Hayrat (Shaykh al-Ra’is Qajar)

Hayrat, Shayk al-Ra’is Qajar, Abu al-Hasan Mirza (1848-1918/1920), Fath’ali Shah’s son. An orator, scholar, and poet with the nom de plume Hayrat. He was born in Tabriz. He was sent to Mulla ‘Abd al-‘Ali’s traditional primary school at the age of six. He learned the Qur’an and reading and writing from Mulla ‘Abd al-‘Ali who taught the princes. Having learned the basics of calligraphy, he studied grammar. Accompanied by his father, Shaykh al-Ra’is went to Tehran at the age of 11 and studied syntax and logic with Mulla ‘Ali Damawandi at Mulla Aqa Riza’s school. Then, he was sent to the military school and also studied arithmetic and mathematics for two years. He went to Mashhad and furthered his literary and Arabic studies with different teachers. He studied philosophy and theology with Mulla Ibrahim Sabzivari, a former student of Hajj Mulla Hadi Sabzivari. Then, he traveled to the Holy Shrines and studied jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence, and other Islamic sciences in Najaf and Karbala’ with distinguished authorities, like Hajj Mirza Habib Rashti, Fazil Iravani, and Shaykh Zayn al-‘Abidin Mazandarani. He made journeys to Hijaz, Istanbul, and India and taught and propagated the Islamic faith. Upon his return to Tehran, he was awarded the title of Shaykh al-Ra’is by Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and was appointed to work at the Astan-i Quds-i Razavi. In Khurasan, disagreements arose between him and Asaf al-Dawla, the governor of Khurasan. He departed for Istanbul via Ashkhabad. In Istanbul, he became a member of the Society for the Unity of Islam (Anjuman-i Ittihad-i Islam) and was supported by Sultan Abdulhemit for whom he wrote the work titled Ittihad-i Islam. He returned to Persia after a while and accompanied constitutionalists in the Constitutional Movement and represented Mazandaran at the second parliament. He died in Tehran and was buried at the Shrine of Hazrat ‘Abd al-‘Azim. Shaykh al-Ra’is was a scholar and belletrist having mastery of prose and verse. He also knew French. Exquisite themes are used in his poetry. He says, ‘This servant was encouraged by friends and was quite interested in composing poetry and expressing ideas from his prime of life and simply improvised delicate points entertained in his sorrowful mind into rhythmical words and as occasions arose, he composed ghazals and qasidas.’ His works include: Divan-i Shaykh al-Ra’is, published in Bombay, including his autobiography in the introduction; Ittihad-i Islam; Muntakhab-i Nafis; Naqd-i Firqih-ha; Fasl al-Khitab; and Safarnamih-yi Istanbul.

Asar-i ‘Ajam (529-530); Asar-afarinan (3/ 363); Sukhanvaran-i Nami-yi Mu’asir-i Iran (2/ 1215-1220).