Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i : Biography I Persian, Arabic and other sources

Persian, Arabic and other sources for a biography of al-Aḥsāʼī.

Stephen Lambden

UC Merced.

In loosely alphabetical order I shall list below key writings about al-Aḥsāʼī along with select printed or ms. editions. Pdfs of many of these sources in readable or downloadale form will also be available through the links below. At the bottom of this Webpage a few key western academic sources about al-Aḥsāʼī will be listed. Bibliographical details will be registered from the main Shaykhism page.

Treatise of Shaykh Ahmad himself written at the request of his son Shaykh Muhammad Taqi.

• Sirat Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i.
• Reprint in  H. 'A. Mahfuz, ed., Sirat Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i. Baghdad, 1376/1957
• PDf. Text in the Ibrahimi Fihrist (see below)

Shaykh ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī.

Arabic Biographical treatise by one of the sons of Shaykh Ahmad.

^{Sharḥ-i ḥālāt-i Shaykh Ahmad al- Ahsa'i. Bombay ed. of 1310/1893.}

• Sharḥ-i ḥālāt-i Shaykh Ahmad al- Ahsa'i.  Bombay, 1309/1892-93. A very important source.
• PDf. at Sharḥ-i ḥālāt-i ... Aḥmad ibn-i Zayn al-Dīn-i Aḥsāʾī  by ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad Aḥsāʾī,  Bombay: [Mirza Ibn `Abbas Murtada al-Husayni al-Sirqani], 19<sup>th</sup> Sha`ban 1310/ 8^th March 1893. Persian translation  of Muḥammad Ṭāhir (pp. 1-67) followed by the Arabic text by Shaykh ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī  [son of Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Zayn  al-Dīn  al-ʼAḥsāʼī ] (pp. 68-96 +ii). Available at Hathi Trust : Add.
• Sh-Halat-1892.pdf
• Risālah-i Fārsiyya-i Sharḥ-i ḥālāt-i sayyid al-ʻulamāʼ al-Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Zayn  al-Dīn  al-ʼAḥsāʼī.
• Risālah-i Fārsīyah-i Sharḥ-i ḥālāt by ʻAbd Allāh Aḥsāʼī  [Bombay : s. n.], 1310/1892-3.        In Series: (Princeton University Arabic collection ; cn. 9100441.08).  A Persian translation from the Arabic by Muḥammad Ṭāhir. 96 pp. 
• Sharḥ aḥvāl-i Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Dīn Aḥsāʼī keh Muḥammad Ṭāhir Khān... by ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī.  Kirman, Chāpkhāneh-yi Saʻādat , 1387/ 1967.
• "Tadhkirat al-awliyāʼ dar ṣharḥ-i aḥvāl-i Muḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmāni": pp. 53+  7, 181
• ʻAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī. Kirman, Chāpkhāneh-yi Saʻādat, 1387/1967.

رساله شرح احوال شيخ جليل اوحد امجد مرحوم شيخ احمد بن زين الدين احسائى

• Risālah-i sharḥ-i aḥvāl-i Shaykh-i ajal awḥad marḥūm Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Aḥsāʼī ...  va Tadhkirat al-awliya, Sharḥ-i aḥvāl-i marḥūm Āqā-yi Ḥājj Muḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī. dated 1387 AH/  
•  2nd ed.  Kirmān : Chapkhana Sa`āda, nd. [after 1387/ 1967] 196? or early 1970s?. There follows the 2nd edition of this work in two Pdfs :
• A - PDf Risālah-i sharḥ-i aḥvāl-i Shaykh-i Aḥmad ... Risala Ahsai.pdf  This Persian treatise was written by one of the sons of Shaykh Ahmad.  
• B -PDf  Risala-yi Tadhkirat al-awliya' ... Āqā-yi Ḥājj Muḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī... Risala tadhkirat al-awliya.pdf

The opening biographical section on the life, circumstances and writings of al-Aḥsāʼī translated into Persian by Aqa Muhammad Tahir Khan occupies pp. 1-51. This is followed by the Risala-yi Tadhkirat al-awliya' dar sharḥ-i aḥvāl-i marḥūm Āqā-yi Ḥājj Muḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (Treatise on the Memorials of the Chosen Ones)  is basically a commentary on the life circumstances (ahwal) of the late Āqā-yi Ḥājj Muḥammad Karīm Khān Kirmān [and others]), from pages 52-181. This second part was composed by Ni`mat-Allah Ridawi.  For the section on the first head of Kirmani Shaykhism see the PDf. above.

