Julaybib was a martyr and one of the less known companions of Muhammad in the early Muslim community. His name was acquired prior to his acceptance of Islam and is considered unusual and incomplete. In the Arabic language Julaybib means "small grown" being the diminutive form of the word jalbab, indicating that Julaybib was small and short, even dwarf-like. He was also described as being damim, meaning ugly, deformed, or repulsive.

Julaybib's lineage was unknown and there is no record of his parents or what tribe he belonged to. All that was known of him was that he was an Arab and that he was one of the Ansar in Medina.

With Julaybib in mind, Muhammad went to an Ansari man and said: "I want to have your daughter married." "How wonderful and blessed, Oh Messenger of God and what a delight to the eye (this would be)," he replied. "I do not want her for myself," added Muhammad. "Then for whom, Oh Messenger of God?" asked the man, obviously disappointed. "For Julaybib," said Muhammad. The Ansari went to consult with his wife, telling her of Muhammad's desire for their daughter to marry Julaybib. His wife was repulsed, and protested saying "To Julaybib! No, never to Julaybib! No, by God, we shall not marry (her) to him."

Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Dín ibn Ibráhím al-Ahsá'í (Arabic: شيخ أحمد بن زين الدين بن إبراهيم الأحسائي‎) was (1753–1826) was the founder of a 19th century Shi`i school in the Persian and Ottoman empires, whose followers are known as Shaykhís.

He was a native of the Al-Ahsa region (Eastern Arabian Peninsula), educated in Bahrain and the theological centers of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq. Spending the last twenty years of his life in Iran, he received the protection and patronage of princes of the Qajar dynasty.

Little is documented about the early life of Shaykh Ahmad, except that he was born in Ahsa, in the northeast of the Arabian peninsula, to a Shi'i family of Sunni origin in either the year 1166 A.H. (1753 C.E.), or 1157 A.H. (1744 C.E.). Nabíl-i-A`zam, a Baha'i historian, documents his spiritual awakening in his book The Dawn-Breakers as follows:

While it is unclear how much of Nabil's interpretation is consistent with Shaykh Ahmad's true feelings, the underlying motivations for reform, and ultimately for messianic expectation, become somewhat clearer.