AHSA'I, AL-

born 1753, Al-Hasa, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia] died 1826, near Medina also called Shaykh Ahmad, in full Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Zayn Ad-din Ibn Ibrahim Al-ahsa'i founder of the heterodox Shi'ite Muslim Shaykhi sect of Iran. After spending his early years studying the Islamic religion and traveling widely in Persia and the Middle East, al-Ahsa'i in 1808 settled in Yazd, Persia, where he taught religion. His interpretation of the Shi'ite faith (one of the two major branches of Islam) soon attracted many followers but aroused controversy among the orthodox religious leaders of the day. A central idea of Shi'ite 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 Fatimah (the Prophet's daughter) and is divinely appointed and divinely inspired. After 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 messianic deliverer. But following the death of 'Ali ibn Muhammad as-Samarri' in 940, this direct contact between the community and the mahdi ceased. The Shi'ites believed that some day prior to the apocalyptic end of the world, the mahdi would establish a reign of justice. Al-Ahsa'i 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 Shi'ite theologians of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul, who regarded themselves as the spiritual caretakers of the community during the mahdi's absence. Al-Ahsa'i's final breach with the established and orthodox Shi'ite theologians occurred in 1824, when he was formally denounced as an infidel. Following his excommunication, the Shaykh left the area and died during a pilgrimage to Mecca. He was succeeded as the leader of the Shaykhi sect by Sayyid Kazim Rashti (d. 1843).