Some more on the Iḥqāqīya who follow Šayḫ Aḥmad

The book by the former head of the community Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl on the two centuries of the scholarly and religious service provided by his family is a valuable record of how the family moved from Tabrīz to Karbalā and then to al-Aḥsāʾ and Kuwait and the centres, mosques and ḥawzāt they established. At his death, his son Mīrzā ʿAbdullāh succeeded but was not declared the full head of the community but now certainly seems to be. He is given titles such as ‘al-ḥakīm al-ilāhī’, ‘rūḥ al-šarīʿa’ and even the title of a marǧaʿ (which they now use for him) ‘āyatullāh al-ʿuẓmā’. His visits to Kuwait are major events most recently a few months ago. The difficulty is to figure out how large the community is. It seems fairly small confined to parts of al-Šarq and Bneid al-Gār in Kuwait, some pockets in the eastern province in al-Aḥsāʾ and al-Hufūf and a very small community of students in al-Sayyida Zaynab in the southern suburbs of Damascus where they have a Muʾassasat al-fikr al-awḥad (although most of the books are published in Beirut). The works of their scholars are published in the following places:

· Kuwait: Maktabat al-ʿAḏrāʾ is a wonderful little Šayḫī bookshop in Bneid al-Gār run by devotees originally from Iran (the whole area is very much a Šīʿī Iranian area) and they publish many of the works at their press – simple and fairly cheap paperbacks (at least for Kuwaiti standards where 1-2KD is hardly anything for a paperback). Their risāla ʿamalīya is available there – one in two thick volumes with a long introduction on doctrine and belief by Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl, and another more recent entitled Aḥkām al-šarīʿa by Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Ǧadī.

· Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq in al-Šarq (the Imam there is Šayḫ ʿAbdullāh al-Mazīdī) is their main centre with the Ḥusaynīya Ǧaʿfarīya next door which act jointly as headquarters for publishing, dissemination and services – there are two laǧna-s for publication – one for the works of Šayḫ Aḥmad and the tradition and another for the works of Sayyid Kāẓim al-Raštī. Rather odd that they prefer to published the many risāla-s separately and do not publish the complete Ǧawāmiʿ al-kalim as the Kirmānī branch has.

· Beirut: the Damascus based Muʾassasat al-fikr al-awḥad publishes usually through one of the major Šīʿī presses like al-Maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ; the Kuwaiti laǧna-s also use Muʾassasat al-balāġ

Some more on the Iḥqāqīya who follow Šayḫ Aḥmad

The book by the former head of the community Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl on the two centuries of the scholarly and religious service provided by his family is a valuable record of how the family moved from Tabrīz to Karbalā and then to al-Aḥsāʾ and Kuwait and the centres, mosques and ḥawzāt they established. At his death, his son Mīrzā ʿAbdullāh succeeded but was not declared the full head of the community but now certainly seems to be. He is given titles such as ‘al-ḥakīm al-ilāhī’, ‘rūḥ al-šarīʿa’ and even the title of a marǧaʿ (which they now use for him) ‘āyatullāh al-ʿuẓmā’. His visits to Kuwait are major events most recently a few months ago. The difficulty is to figure out how large the community is. It seems fairly small confined to parts of al-Šarq and Bneid al-Gār in Kuwait, some pockets in the eastern province in al-Aḥsāʾ and al-Hufūf and a very small community of students in al-Sayyida Zaynab in the southern suburbs of Damascus where they have a Muʾassasat al-fikr al-awḥad (although most of the books are published in Beirut). The works of their scholars are published in the following places:
• Kuwait: Maktabat al-ʿAḏrāʾ is a wonderful little Šayḫī bookshop in Bneid al-Gār run by devotees originally from Iran (the whole area is very much a Šīʿī Iranian area) and they publish many of the works at their press – simple and fairly cheap paperbacks (at least for Kuwaiti standards where 1-2KD is hardly anything for a paperback). Their risāla ʿamalīya is available there – one in two thick volumes with a long introduction on doctrine and belief by Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl, and another more recent entitled Aḥkām al-šarīʿa by Šayḫ Muḥammad al-Ǧadī.
• Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq in al-Šarq (the Imam there is Šayḫ ʿAbdullāh al-Mazīdī) is their main centre with the Ḥusaynīya Ǧaʿfarīya next door which act jointly as headquarters for publishing, dissemination and services – there are two laǧna-s for publication – one for the works of Šayḫ Aḥmad and the tradition and another for the works of Sayyid Kāẓim al-Raštī. Rather odd that they prefer to published the many risāla-s separately and do not publish the complete Ǧawāmiʿ al-kalim as the Kirmānī branch has.
• Beirut: the Damascus based Muʾassasat al-fikr al-awḥad publishes usually through one of the major Šīʿī presses like al-Maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ; the Kuwaiti laǧna-s also use Muʾassasat al-balāġ

