Born Rajab, 1166 A.H., 24th of April-24th of May, 1753, in
town of Ahsá in district of Ahsá, northeast of Arabian Peninsula. (A. L. M.
Nicolas’ “Essai sur le Shaykhisme,” I, p. 1.) Born a shí’ah, though his
ancestors were sunnís. (Ibid., p. 2.) According to E. G. Browne (‘A Traveller’s
Narrative,’ Note E, p. 235), Shaykh Ahmad was born in the year 1157 A.H. [1744
A.D.] and died in 1242. [1827 A.D.]
Siyyid Kázim, in his book entitled “Dalílu’l-Mutaháyyirín,”
writes as follows: “Our master [Shaykh Ahmad], one night, saw the Imám Hasan;
[the Third Shi’ih Imam] upon him may the blessing of God rest! His Holiness put
in his mouth his blessed tongue. From the adorable saliva of His Holiness he
drew forth the sciences and the assistance of God. To the taste it was sweeter
even than honey, more perfumed than the musk. It was also quite warm. When he
came to himself and wakened from his dream, he inwardly radiated the light of
divine contemplation; his soul overflowed with the blessings of God and became
entirely severed from everything save God.
His faith, his trust in God and his resignation to the Will
of the Most High grew apace. Because of a great love and an ardent desire which
arose in his heart, he forgot to eat or to clothe himself except barely enough
to sustain life. (A. L. M. Nicolas’ “Essai sur le Shaykhisme,” I, p. 6.) He
[Shaykh Ahmad] knew full well that he was chosen of God to prepare men’s hearts
for the reception of the more complete truth shortly to be revealed, and that
through him the way of access to the hidden twelfth Imám Mihdí was reopened.
But he did not set this forth in clear and unmistakable terms, lest ‘the
unregenerate’ should turn again and rend him.” (Dr. T. K. Cheyne’s ‘The
Reconciliation of Races and Religions,’ p. 15.)
(From footnotes included in Chapter 1 by Shoghi Effendi)
