"Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zain Ad-deen Al Ehsaiee (1166-1241 A.H)"


His Descent & Family:
He is sheikh Ahmed Bin sheikh Zain Ad-deen Bin sheikh Ibrahim Bin Saqir Bin Ibrahim Bin Dagher Bin Ramadan Bin Rashid Bin Daheem Bin Shamroukh Al Saqir Al Qhurashi Al Ehsaiee Al Mutairfi is one of the famous scientists and great religious men.
His grand fathers settled the desert near Al Ehsaa, “Dagher” the fourth grand father and his father Ramadan fought with each other whereas Dagher emigrated with his family to Al Mutairfi village and lived there for along time until he rised many children and grand children. His family descended from “Saqir” the grand father and the head of Al Mahasheer group. He was from Bani Khaled tribe who descended of Tuhama tribe to Khuraish which considered as a noble Arabic tribe.

His Birth & Rise:
He had born in “Al Mutairfi” village which is one of “Al Ehsaa” villages on (Rajab 1166 A. H). He was raised there under the care of his father Sheikh Zain Al Deen , he was genius since the beginning of his childhood whereas he remembers all the incidents that happened when he was two years old .He completed reading Qoran when he was five years old and started in studying Syntax before the age of teenage.

His Teachers & Some of his Degrees:
1- Sayed Mohammad Mahdi Al Tabtabai Bahr Al Auloom.The date of his degree in (1209) A . H . as he said : ,His Excellency sheikh Ahmed Bin Zain Ad-deen Al Ehsaiee was lucky; he has a great position and considered one of the elite religious scientists and experts.Then he said: I replied him as soon as possible in achieving his degree when I felt in his devoutness, nobility and highness . I asked Allah to grant him the good fortune and achieve to him whatever he wishes.

2- Sheikh Ja`afar Kashifulghetaa Al Najafi . The date of his degree in (1209) A. H. He said : “ The great and generous Sheikh Ahmed Bin zain Ad-den presented some of papers indicated some descriptions of (Tabsourat Al Mutaalumeen) book for sheikh Ayatollah Fi Al Alameen,and classified a dissertation that has a reliable and supported opinion , I admired this classification which included particular investigation , appeared the higher position of its classifier and force me to grant him this degree.

3- Sayed Ali Al Tabtabai author of (Al Riyadh): His degree is dateless, he said (It’s a great chance to me when I met his Excellency sheikh Ahmed Bin Zain Ad-deen Al Ehsaie the generous , clear headed scientist who has higher position in science , devoutness and certainty.

4- Sayed Mirza Mahdi Al Shahrastani, the date of his degree was in (1209) A. H .he said (.. the dignified sheikh , noble chief, polite man and generous scientist, his Excellency the supported sheikh Ahmed Al Ehsaie who was reared in religious environment asked me to grant him a degree) until he said : (he was a qualified for this degree therefore I granted it for him soon) .

5- Sheikh Hussein Al Asfour Al Bahrani, the date of his degree was in (1214) A. H . He said (In fact Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zain Ad-deen Al Ehsaie was a qualified to grant pupils degrees, because of his good and right behaviors, so I granted him his degree).

6- Sheikh Ahmed Bin Sheikh Hassan Al Damastani Al Bahrani. The date of his degree (1205) A.H. (…, the dear and glorious boy Sheikh Ahmed Bin Zain Ad-deen Al Ehsaei Al Mutairfi asked me to give him the permission to obtain the degree as usual. I asked Allah for proper guidance , and gave him the permission to narrate instead of me everything classified by our religious scientists - mercy be upon them - in Arabic Sciences, Literature, Linguistics, Jurisprudence and Information Science).

The degrees of these six teachers that granted for Sheikh Ahmed Al Ehsaei were printed through ( biography of sheikh Ahmed Al Ehsaie) book which written by Sheikh Abdullah the son of sheikh Ahmed, and reprinted separately in Al Najaf city in (1390) A.H. Al Tahrani mentioned in ( Althareia) : ( That the total of issued degrees of Sheikh Ahmed by his teachers were collected in one volume consisted of ten thousands verses, this volume held by the writer of “ Al Naul Al Hadera” book.

