Shaykhism is a Shia Islamic religious movement founded by Shaykh Ahmad in early 19th-century Iran. It originated in Twelver Shi'ism, and it agreed with the Twelver belief that the disappeared twelfth imam would return as the Mahdi. Shaykhi teachings on knowledge were similar to Sufism, and Shaykhi believed that all knowledge was in the Quran. Shaykhism was a spiritual ancestor of Babism, which was, in turn, an ancestor of the Baha'i faith.