Shaykhism

Shaykhism (Arabic: الشيخية, romanized: al-Shaykhiyya) is a term used by Shia Muslims for the followers of Shaykh Ahmad in early 19th-century Qajar Iran.

The sun, moon and stars of the Qurʼan's eschatological surahs are seen as allegorical, similar to Ismaili doctrine,[5] where common Muslim interpretation is that events involving celestial bodies will happen literally at the Day of Judgment.

In other writings, Shaykh Ahmad synthesizes rather dramatic descriptions of the origin of the prophets, the primal word, and other religious themes through allusions and mystical language.

In the garden of the heaven known as as-Saqurah, the Tree of Eternity arose, and the Holy Spirit or Universal Intellect, the first branch that grew upon it, is the first creation among the worlds.

[8] 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.

[13] In a move away from their traditional apolitical stance, a Shaykhi political party stood in the Basra governorate election, 2009; they came third, winning 5% of the votes and 2 out of 35 seats.

[14] The Shaykhi movement, particularly through the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsai and his successor Sayyed Kazim Rashti, contained prophecies regarding the advent of the Qa'im—the promised 12th Imam.

Sayyed Kazim, before his death, even instructed his followers to actively search for the Qa'im, indicating a sense of urgency and belief that the promised figure would appear in their lifetime, potentially around the year 1844.

This belief in the imminent manifestation of the Mahdi and the fulfillment of Shaykhi-Shia prophecy set the stage for the later emergence of the Bábí and Bahá'í movements, which emerged in precise coincidence with the prophecies of Skaykh Admad al-Ahsai to claim fulfillment of these eschatological expectations, with Sayyid `Ali Muhammad Shirazi declaring himself the Báb (meaning "Gate") in 1844, initiating the Bábí Faith that evolved into the Bahá'í Faith.

The Shaykhi leaders were instrumental in fostering a climate of anticipation that was receptive to claims of divine revelation during a turbulent period of religious fervor in Iran.

The specific argument for 1844 as the prophesied year emerges from the millenarian expectations of the Shaykhis, which were shaped by various esoteric and mystical calculations based on Islamic traditions.

After the Báb's declaration in 1844, many Shaykhis became convinced that he was the intermediary, if not the Qa'im himself, as they had been anticipating a divine figure who would restore and reform the spiritual state of the world.

The Báb met with Siyyid Kazim several times[10] and more than half of the 'prominent' converts to the Bábí Faith in its first four years were Shaykhis according to Moojan Momen and Peter Smith.