His pupils & some of his Defenders :
Sheikh Al Ehsaie was the best one who taught Philosophy for a long time , he had flourishing religious schools(Hawza) in Karbala, Najaf, Basra and other of Iraqi towns .In Qazween , Yazd , Tehran , Asfahan, Karmanshah and others of Iranian towns . In Ehsa, Bahrain and others of gulf towns .He deserved a high position in this field to the extent that when he traveled to any religious town all researches and lessons are held up because of the leaving of its audience to attend his lesson. A big number of honest religious scientists were graduated by him, and he has a lot of pupils whose deserved a high degree in religious studies.

His most important pupils:
1- Sayed Kathem Bin Al Sayed Qasim Al Husseini Al Rushti Al Haeri.
2- Mirza Hassan Bin Ali who known as (Kawhar).
3- Mawla Muhammad Bin Al Hussein known as (Hujat Al Islam) Al mamqani Al Tabrizi, father of the writer who wrote (Saheefatulabrar).
These three persons - I mean :Saied Al Rashti , Mirza (Kawhar) and (Hujatulislam ) were the close pupils to him who published his sciences ideas and defended him after his death.
4- Sayed Abdullah Bin Al Sayed Muhammad Ridha Shubar Al Husseini.
5- Sheikh Muhammad Al Abdul-Jabbar Al Qatifi .
6- Sayed Muhsein Bin Al Sayed Hassan Al A-araji Al Husseini Al Kathimi.
7- Sayed Abu Al Hassan Bin Al Hussein Al Tankabni Al Qazwini .
8- Mawla Kathim Bin Ali Naqi Al Samnani who described (Alfawaed) book.
9- Sheikh Muhammad Hamza Kalaei, who described (Sharh Al Aurashiea) book.
10- Mirza Abdul Wahab Al Shareef Bin Muhammad Ali Al Qazwini
11- Sheikh Abu Al Hassan Bin Ibrahim Al Yazdi.
12- Sheikh Ahmed Bin Sheikh Saleh Bin Touq Al Qatifi.

And others, along with Sheikh Ahmed’s sons were of them: (Sheikh Muhammad Taqi, Sheikh Ali Naqi, Sheikh Abdullah, Sheikh Hassan).

Some of those who narrate on behalf of him :
Many of great religious scientists narrated on behalf of Sheikh Al Ehsaie , all of them were of the most famous religious scientists in his era, few of them were from his earlier pupils :
1- Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Al Najafi, the author of ( Al jawaher) book.
2- Sheikh Asadullah Bin Ismaeil Al Tustari Al Kathimi Al Ansari.
3- Mirza Muhammad Taqi Al Nori.
4- Sheikh Muhammad Ibrahim Al Kalbasi, the author of (Al Isharat) book.
5- Sheikh Murtadha Al Ansari, the author of Al Makaseb Wa Al Rasaeil).

His Books:
He left a huge number of books and studies in different kinds of sciences and knowledges, he wrote in many branches of literature such as grammar , morphology, rhetoric, linguistics, logic, poetics and others. In Mathematics such as Arithmetic, Geometry and Astronomy. In Jurisprudence with its roots, Sciences of Holy Koran & Hadith, Morals, History, Medicine, Unusual Sciences as Divination, Chemistry and others. Many authors form a bibliography specialized in titles of these books for example :

1- Al Tahqiq Fi Madrasat Al Awhad written By Ayatollah Mirza Abdul rasoul Al Hairi Al Ihqaqi _mercy be upon him- , he mentioned nearly to (173) book , with simple explanation to it’s contents and resources.
2- Fahrasat Tasanif Al Sheikh Al Awhad Al Ehsaei by Riad Taher , its related to the bibliography of his printed books . which reached to “104 book”
some of what mentioned to in this book: (The total of what produced by Sheikh Ahmed from dissertations, books , speeches and poems reached to “154”.
3- “Fahrast Kotob Sheikh Ahmed Al Ehsaei Wa Sair Al Mashaeikh Al Etham “ By Sheikh Abu Al Kasim Al Karamani, a huge Persian book printed in “Karman” In Iran .The book reports that: (The total of Sheikh Ahmed Traces reached “ 115”dissertations ,”5” speeches and one paper included in 31 volumes .”11” volumes of them were lost.