Shaykh`Alī Naqī ibn Shaykh Ahmad al-Aḥsā'ī (d. 23 Dhu'l-Ḥijjah 1246/4th June 1831).

• Minhāj al-Sālikīn. 2nd ed. Kuwait : Jāmi` al-Imam al-Sādiq. 1419/1998 [Hajji Mirza `Abd al-Rasūl al-Ḥā'iri al-Ihqāqī]. 514pp. [Index]. Has 5 sections with subsections and a conclusion. Part 1 is about al-`aql (the intellect) and `uqalā ("intellectuals") as well as `ilm (knowledge) and the `ulamā' (clerics, divines..) 

This sizeable work of a son of Shaykh Aḥmad was completed 27th Dhu`l-Hijja 1244 AH = 30th June 1829,  a few years before the passing of its author.  For some further details see Ḥajji Mīrzā `Abd al-Rasūl al-Ihqāqī, al-Taḥqīq fī madrasa  al-awḥad,  p. 221ff. where a further 9-10 of his works are listed.

al-ʿĀmilī, Sayyid Muḥsin ibn Sayyid ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Amīn al-ʿĀmilī (b. Shaqra', Jabal 'Amel, Lebanon 1284/1867-d.1371/1952). d. Damascus, 1347/1928. 

سید محسن بن سید عبدالکریم الامین العاملي  

al-Amin, Sayyiid Muḥsin ibn Sayyid `Abd al-Karim al-Amin al-`Amili.

•  A'yān al-Shi`a  10 vols., Beirut: Dār al-ta'āruf li 'l-maṭbū'āt, 1984; vol. X: XXX-XXX.
• A'yān al-Shi`a 
• PDF. A`yān al-Shī`a XLIV, pp. 94-96.

H. 'A. Mahfuz, ed., Sirat Saykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i. Baghdad, 1376/1957, contains "two autobiographical resalas by the shaikh, covering his early life" (MacEoin, EIr) A yan al-Shi'a VIII, pp. 272-82.

Amīr, ʻAbd al-Jalīl Amīr  أمير، عبد الجليل  . 

• فكر ومنهج : دراسة تحليلية حول فكر ومنهج مدرسة الشيخ أحمد الإحسائي =   Fikr wa-manhaj : dirāsah taḥlīlīyah ḥawla fikr wa-manhaj madrasat al-Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī.  Beirut : Dār al-Funūn, 1993. 124pp.
• شرح حياة النفس في حضرة القدس = Sharḥ ḥayāt al-nafs fī ḥaḍrat al-Quds by Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Dīn Aḥsāʼī;.   Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Balāgh lil-Ṭibāʻah wa'l-Nashr wa'l-Tawzīʻ, 2006.
• كتاب المخازن واللمعات والبراهين الساطعة  = Kitāb al-makhāzin wa'l-lamaʻāt wa'l-barāhīn al-sāṭiʻah 
• Kitāb al-makhāzin wa-al-lamaʻāt wa-al-barāhīn al-sāṭiʻah by كوهر، حسن. Ḥasan Kawhar; ed. ʻAbd al-Jalīl Amīr Beirut: Muʼassasat al-Balāgh : Muʼassasat Shams Hajr, 2006.

Anvari, Muhammad Javad.

• `al-Aḥsā'ī, Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Din ibn Ibrahim' in Dā'irat al-ma`ārif buzurg-i islāmī  (`The Great Islamic Encyclopedia', in Persian and Arabic editions), ed. Kāẓim Musavī  Bujnurdī, vol. 6, Tehran: Markiz Dā'irat al-ma`ārif buzurg-i islāmī ...   1373/1995, pp. 662-668.

A substantial  article in a major, ongoing Persian [+Arabic] encyclopedia. 

Bāmdād, Mehdī.