Some Notes on the Iḥqāqī/Tabrīzī branch of the followers of Šayḫ Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī (d. 1826)

In Kuwait at the moment following up some research on this branch of what is known as the Šayḫīya school of Twelver Šiʿi theology (although as my main interlocutor Šayḫ ʿAlī al-Jadī who is the imam at Ǧāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥḥāf insisted this is a pejorative term that should not be used and is like referring to the Šiʿa as the rawāfiḍ - best to use terms that are self-referential such as followers of the madrasat al-Šayḫ al-awḥad and its like). This is small community locally (and regionally) known as the Ḥasāwīya because of their origins in the region of al-Aḥsāʾ in the eastern province. Since the death of Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl al-Iḥqāqī al-Ḥāʾirī, there is no designated head or marǧaʿ (his son Mīrzā ʿAbdullāh residing in Tehran is seen as too young without relevant iǧāzāt – hence his wearing of the gatra and not the ʿamāma). There is no ḥawza in the centre of Kuwait – the old Ḥawzat al-nūrayn al-nīrayn Amīr al-Muʾminīn wa Fāṭimat al-Zahrāʾ founded by Mīrzā Ḥasan has basically been defunct since the death of Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl. They do, however, have two ḥawzas in Aḥsāʾ, one entitled Ḥawzat al-Imām al-Riḍā run by Šayḫ al-Jāsim.
Not wishing to replicate the excellent work of Stephen Lambden, I reproduce a selected bibliography of relevant sources for this school below, which focus on the Iḥqāqī and constitute the main sources for the current research project.

Primary Texts

I: Šayḫ Aḥmad b. Zayn al-Dīn al-Aḥsāʾī (d. 1241/1826)

Dīwān al-Šayḫ al-Awḥad, Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Balāġ, 2004

*Kitāb al-fawāʾid – Šarḥ al-fawāʾid, Kuwait, n.d., n.p., offset of the lithograph

Ǧawāmiʿ al-kalim, 6 parts in 2 vols., Tabriz: Muḥammad Taqī Naḫǧavānī, 1273/1856

*Ḥayāt an-nafs (wa-uṣūl al-ʿaqāʾid li-l-Sayyid al-Raštī), ed. Mīrzā ʿAlī al-Ḥāʾirī, Kuwait: n.p.,

n.d.

[many other printings – have one other by Šayḫ ʿAlī al-Jadī; also *Šarḥ ḥayāt al-nafs of Šayḫ ʿAbd al-Ǧalīl ʿAlī al-Amīr (Iḥqāqī in Saudi), Damascus: Maktabat Imām Ǧaʿfar al-Ṣādiq, 1416 H with blessings of ʿAbd al-Rasūl Iḥqāqī]

*Kaškūl al-Aḥsāʾī, 2 parts in 1 vol, Beirut: Dār al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ, 2005

*Kayfīyat sulūk ilā Allāh, ed. Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl Iḥqāqī, Kuwait: Maktabat al-Ṣāliḥīn, Jāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, n.d.

*Rasāʾil al-ḥikma, Beirut: al-Dār al-ʿālamīya, 1993

*al-Raǧʿa, eds. Šayḫ Muǧtabā al-Samāʿīl & Šayḫ Rāḍī al-Aḥsāʾī, Beirut: Muʾassasat al-fikr

al-awḥad, 1427 H/2006

Šams ḥaǧar, ed. Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Wahhāb Bū-Shafīʿ, Beirut/Kuwait: Laǧnat iḥyāʾ turāṯ

al-Šayḫ al-Awḥad, 2003

*Šarh kitāb al-ḥikma al-ʿaršīya, ed. Ṣālib Muḥammad al-Dabbāb, Beirut: Muʾassasat

al-Balāġ/Muʾassasat Šams haǧar, 2007

Šarḥ al-mašāʿir, Kirman: Maṭbaʿat al-saʿāda, 1408 ???; 2 vols., Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Balāġ,

2007

*Šarḥ al-ziyāra al-ǧāmiʿa, 4 vols., Beirut: Dār al-Mufīd, 2003

*Risālat al-taǧwīd, ed. Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl Iḥqāqī, (Kuwait?: Laǧnat al-sayd al-amǧad

li-iḥyāʾ turāṯ madrasat al-Šayḫ al-Awḥad, n.d.

