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Select Ijāzas for and by Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i

Opening of the Ijāza for Shaykh Ahmad from Shaykh Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Darāzī al-Baḥrānī

Select Ijāzas ("Certificates of religious authorization") written for Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i by Shi`i notables or elevated Mujtahids of the early Qajar era.

For some introductory notes on the Islamic Ijāza reference should be made to the following succinct articles and their respective bibliographies:

  • Ignaz Goldziher + G. Vadja [+ S.A. Bonebakker], art. `Idjāza' in EI2

  • Devin J. Stewart, EJĀZA  "lit. permission, license, authorization"; a term describing a variety of academic certificates ranging in length from a few lines to many fascicles..." In EIr. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ejaza

al-Ahsa'i believed himself to be in receipt of supernatural Ijazas from the occulted twelver Imams : "At an unspecified age—probably during adolescence—he experienced a series of dreams and visions, of the type familiar to Shiʿite piety, in which the Imams or the Prophet figured as transmitters of supernatural knowledge. In one dream recounted by him, he believed that he was granted eǰāza or permission to transmit knowledge by each of the twelve Imams" (so MacEoin. EIr. article, `AḤSĀʾĪ, SHAIKH AḤMAD').

  • The (probably) first formal ijāza was given in 1205/1790 by Shaikh Aḥmad ibn Ḥasan Baḥrānī Damastānī (Add), a pupil of Shaikh Yūsuf Baḥrānī ibn Ahmad ibn Ibrahim Derazi (1107 /1695-6 , d.1186/1772).The text of this Ijāza  can be found in the biography of al-Ahsai written by his son `Abd-Allah, 1310/1892 ed., [Pt. II] pp. 81-84 : PDf. Damastani.pdf

  • In 1209/1794 an Ijāza  was written for al-Ahsa'i from the immensely learned Shi`ite scholar Sayyid Muhammad Mahdi, Bahr al-`Ulum ("The Ocean of the Sciences") (1155/1742-1212/1797). On him see Algar EIr. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bahr-al-olum-sayyed-mohammad. It is here noted that "Baḥr-al-ʿOlūm’s biographers report that he was favored by miraculous communication with the Prophet and the imams, especially the Twelfth Imam". Sayyid Kazim refers to Bahr al-`Ulum in very elevated terms in his Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn ("The Proof regarding Matters Perplexing") 2nd Arabic ed., p.50 (see PDf. below).

  • PDf.

During the early 1790s at the shrines in Iraq, al-Ahsa'i  studied with pupils of Muhammmad `Ali ibn Muhammad Baqir or  Āqā-yi Behbahānī (1144-1216/1731-1801). including,

  • Shaykh Jaʿfar Naǰafī,
  • Sayyid ʿAlī Ṭabāṭabāʾī,

  • Āqā Mīrzā Muḥammad-Mahdī ibn Abi’l-Qāsim Mūsawī Shahrastānī (1209/1794-95).

  • Shaykh Ḥusayn ibn Muhammad Darāzī Baḥrānī, a nephew of Shaikh Yūsuf Baḥrānī (1214/1799). This ijāza   was printed in the biography of al-Ahsai written by his son `Abd-Allah, 1310/1892 ed., [Pt. II] pp. 68-81: PDf. Muhammad Darazi Bahrani.pdf. This ijāza   is also printed  in the opening eight pages of the Kitāb-i mustaṭāb-i Ijtināb  (Tehrān : 1308/1891)  of the leading Shaykhi Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Jaʻfar Hamadānī (d. 1901-2). It is available from the Hathi Trust (see image above) at : Pdf.ijaza-Darazi.pdf

Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti and the Ijāzas written for Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i

The matter of the Ijāzas ("Certificates of religious authorization") written for Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i is takern up in some detail by his successor Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti in his Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn ("The Proof regarding Matters Perplexing").

