Interpretation: its foundations and meanings in the Tayyibi thought

Abstract

Ismailism has a great importance in Islamic history, because it occupied a large space in terms of theorizing and writing and in terms of application and practice of political authority through the establishment of their desired state in Egypt (The Fatimid state), as it made for itself an idea of its own and tried to establish it in different countries of the Islamic world and today their presence is present and active, but it is surrounded by ambiguity and secrecy. The most important thing that distinguished their political thought is their dependence on esoteric interpretation which whom they made it an intellectual background relates to it most of their ideas, they singled out their imams with it and for that they were called Al-Batiniyya, because of their claim that the appearance of Qur’an has greater meanings and explanations. They made Muhammad the author of inspiration of Qur’an, and they made Ali the author of interpretation, meaning that the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad with its wording but the interpretation was the specialty of Ali and all imams after him. Therefore, the Ismailis did not work with the outward interpretation only, but they interpreted the laws, rulings and Qur’an with an inner interpretation taken from a reliable source in their view, the representative of the universal intellect, and those who call themselves (people of reason). In addition, the Ismaili movement is a system of thought that obliges the respondent to recognize the two principles of the appearance and the esoteric together, because the two principles constitute the spirit of the religion and they are connected to each other, and that is why the Ismaili preachers preached their principles in two ways: the first was related to the prophecies and the necessity of adopting the teachings and texts they brought And rulings and laws in an apparent way, and the second: by calling for what the heavenly books brought through mystical interpretation.