21. He later became a follower of the millenarian Shaykhi school, studying under its leader Siyyid Kazim Rashti and traveling to debate prominent Usuli clerics to gain support for Rashti's teachings.

After Rashti's death, Mullá Husayn led a group of Shaykhis who traveled in search of the Mahdi. On 22 May 1844, in Shiraz, Mullá Husayn became the first person to profess belief in the Báb as the Mahdi, and the first follower of the