Kawn).

...The poetic and dream-like quality of letters as constitutive of the world is immediately apparent, but as cultural constructs they would appear to fail Ricceur's test for the authentic symbol insofar as they lack a cosmic dimension. It is here that the old Greek practice of calling both the elements (earth, air, fire and water) and the letters of the alphabet stoicheia becomes important. For Shaykh Ahmad, as well, the letters are elements, so that letter mysticism in this Greco-Arabic tradition is not only cosmological linguistics but also atomistic physics, and a natural, "cosmic" dimension to the alphabet as symbol can therefore also be discerned.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad, Akhbarism and a commentary on a tradition attributed to the Prophet of Islam.

Shaykh Ahmad's short treatise on cosmological symbolism was penned in response to an inquiry from Mirza Muhammad 'Ali Mudarris* (d. 1825) of Yazd, who desired a commentary on a saying attributed to the Prophet : "God wrote a Text (kitabah) two thousand years before He created the universe, on a myrtle leaf that He caused to grow. He placed it upon the Throne, then called out : 'O community of Muhammad - peace be upon him and his House - My compassion transcends My wrath. I have given to you before you even asked, and forgiven you before you sought forgiveness. Whoso among you bears witness that there is no God but Me, and that Muhammad is My servant and messenger, I shall usher him into paradise by reason of my compassion".

*Mudarris was a prominent cleric of the strict constructionist or Akhbari school of jurisprudence in Yazd.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad's approach towards Sufi mysticism and Shi'ite gnosis. He was much influenced by Ibn Abi Jumhur al-Ahsa'i

He [Shaykh Ahmad] innovated within, quarrelled with, and pushed to its limits the highly sophisticated heritage of Sufi mysticism and Shi'ite gnosis ('irfan) that had crystallized in the seventeenth-century School of Isfahan. In addition, Shaykh Ahmad tapped into a little-known stream of indigenous Eastern Arabian thought.* His use of symbolic language captured the imagination of tens of thousands in the Arab East, Iran, and India, and the controversial, mystical Shaykhi order came to be established in his name, largely after his death. Out of this matrix later developed the messianic Babi movement and the Baha'i faith, a new world religion, suggesting that al-Ahsa'i's ideas, while they could be taken in a conservative direction as occurred among Kerman Shaykhis, also contained radical potentialities.

*I now have ample textual proof that Shaykh Ahmad is much influenced by theosopher Ibn Abi Jumhur al-Ahsa'i (b. 1434) and the great Bahraini thinkers of the Safarid period (1501-1722); see : Juan R.I. Cole, "Rival Empires of Trade and Imami Shi'ism in Eastern Arabia, 1300-1800", International Journal of Middle East Studies 19 (1987): 177-204.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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Shaykh Ahmad's started to claim when it was a bad time for the Shias

He [Shaykh Ahmad] came to "consciousness" at a tragic time for Shi'ite Islam, which was battered in the eighteenth century by the Sunni Afghan invasion of Shi'ite Iran and dethronement of Shi'ism as the state religion, by the anti-Shi'ite Wahhabi tribes of Arabia, and by growing Russian and British power.

(Juan R. I. Cole, The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, Studia Islamica No. 80 (1994), pp. 145-163 Published By Brill)

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