Batiniyya

Lit. ‘supporters of the batin’. A perjorative term used by Sunni authors such as al-Ghazali (d. 1111) to refer to those, especially the Ismailis, who recognise an inner level of meaning (batin) in the Qur’an and the universe at large. In this usage by Sunni Muslims, the batinis were accused of rejecting the external level of scripture (zahir), rituals and prescriptions, though Fatimid Ismaili authors such as as Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani (d. after 1020) and Nasir Khusraw (d. ca 1088) insist to the contrary. Another Sunni author, Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328), gathers under the term batiniyya some Shi‘i groups, Sufis and such falasifa as Ibn Rushd (d. 1198).