ʿABD-AL-REŻĀ KHAN EBRĀHĪMĪ

 

ʿABD-AL-REŻĀ KHAN EBRĀHĪMĪ, ḤĀJJ, SARKĀR ĀQĀ, fifth head of the Kermānī branch of the Šayḵī school of Shiʿism. Eldest son of the fourth head, Ḥāǰǰ Abu’l-Qāsem Khan, he was a great-grandson of the founder of the Kermān school, Ḥāǰǰ Moḥammad Karīm Khan. Born in Kermān on 7 Rabīʿ II 1340/8 December 1921, he studied there before spending a year at agricultural college in Tehran. On returning to Kermān, he engaged in theological and Arabic studies under his father and Aḥmad Bahmanyār, while himself teaching at the Ebrāhīmīya madrasa. Following his father’s death on 19 Ramażān 1389/29 November 1969, he succeeded him as sole head of the school. He continued to control it from his headquarters at Salsabīl, while giving classes at the madrasa and preaching at the Ẓahīr-al-dawla mosque. Although family prestige gave ʿAbd-al-Reżā a respected position in the town, orthodox hostility towards the Šayḵī community and towards him as its head persisted; following the Islamic revolution he was executed on charges that do not appear to have been made clear (28 December 1979).

Several of the works he wrote in keeping with Šayḵī tradition have been published. Best known are Darhā-ye Behešt on solūk (1385/1965); Ketāb-e sīāsat-e modon on government (1391/1971); Naẓarī be-qarn-e bīstom in defense of Shaikhism and its relationship to the modern era (1391/1971); and Noṣrat al-moʾmenīn on the authenticity of the “Prayer of Nodba” (1392/1972). His principal claim to fame, however, lies less in his own writings and more in the success of his efforts to establish the Saʿādat Press devoted to the publication of the works of the mašāyeḵ of the school. Under his close management, the press undertook a highly ambitious publishing program which has produced all the major works of the Kermānī shaikhs and has commenced the publication in modern editions of the works of Shaikh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī and Sayyed Kāẓem Raštī. An ancillary program has created an important microfiche record of manuscript materials. ʿAbd-al-Reżā’s initiative is also responsible for the wide distribution of these publications and microfiches to libraries and universities throughout the world.

Bibliography:

Personal contact with ʿAbd-al-Reżā Khan.

A. Amīrī Kamālābādī, Šenasāʾī-e selsela-ye Šayḵīya, n.p., 1353 Š./1974.

Works mentioned in text all published in Kermān.

(D. MacEoin)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 14, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 161

Cite this entry:

D. MacEoin, “'Abd-Al-Reza Khan Ebrahimi,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 161; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-reza-khan-ebrahimi-a-leader-of-sayki-shiism-1921-79 (accessed on 16 January 2014).