haqa’iq

Pl. of haqiqa. A system originating in 9th century Ismaili texts, and later modified and developed in a Neoplatonic framework by al-Nasafi (d.  943), Abu Hatim al-Razi (d. 934), Abu Ya‘qub al-Sijistani (d. ca. 971) and Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani (d. after 1020) in the 10th and 11th centuries. According to these authors, behind the external aspect (zahir) of religious prescriptions, which can change with every prophet, the haqa’iq are the immutable and eternal truths of the realm of the batin (the hidden), which are known to the Imam and accessible only to the initiated or the elite.