•  Tārīkh-i rijāl-i Īrān dar qarn-i 12, 13, 14 Ḥijrī. 6 vols. Tehran, 1347 Sh. / 1968-9 -1351 Sh/ 1971-2.
• Sharḥ-i ḥāl-i- Rijāl-i Īrān dar qarn-i 12, 13, 14 Ḥijrī., 6 vols. (5th printing) [Tehran:] Intishārāt-i  Zavvār,   1378/ 1999. *
• PDf

Chahārdahī, Murtaz̤á Mudarrisī (  ),   مرتضا مدرسى چهاردهى

• شيخى‌گرى بابى‌گرى : از نظر فلسفه، تاريخ و اجتماع
• Shaykhīgarī Bābīgarī : az naẓar-i falsafah, tārīkh va ijitmāʻ. Tehran : Kitābfurūshī-i Furughī, 1345/ 1966. + 1345/1966-7, 212pp.  Kitābfurūshī-i Furughī, 1351 /1972.
• http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003011045.
• PDf.

Fadāʼī, Yūsuf (XXX) فضائى، يوسف .

• Taḥqīq dar tārīkh va  falasuf-i Babīgarī Bahā'īgarī, va Kasravī garā'ī.  Tehran : Mu`assasa-yi Matbu`at-i Farahi, 1351/1973-4. 336pp. 
• تحقيق در تاريخ و عقايد شيخيگرى، بابيگرى، بهائيگرى  = Taḥqīq dar tārīkh va aqāyid-i Shaykhīgarī, Bābīgarī, Bahā'īgarī, va Kasravī garā'ī. [ Farhang-i Islāmī, 31.] Tehran : ʻAṭāʼī, 1363 /1984-5.
• Bahā'īgarī, va Kasravī garā'ī.  Tehran: Āshiyānah-i Kitāb, 1382/ 2003.
•  

Fuyūḍāt, Ḥasan -  ،حسن .فيوضات 

• ‏مدخل الى فلسفة الشيخ احمد بن زين الدين الاحسائي ‏  = Madkhal ilá falsafat al-Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Dīn al-Aḥsāʼī.‏ Beirut : Lajnat Iḥyāʼ Turāth Madrasat al-Shaykh al-Awḥas al-Aḥsāʼi : tawzīʻ Dār al-Maḥajjah al-Bayḍāʼ, 1424 / 2003 or 4. 118pp.

Ḥasan, Shaykh Muhammad.

• Ākhir al-falāsifah : ruʼyah ʻaṣrīyah jadīdah fī fikr al-Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī. Beirut: : Muʼassasat al-Fikr al-Islāmī, 2003. 252pp. Listed in World Cat.

Āqā Ḥajjī `Abu'l-Qāsim Khān al-Ibrahīmī (d. 1389/1969).

The Fihrist ("The Index)...

فهرست كتب شيخ اجل اوحد مرحوم شيخ احمد احسائى و ساير مشايخ عظام و خلاصه شرح احوال ايشان

• Fihrist-i kutub-i shaykh-i ajall-i awhad-i marḥūm Shaykh Aḥmad Aḥsāʼī va sāyir mashāyikh-i iẓām va khulāsah-i sharḥ-i aḥvāl-i īshān.  3rd ed. Kirmān : Chāpkhānah-i Saʻādat, 1974 +
• Fihrist-i kutub-i Shaykh Aḥmad Aḥsā'ī va sā`ir mashāyik-i `izām. 3rd ed. Kirman: Chapkhanih Sa`adat, / 1977. 653pp (+3pp of errata).

This centrally important work of Shaykhi history and bibliography contains foundational materials pertaining to the life and writings of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i and other Shaykhi leaders.

• PDf.
• PDf

Ibrahimi, Hajji `Abd al-Rida Khan (assasinated 1979).

• Sharh-i ahwal mawlana al-marhum al-ajal al-awhad al-Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i. In Jawa'mi` al-kalim Basra ed. vol. 1:1ff. 
• PDf. JK-Basra1-Ibrahimi.pdf

Isbir. Muhammad Alī,

• العلامة الجليل أحمد بن زين الدين الاحسائ في دائرة الضوء =   al-`Allāma  al-jalīl  Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Dīn al-Aḥsā'ī fī Dairat al-Daw. 2 vols. in 1  Beirut: Dar al-Aṣāla, 1993.

Kasmiri, Mulla Mirza Mohammad-'Ali.

• Nujum al-sama', Lucknow: ___, 1303/1885-86, pp. 367-74. (so MacEoin).
• Nujum al-sama'.

Khwānsārī, Muhammad-Bāqir.

