National Consolidation Committee.

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LESSON ONE - SHAYKH AHMAD-I-AHSA'I

Preparation: Map of Iran per child. Illustrated page per child. Coloured pens. Glue.

INTRODUCTION
When a Messenger of God comes, we say it is like the sun shining on the earth. After He has died, many people forget the wonderful things He has said and become greedy and quarrelsome or make up untruths about God and then make things difficult for people who don't believe what they say is true. All sorts of things happen when people forget God, and we say that is like darkness...

Story for this lesson.
There was darkness in Iran many years ago until one man became like a Shining Star, to guide the people. He was Shaykh Ahmad, and he decided to spend the rest of his life searching for answers to God's mysteries.

He left his home which was on an island, with a feeling that something wonderful was going to happen to Iran in the near future. He left Iran for a few years to visit the holy people and talk with them. Everyone soon realised that he was better than they were at understanding the Words of Muhammad, and many, many people came to speak with him and ask him questions which had puzzled them. Many priests enjoyed the attention people paid them and became proud of their knowledge, but Shaykh Ahmad did not want any rewards, he just wanted to be near to God.

Eventually he had a strong desire to go back to Iran but he felt that he could not tell people that he was going to find out about God's New Messenger, so he decided to make a visit to the Shrine of Imam Rida in Mashhad. He wanted very much to share his news with people, but he could not find anyone that could be trusted.

He arrived in Shiraz and was very excited, and praised the city so much that it surprised people, because they could not find very much that was special about it. To those who were surprised he said, "Wonder not for ere long the secret of my words will be made manifest to you. Among you there shall be a number who will live to behold the glory of a Day which the Prophets of old have yearned to witness.

Only God could have made him realise that something special was going to happen and that must have been because Shaykh Ahmad was a very sincere man who loved God very much.

Shaykh Ahmad went to Yazd and started to tell interested people a little bit about God's Holy Words, helping them to sort out the things that they had been told by the priests which were wrong. Fath- 'Ah Shah, the king, wrote a letter to him, asking him the meaning of many parts of the Qu'ran that he did not understand and that not even his wise men could tell him. The Shah was so pleased with the answers Shaykh Ahmad sent that he wanted the Shaykh to visit him. But Shaykh Ahmad wrote to the king and said he hoped that the king did not mind if he did not come and see him, as he was on his way to pray at the Shrine of Imam Rida in Mashhad and that if God allowed he would come afterwards.

Early in the 19th century the world expected a miracle. Christians in the West waited for the return of Christ on the clouds. Muslims in the East were promised the Day of Judgement.

In Iran, Shaykh Ahmad was like a shining star helping to solve the mysteries in God's Holy Book and waiting eagerly for the Promised One. He travelled all over Iran trying to find people who would listen to his message and prepare themselves for this special time.

"That which I have been announcing to you is now revealed. At this very hour the light of the Promised One has broken and is shedding illumination upon the world".