{{short description|Allegoric type of scriptural interpretation in Shi'i Islam}} {{Expand Turkish|date=March 2021}} '''Batiniyya''' ({{langx|ar|باطنية|Bāṭiniyyah}}) refers to groups that distinguish between an outer, exoteric (''zāhir'') and an inner, esoteric (''bāṭin'') meaning in Islamic scriptures.<ref name="BĀṬENĪYA">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Halm|first=Heinz|title=BĀṬENĪYA|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bateniya|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica|volume=III|pages=861–863|access-date=4 August 2014}}</ref>
==Ismaili Batiniyya== The term has been used in particular for an allegoristic type of scriptural interpretation developed among early Ismaili Shia groups, stressing the ''bāṭin'' meaning of texts.<ref name=EI2-1-Batiniyya>{{EI2|last=Hodgson |first=M.G.S. |title=Bāṭiniyya|volume=1 |pp=1098–1099|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1284}}</ref> It has been retained by all branches of Isma'ilism and various Druze groups as well. The Alawites practice a similar system of interpretation.<ref name=EI2-1-Batiniyya/> ''Batiniyya'' is a common epithet used to designate Isma'ili Islam, which has been accepted by Ismai'lis themselves.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Islamica|author=Daadbeh, Asghar, Gholami, Rahim|title=Bāṭiniyya|editor1=Wilferd Madelung|editor2=Farhad Daftary|year=2013|doi=10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_000000100}}</ref>
Sunni writers have used the term ''batiniyya'' polemically in reference to rejection of the evident meaning of scripture in favor of its ''bāṭin'' meaning.<ref name=EI2-1-Batiniyya/> Al-Ghazali, a medieval Sunni theologian, used the term ''batiniyya'' pejoratively for the adherents of Isma'ilism.<ref name=EI2-1-Batiniyya/><ref>{{cite book |first=Farouk |last=Mitha |title=Al-Ghazali and the Ismailis: A Debate on Reason and Authority in Medieval Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iD5_3W_oqlYC&pg=PA19 |year=2001 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |isbn=978-1-86064-792-5 |page=19}}</ref> Some Shia writers have also used the term polemically.<ref name="BĀṬENĪYA"/>
==Sufi Batinyya== When the Islamic world of the Fatimid dynasty entered an Ismaili age in the 10th century, Batinyya became less practiced.{{Clarify|reason=What does “an Ismaili age” mean? And why does it damage Batinyya, considering the previous section’s title is Ismaili Batinyya?|date=August 2025}} As Ismailism turned into political conflicts, the Ayyubid Kurds began their de-Ismailization of Upper Mesopotamia and beyond, reversing the Fatimid forced Ismailization policies.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/26861778 | title=Method in Madness: Reconsidering Church Destructions in the Fatimid Era | last1=Pruitt | first1=Jennifer }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=August 2025}} The Kurdish core of the Ayubid empire itself reverted to Sufi Sunni Islam and appropriated the Batini Ismaili beliefs into Sufi Islam{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}.
==See also== * Batin (Islam) * Esoteric interpretation of the Quran * Yarsanism
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Islamic Theology|state=expanded|schools}} {{Religious slurs}} {{Turkic topics}} {{authority control}}
Category:Islam-related slurs Category:Ismailism Category:Islamic branches
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