The distinguished uncles of Tahirih had their understanding of Islam challenged by the rise of Shaykhism, based on the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i.
Shaykh Ahmad, its founder, was an Islamic philosopher born in Bahrain who was broadly educated in astronomy, medicine, mathematics, music, and in all the Islamic subjects and was highly regarded.
He rigorously practiced meditation and had dreams of the Prophet Muhammad and the Imams in which he drank of their saliva---meaning their knowledge and spirit.
Shaykhism created a great deal of excitement and resulted in a dynamic new movement which attracted many students and controversy.
Shaykh Ahmad taught:
God was transcendent and unknowable because Man could not know God’s Essence because this implied similarity to God.
Man could know Him through His ‘actional’ attributes—His characteristics as they act in this world.
Man could not come to know God purely by his own effort as the Sufis taught but through His intermediaries who expressed His Will.
God was one in His being, simple not complex.
Reason should be reconciled with revelation. He interpreted the Qur’anic verses on the end times allegorically because the literal meaning conflicted with reason.
The Day of Judgment was not when the world would end but the ‘rightly-guided one’—would appear to usher in a new time. People would be judged by whether they recognized God’s manifestation in His new form.
The time of the appearance of the rightly guided one was at hand, and he wanted to prepare his students to recognize him.
Writings of Shaykh Ahmad (in Persian) HERE
Dissertation of Shaykhism in its Islamic context HERE
Audio version account of Shaykh Ahmad from the Dawnbreakers HERE