 

 Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn

  • 1st Arabic edition.
  • Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn (Evidence for the Perplexed), written 1258/1842.
  • Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn,  Tabriz [?] Lithograph ed. 1276/1859-60.
  • Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn. 1st ed. [Tabriz?], 1276/1859-60.
  • Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn. 2nd (Arabic) ed. Maṭba`at al-Sa`adat, Kirmān, n. d.  [197?] 178pp.
  • Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn. Rep. of Arabic text.  Kirman : Chapkhana Sa`adat. n.d. 178pp.
  • PDf. Ar. Dalil al-mutaḥayyirīn.pdf

A work of Sayyid Kāẓim in response issues surrounding the differences between the person and doctrinal positions of Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsā'ī and other Shī`ī Muslims. Completed near Kufa (Iraq) 11th Rabī al-Thānī [II] 1258/ May 22nd 1842.

 

 Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn

The most recent Arabic 2nd ed. 3rd printing of  1423/2002  (see above) is the  very beautifully printed edition  with pictures of Shaykh Ahmad, Sayyid Kāẓim and the Kuwaiti born al-Ḥajjī Mīrzā`Abd al-Rasūl al-Ḥā'iri al-Iḥqāqī  [Born 22nd Mehr 1307 Sh. /XXXX] on the front cover (as well as on many inside  pages). .185 pp. + Index (pp.186-7)  ...

Persian Translations of the Arabic Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn

  • Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn. Translated into Persian by  his disciple Muhammad Raḍī ibn Muhammad Riḍā', 1st ed. Jumadī al-Awwal 1261/ May 1845 (Dhari`a 8:360).

Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn. Trans. Zayn al-`Abidin Ibrahimi. 2nd. ed. Kirman : Chapkhana Sa`adat. n.d. 181pp.

 

There is also (see above) a Persian trans. by Zayn al-Ābidīn Ibrāhīmi . 2nd printing Kirmān: Chāp-Khānih Sa`adat. pp. 4 (Index)+ 181pp.

In this edition of the Persian translation of the Dalīl al-mutaḥayyirīn  some details about the Ijāzas written for Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i are spelled out on pages 47ff (see the index below) :

Select Ijāzas ("Certificates of religious authorization") written by Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i for select Shi`i notables or mujtahids of the early Qajar era.

Muhammad Ibrāhīm ibn Muhammad Hasan al-Najafī al-Kalbāsī [Karbāsī] (b. Isfahan 1180/1766-7/d. 1261/1845). A great Qajar era mujtahid and all but an early marja al-taqlid.

  •  إجازة العلامة الشيخ أحمد الأحسائي للشيخ ابراهيم الكلباسي

Ijāzat al-ʻallāma al-Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī lil-Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Kalabāsī. Beirut: Dār al-Maḥajja al-Bayḍāʼ, 1431/2010. 136pp.  

‏نجفي الكلباسي، محمد إبراهيم. ‏لمحمد ابراهيم الكلباسي النجفي

  • Ijāzat al-ʻallāmah al-Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʼī lil-Shaykh Ibrāhīm al-Kalabāsī. Ed. Aḥmad ʻAbd al-Hādī al-Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ. Beirut: Dār al-Maḥajjah al-Bayḍāʼ lil-Tibāʻah wa-al-Nashr wa-al-Tawzīʻ, 2010. 136pp.

Among the biographies of al-Kalbasi see :

  • Khaṣāyiṣ al-ʻAbbāsīyah : sharḥ-i zindagānī va manāqib-i sipahsālār-i Karbalā, Ḥaz̤rat-i ʻAbbās : ʻilmī, ʻirfānī, tarbiyatī. Tehran : Khāmah, 1366/1987. 4, 17, 300, 88 pp. In Persian So W-Cat.

Works of al-Kalbasi :

  • Kitāb fawāʼid al-saniyya fī'l-aḥkām al-fiqhiyya. Tehran : XXXX, 1342/1923-4.
  • Kitāb al-Rasāʼil. np. nd. 1317/1897-8.
  • ‏= الخصائص العباسية al-Khaṣāʼiṣ al-ʻAbbāsiyya. Beirut: Dār al-Ḥawrāʼ lil-Ṭibāʻah wa-al-Nashr, 2004.368pp. About ʻAbbās ibn ʻAlī (647-680 CE). 
See further : http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ClassifyDemo?search-author-txt=%22Kal...