Most famous books were:
1- Hayat Al Nafs Fi Hadhrat Al Qodds (explaining principles of Islam).
2- Sharh Al Ziyara Al Jameia Al Kabeera in four volumes.
3- Sharh Al Fawaed (explaining knowledge of prophet’s Mohammad family
4- Sharh Ala Alarashia and Al Mashaeir , by Mullah Sadrualdeen Al Sheerazi 5- Sharh Ala Al resala Al Almia by Mullah Mohsen Al Faidh Al Kashani
6- Serat Al Yakeen Fi Sharh Tabserat Al Mutaalumin By Al Alama Al Hili
7- Aujala Fi Asrar Tajweed Al Koran (explaining principles of reading Koran).
8- Tafsir Surat Al Tawhid Wa Ayat Al noor (Interpretation of Holy Koran).
9- Resalat Al Esma and Resalat Al Rajea.
10- Hakekat Al Roya Wa Aksamha, and, Wasael Al Humam Alaulya Fi Masael Al Ruea.
11- Poems Divan called ( Al Ithna Ausharia ) or ( Nashid Al Awali)
12- Al Kashkool, in four volumes , ordered alphabetically. He gathered some of his papers under the title of (Jawamea Al Kalam) printed in Iran on the stone in two grand volumes, the first one includes “40” papers approximately and second one includes “52” papers

His Travels :
His first travel was from ( Alehsa) to Iraq in (1186) A.H. when he was twenty years old. He continued to move between Karbala & Najaf to attend lessons of the famous people of his age. After spreading of plague in Iraq he returned to his country (AlMutairfi). In Al Ehsa and got married there. After a period of time he moved to Al Hufoof city the capital of Al Ehsa and stayed there for a long time. He immigrated to Bahrain with his family in (1208). A. H. and lived there for four years .
In (1212) A. H. he returned to the holy places in Iraq , after finishing his visit he lived in Basra and moved to many villages there. In (1212)A. H. he visited Holy Najaf and all the holy places there with some of his friends .Then he decided to visit Imam Ridha (pbuh) so he passed by (Yazd) city on his way. All the people there admired him and asked him to stay with them, but he refused their request and promised them that after his return of visiting .When he came back to (Yazd) he paid attention to the people there, so they loved him too much .After spreading his great fame, Sultan Fatih Ali Shah Al Kajari heard about him and invited him to Tehran but he refused this invitation ,however Shah insisted on his request, therefore he accepted it. When he came back from Imam Ridha he went to Tehran in a huge cortege and stayed in Al Sultan Fath Ali Shah palace .After his residence in Tehran for many years, Shah gave him the choice to choose any city in Iran to live in, then he chose (Yazd) in (1224) A.H. He lived there more than five years, he was occupied in teaching and publishing Sciences of prophet Mohammad family. He decided leaving Yazd to The Holy Places in Baghdad after his second visit to Imam Rida but the people there were unhappy when he left them. In (1230) A.H. his cortege passed Isfahan city .After forty days he went to (Karmanshah),there he met (Mohammad Ali Mirza Bin sultan Fatih Ali Shah )who asked him for staying with them and insisted on his request but Sheikh Ahmed promised him to come back when finishing his visit to Imam in Iraq.Then he returned to (Karmanshah) to stay three years and came back to Iraq through this period .In 1232) A. H. he went to Pilgrimage to the first time then he came back to Iraq and went to Karmanshah again to live many years, through this years he visited Iraq many times.Karmanshah vanished after death of its ruler Mohammad Ali Mirza so, Sheikh Ahmed left to (Qazween), (Tehran), (Shah AbdulAtheem) and visited Imam Ridha in Khurassan. He traveled to (Tabs), (Asfahan) after a period of time then he returned to Karmanshah again.
Finally, he decided to neighbor Imams in Iraq, therefore he traveled Karbala to live there. Strong clashes happened between him and some religious scientists of Al Hayer Al Hussaini because of what he faced of accusations but a good number of other religious scientists and people were supporting him. However he thought a big trouble will happened among believers therefore he decided to emigrate to Karbala for good and then he left to Mecca after he appointed his pupil Sayed Kathim Al Rashti as a representative.

His Death & Burial:
He was (75) years when he was in his final travel to the Holy Mosque with his two sons Sheikh Ali, Sheikh Abdul Allah ,the rest of his family, pupils and friends. In his path he was attacked by illness and died in a place called (Hadya) near the Holy Medina on Thursday or Sunday (22 Thulqida 1241) A.H.
His body moved to (Holy Medina) prepared by his son Sheikh Ali Naki who prayed for him and buried him in (Al Baqeea) behind braves of Imams (pbut) and opposite to Sadness House, the house of Lady Fatima Al Zahra Daughter of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).All believers felt sorrowful when they knew his death and his pupils with his lovers put up the condolence ceremonies for him around the Islamic World.

Translator :
MONA ABDUL RASOUL ALAMEER