II: Sayyid Kāẓim b. Qāsim al-Raštī (d. 1259/1843)

*Asrār al-ʿibādāt, Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1422/2001

Asrār al-šahāda: sirr al-ḥaqīqa fī waqʿat al-ṭafūf, Damascus/Sayyida Zaynab: Madrasat Imām

al-Awḥad, 1421/2000

Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn, Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1423/2002

*Kašf al-ḥaqq fī masāʾil al-miʿrāǧ, ed. Amīr ʿAskarī, Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Balāġ, 2000

*Risālat al-sulūk fī-l-aḫlāq wa-l-aʿmāl, ed. Vaḥīd Bihmardī, Beirut: Ergon Verlag, 2004

Šarḥ duʿāʾ al-simāt wa šarḥ ḥadīṯ al-qadr, Beirut: Muʾassasat fikr al-awḥad, 1423/2002

*Šarḥ ḥadīṯ ʿImrān al-Ṣābiʾ, ed. Mīrzā ʿAbdullāh Ḥāʾirī Iḥqāqī, Kuwait: Maktabat al-ʿAdhrāʾ,

1426/2005

Šarḥ al-ḫuṭba al-tuṭunǧiya, 3 vols., Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1421/2001

*al-Sulūk ilā Allāh, ed. Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl Iḥqāqī, Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 2000

Tafsīr āyat al-kursī, ed. ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-ʿUmrān, 3 vols., Beirut: Dār al-maḥaǧǧa

al-bayḍāʾ, n.d.

III: Šayḫ ʿAlī-Naqī b. Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī (d. 1246/1831)

Minhāǧ al-sālikīn, 3 vols., Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1419/1998

IV: Mīrzā Ḥāsan Gawhar Tabrīzī (d. 1266/1849)

Kitāb al-maḫāzīn wa-l-lamaʿāt wa-l-barāhīn al-sātiʿāt, ed. ʿAbd al-Ǧalīl ʿAlī al-Amīr,

Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Balāġ/Muʾassasat Šams haǧr, 2006

Šarḥ ḥayāt al-arwāḥ, ed. Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl Iḥqāqī, Kuwait: Maktabat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq,

2002

V: Šayḫ Muḥammad Bū-Ḫamsīn al-Aḥsāʾī (d. 1316/

Mafātīḥ al-anwār fī bayān maʿrifat maṣābīḥ al-asrār, 2 vols., ed. ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-ʿUmrān,

Beirut: Dār al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ,vn.d.

*al-Nūr al-muḍī maʿrufat al-kanz al-maḫfī, ed. ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-ʿUmrān, Beirut: Dār

al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ, 2007

Al-Risāla al-Ḫurāsānīya šarḥ man ʿarafa nafsahu faqad ʿarafa rabbahu, ed. ʿAbd al-Munʿim

al-ʿUmrān, Beirut: Dār al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ, n.d.

VI: Mīrzā Mūsā Uskūʾī al-Ḥāʾirī

Iḥqāq al-ḥaqq

VII: Mīrzā Muḥammad Bāqir Uskūʾī al-Ḥāʾirī

*Al-Risāla al-badaʾīya, ed. ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-ʿUmrān/Mīrza ʿAbd al-Rasūl Iḥqāqī, Beirut:

Dār al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ/Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 2000

VIII: Mīrzā Ḥasan Iḥqāqī al-Ḥāʾirī

*Risāla insānīya, ed./annotated Šayḫ Ḥasan Šams Kaylānī, Kuwait: Maktabat al-Imām

al-Ṣādiq al-ʿāmma, 1993

*al-Tadayyun bayn al-sāʾil wa-l-muǧīb. 4 vols., Beirut/Kuwait: Maktabat al-Imām al-Ṣadiq

al-ʿāmma, 1992

IX: Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Rasūl Iḥqāqī al-Ḥāʾirī (d.

*Qarnān min al-iǧtihād wa-l-marǧaʿīya, Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1996

*al-Taḥqīq fī madrasat al-awḥad, Kuwait: Ǧāmiʿ al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 2003

*al-Walāya: baḥṯ ḥawl al-walāya min waḥī al-Qurʾān, ed. ʿAlī al-ʿAsaylī al-ʿĀmilī,

Beirut/Kuwait: Maktabat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq al-ʿāmma, 1999

Studies/History

Ḥasan Fayḍān, Madḫal ilā falsafat al-Šayḫ Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī, Dār al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ,

2003

Muḥammad Zakī Ibrāhīm, al-Madrasa al-Šayḫīya, Beirut: Dār al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ, 2004

Aḥmad ʿAbd al-Hādī Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ, Aʿlām madrasat al-šayḫ al-awḥad fī-l-qarn al-ṯāliṯ-

ʿašar al-hiǧrī, Beirut: Dār al-maḥaǧǧa al-bayḍāʾ, 2006

*Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥasan Āl Ṭāliqānī, Al-Šayḫīya: našaʾtuhā wa taṭawwuruhā wa maṣādir

dirāsātihā, Naǧaf: Maktabat al-maʿārif, 2007