Mīrzā Muhammad Bāqir al-Mūsawī  Chaharsuqi  al-Khwānsārī (1811-1895).

Born Khwānsār, 27 Safar  1226/ 23rd March 1811. Died 8th Jamadī I 1313 / 27 October 1895.  Khwānsārī moved in late 1253/ 1838 to Najaf.   He wrote around 20 (largely Arabic and a few Persian) works mostly relating to Shī`ī  doctrine, ethics and legalism ( aqā'id, adab, fiqh uṣūl al-fiqh...). His  8 volume rijāl  work has been frequently printed. Only a few editions can be mentioned here: 

•  Rawḍāt al-jannat fī aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  Tehran: ADD. 1304/1887.
•  Rawdat al-jannāt fi ahwäl al-'ulama wa Ί-sādāt. Tehran: ADD 1306/1888-89
•  Rawḍāt al-jannat fī aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  8 vols. Tehran: ADD. 1390-2/1970-2.
•  Rawdat al-jannat fi ahwal al-'ulama ' wa al-sadat, ed. Asad Allah Isma'iliyan, 8 vols.Qum, 1391/ 1979?).
• Rawḍat al-jannāt fi aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  8 vols.  ed. A. Ismā'iliyyan, Tehran: al-Matba`ah al-Haydariyya, 1390-92/1970-72.
• Rawḍat al-jannāt fi aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  X vols.  ed. A. Ismā'iliyyan, Qumm: ADD..1390-92/1970-72,
• Rawḍāt al-jannat fī aḥwāl al-`ulamā' wa'l-sādāt.  8 vols. Beirut: Dar al-Islamiyya. 1411/1991.  In this recent Beirut edition the section on `...Shaykh  Aḥmad ibn Shaykh Zayn al-Dīn ibn Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Aḥsā'ī'  is in vol.1 section 22, spanning pp. 97-103.
• PDf. al-ahsai-rj.pdf

Kirmani, Hajji Mirza Muhammad Karim Khan Kirmani (d.1871). 1st Kirmani Shaykhi leader.

• Hidayat al-Talibin.

Maḥūẓ. Ḥusayn `Alī (ed.)

• 1376/1957  Hadrat al-Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsā'ī. Baghdad: Maṭba'at al-ma'ārif. (pp.24).

Copy in Univ. Toronto - call number = BP80 A4677 M3. This Arabic work consists of 2 short autobiographical pieces by Shaykh Aḥmad himself. They can also be found printed in the Ibrahami, Fihrist (see above).

Rashtī, Sayyid Kāẓim ibn Qāsim Rashtī (d. 1259/1843), the chosen successor to al-Ahsa'i.

^{Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn}

• دليل المتحيرين  = Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn (Evidence for the Perplexed), written 1258/1842.
• Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn,  Tabriz [?] Lithograph ed. 1276/1859-60.
• Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn. Rep. of Arabic text.  Kirman : Chapkhana Sa`adat. n.d. 178pp.
• PDf. Ar. Dalil al-mutaḥayyirīn.pdf
• Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn. Trans. Zayn al-`Abidin Ibrahimi. 2nd. ed. Kirman : Chapkhana Sa`adat. n.d. 181pp.
• PDf.Per. Dalil al-mutahayyirin-Per.pdf

Between 1960 and 1980 there were at least three editions of this work printed by the above Shaykhi Press. Other more recent editions include :

• Add

Ṣāliḥ, Aḥmad `Abd al-Hādī al-Muhammad Ṣāliḥ .
صالح، أحمد عبد الهادي المحمّد 
 أعلام مدرسة الشيخ الأوحد في القرن الثالث عشر الهجري    =   Alʻām madrasat al-shaykh al-Awḥad fī al-qarn al-thālith aʻshar al-Hijrī,  Beirut : Dār al-Maḥajja al-Bayḍāʼ, 2006. 584pp.

Masāʼil ḥawla al-ḥaqīqah al-Muḥammadiyya  : ajwibat masāʼil al-Mullā Rashīd by Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Dīn Aḥsāʼī, ed. Aḥmad `Abd al-Hādī al-Muhammad Ṣāliḥ  : Ḥārat Ḥurayk /  Dār al-Maḥajjah al-Bayḍāʼ, 2006. 63pp.

