Mullāh Muḥammad b. Murtaḍā Muḥsin-i Fayḍ-i Kāshānī, better known as Mullāh Muḥsin, was born in Kashan in 1598 into a family of ʿulamāʾ (Ar/Pers.) religious scholars). Educated in Kashan, Shiraz, and Isfahan, he studied with the famous Shīʿī scholars Bahāʾ al-Dīn ʿĀmilī (d. 1621), Mīr Dāmād (d. 1631), and Mullāh Ṣadrā (Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī; d. 1640). In addition to being learned in exegesis, ḥadīth, jurisprudence, and philosophy, Mullāh Muḥsin was a ṣūfī who strove to harmonize exoteric and esoteric learning. In 1653 Shah ʿAbbās II (r. 1642–1666) invited him to Isfahan to become …