THE MAHDI, THE LAST IMAM (874)

SHAYKH AHMAD was founder of the heterodox Shii Muslim Shaykh sect of Iran.


After spending his early years studying the Islamic religion and travelling widely in Persia, in the Turkish provinces of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul, and in Arabia, Shaykh Ahmad in 1808 settled in Yazd, Persia, where he taught religion. His interpretation of the Shiah faith (one of the two major branches of Islam) soon attracted many followers. Although he was well received by Fath Ali Shah, the reigning monarch in Theran, Shaykh Ahmad´s teachings aroused controversy among the ortodox religious leaders of the day. A central idea of Shii Islam is that the greater imam, the leader of Islam, is descended from the male offspring of Ali (the Prophet Muhammad´s son-in-law) and Fatima (the Prophet´s daughter) and is divinely appointed and divinely inspired.


Affter 874 the spiritual functions of the imam were performed by wakils, or agents, who were in contact with the mahdi, the last imam and a mesianic deliverer. But following the death of Ali ibn Muhammad as-Samarri in 940, this direct contact between the community and the mahdi ceased. The Shiis believed that some day prior to the apocalyptic end of the world, the mahdi would establish a reign of justice.


This apocalyptic belief was strengthened by the prevailing social and economic conditions of Persia. At the beginning of the 19th century the country was recovering from the hardships of a cruel civil war that had preceded the establishment of the Qajar dynasty. The precarious temporal existence of the faithful led to a strong upsurge in millennialist anticipation of the coming of the mahdi.


Shaylh Ahmad taught that at all times there must be direct human contact between the mahdi and the community and probably believed himself to be the medium of that contact. The doctrine brought him into conflict with the orthodox Shii theologians of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul, who regarded themselves as the spiritual caretakers of the community during the mahdi´s absence.


The Shaykh´s final breach with the established and orthodox Shii theologians occurred in 1824, when he was formally denounced as an infidel. He was accused of having denied the physical resurrection of the Prophet Muhammad and of having taught, instead, that the ascension of the Prophet was purely spiritual. The charge that he taught the divinity of Ali remained unproved. Following his excommunication the Shaykh left the aerea and died during a pilgrimage to Mecca.


He was succeeded as the leader of the Shaykhi sect by Sayyid Kazim Rashti (died 1843).