Sarḥadī, Āghā Mubīn Sarḥadī 

• Taz̲kirah-yi Shaik̲h̲ulauḥad Shaik̲h̲ Aḥmad Aḥsāʼī ḥaqāʼiq kī raushnī men̲. Faiṣalābād : Muballigh-i Aʻẓam Akaiḍmī, 1980. In Urdu. 224 pp., + one leaf of plates.

Şadr, Aḥmad + Kamran Fānī + Bahā' al-Dīn Khurramshāhī (eds.),

•  Dā'irat al-mu`ārifiyyīn tashayu` ["Encyclopedia of the Shi`a" ]  Vol.1 = [Entries] Āb-Iḥyā.  Tehran: Charity and Cultural Foundation, 1369 Sh. /1991. This Persian Encyclopedia contains the entry  `al-Ahsā'ī,  Shaykh Aḥmad (1166-1241)' pp. 500-501.

al-Ṭāliqānī [al-Najafī],  Sayyid Muhammad Ḥasan ibn `Abd al-Rasūl ibn Mashkūr al-Ḥusaynī, al-Ṭāliqānī, al-Najafī (b. Najaf, 1350/1931 d. ADD).

• الشيخية : نشأتها وتطورها ومصادر دراستها 
• al-Shaykhiyya, nasha'āthā wa taṭawwūrhā wa maṣādir dirāsathā  nishāti-hā  ("Shaykism, its origins, its evolution and the sources for  its study") Beirut: al-Ṭaba`at al-Alwaī, 1420/1999. 409pp. Index pp. 406-409.  This work was apparently completed by the author in 1394/1974 and the ms. placed on one of the shelves of his library.... 
•  الشيخية : نشأتها وتطورها ومصادر دراستها  =   al-Shaykhīyah : nashʼatuhā wa-taṭawwuruhā wa-maṣādir dirāsatihā. Beirut : al-Āmāl lil-Maṭbūʻāt, 1999.  
• Muḥammad Ḥasan Ṭāliqānī /  Muḥammad Ḥasan Āl al-Ṭāliqānī
  •الشيخية : نشأتها وتطورها ومصادر دراستها =  al-Shaykhiȳya  : nashʼatuhā wa-taṭawwuruhā wa-maṣādir dirāsatihā.  Baghdād : Dār al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī, 2007. 409pp.

Contents... 

• Prolegomenon and preliminaries including a few pages on the Akhbārī and Uṣūlī  Shi`i factions and the Bābī and Bahā'ī religions...  pp.7-29. Pt. 1 The development of thought within Shī`īsm in the 13th cent. AH....  pp.31-52.
•   Pt. II Shaykh  Aḥmad-i Ahsā'ī  pp. 53-113. PDf. Shaykh Ahmad II.pdf

Following the author's conclusion (pp. 333-350) there is a lengthy bibliography (pp.351-405) divided up into Arabic works (355 items) and then Persian writings (61 items) many of which have a direct or indirect bearing upon Shaykhi history and doctrine. There follows another two useful alphabetical bibliographies of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsā'ī (pp. 375-389) and (another for)  Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī (pp.391-405).

al-Tehrānī, Āqā Buzurg,  Muhammad Muḥsin (1875-1389/1970). 

On Āqā Buzurg Tehrani see, for example,  Hamid Algar,  Āqā Bozorg Tehrānī, EIr. 2:169-170; Sayyid `Alī Shahbāz, Islamic Personalities (3) `Shaykh Aqa Buzurg Tehrani', in Thaqalayn 4:3-4 Autumn & Winter, 1419/ 1998-9, pp. 87-102.

Āqā Buzurg Tehrani wrote his rijal  volumes entitled, the Ṭabaqāt a`lām al-shi`a  ("Generations of the Learned among the Shi`a"). This bibliography was due to span the 4th cent. AH/ 12th cent. CE until the mid. 20th cent. CE though only 6 vols. dealing with the learned of the 13th and 14th centuries AH were published.

آغا بزرگ الطهراني، محمد محسن

• طبقات أعلام الشعة = Ṭabaqāt aʻlām al-Shiʻa.
• Ṭabaqāt a`lām al-Shi`a : nuqaba al-bashar. 2 vols. in 3.  al-Najaf: al-Maṭbaʻah al-ʻIlmīyah, 1374/1954-6.   See vol. XX : 89-91.
• The above ed. is partly available at : http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/11034817.html
• Ṭabaqāt a`lām al-Shi`a : nuqaba al-bashar. 6 vols. Qumm : Muʼassasat Ismāʻīlīyān,  n.d. [1990?] *
• Ṭabaqāt aʻlām al-Shīʻah : al-kirām al-bararah fī al-qarn al-thālith baʻda al-ʻasharah, al-qism al-thālith. Ḥaydar Muḥammad ʻAlī Baghdādī; Khalīl Nāyifī. Muʼassasat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1427/2006-7.
• Ṭabaqāt a`lām al-Shi`a : nuqaba al-bashar. ed. Muḥammad Ṭabāṭabāʼī al-Bahbahānī. Beirut : Dār al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī, 1971-2009.
• Ṭabaqāt a`lām al-Shi`a : nuqaba al-bashar. Beirut : Dār Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, 2009.
• Ṭabaqāt a`lām al-Shi`a : nuqaba al-bashar. Ṭihrān : Maktabat wa-Matḥaf wa-Markaz Wathāʼiq Majlis al-Shūrá al-Islāmī ; Mashhad : Majmaʻ al-Buḥūth al-Islāmīyah.
• Shaykh Ahmad-Tabaqat-10.pdf

Tehrani's massive al‑Dharī`a contains numerous references and  notes pertaining to the writings of al-Aḥsāʼī and other Shaykhi leaders.

• al‑Dharī`a ilā taṣānif al‑shī`a. Tehran and Najaf, 1353-98.
• al‑Dharī`a ilā taṣānif al‑shī`a. Tehran 1941-1978 + Na jaf, 1353-8/1936-8.
• al‑Dharī`a ilā taṣānif al‑shī`a.  26 vols. Beirut: Dār al‑Aḍwā’, 1403/1983.

Tunukābunī, Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān (c. 1234-1302 AH =1819-1884 CE).

Relative to al-Ahsa'i, MacEoin refers to this work in his EIr. article (above) as "ahostile and frequently inaccurate account, of interest because TonokabonI was a pupil and admirer of Baragani". 

• Qiṣas al‑`ulamā (Tales of the `Ulama'). 1st ed.  [Tehran] n.p. n.d. On al-Ahsa'i in this edition see pp. 34-56.
• Qiṣas al‑`ulamā. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī‑ i `Ilmiyyah‑i Islāmiyyih, N.d. 
• Qiṣaṣ al-`ulamā'   (Stories of the Ulama'). Tehran: Kitāb-furūshī  `Ilmiyya Islamiyya.,.n.d. [1887-8]
• Qiṣas al‑`ulamā.  Tehran:  Islamiyya,  1364/1944??
• Qiṣas al‑`ulamā. ed. Muhammad Rida' Barzgar Khaliqi and Uffat Karbasi. Tehran:  Intisharat `Ilmi va Farhang, 1383Sh/2004 (xxxiv+777+1 pp.)
• PDf.

Arabic Translation

Qiṣaṣ al-`ulamā' . trans by Shaykh   ADD  Beirut: Dar al-Hujjat al-Bayḍā',1992/1413. pp. 9-490 + index (491-6).

Zarandī, Muhammad, Nabil-i A`ẓam. (d. Acre 1892).

Baha'i poet, apologist and historian.

The bulky Persian Tarikh-i Zarandī  in a partial  edition and Eng. trans. by Shoghi Effendi (d.1957),  with the title The Dawn-Breakers, Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha'i Revelation (1st ed. 1932), is a recreation of early Shaykhī and Babi history by the Guardian of the Baha'i religion based upon the mss. notes of Zarandī dating to the late 1880s. It opens with a Chapter 1 `The Mission of Shaykh Aḥmad-i Ahsā'ī (pp.1-18)  and continues at Chapter 2 `The Mission of Sayyid Kāẓim-i Rashtī (pp.19-46). Here the twin founders of Shaykhism are pictured as forerunners of the Bāb as the expected messianic Qā'im and of Bahā'-Allāh as the eschatological Qayyūm ("Deity Self-Subsisting"). Concrete history is here assimilated to hagiographical apologetics. For On-line versions see

•  Ch. I  On Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i :  http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/nz/DB/db-20.html
•  Ch II  On Sayyid Kazim Rashti = http://www.bahaindex.com/writings/DawnBreakers/chapters/2.html