The beliefs of Al-Baatiniyyah
The beliefs of Al-Baatiniyyah are hidden as their name indicates. However, their doctrine and beliefs became known, although they were very keen on hiding them, via those who embraced Islam from them. However, they deny such beliefs. They show the adherents of other faiths what they (the people of those faiths) like and favor. Thus, if they meet Christians, they show that they believe in the Trinity and assure them of the divinity of ‘Eesa (Jesus), may Allah exalt his mention. If they meet Jews, they show their hatred for Muslims and Christians. If they meet an ascetic person, they show asceticism and aversion to the world and its people. In fact, they disguise themselves in the beliefs of every group they live among until people have trust in them. When this point is reached, they start spreading their malicious allegations among them and invite them to adopt their beliefs and disclose to them their doctrines, after taking all measures to ensure that they will never renounce their belief.
Their Beliefs
1. Claiming that there are two eternal gods who have existed since time immemorial and that their existence has no beginning. However, one of them is the cause of the existence of the other. The cause (the god who assumed creation) is the first god and the effect (the created god) is the latter. The first is the creator with the help of the latter, not independently by himself. Such belief was taken from disbelieving groups such as the Dualists and the Magians, who believe that there are two gods: the god of light and the god of darkness. They (Al-Baatiniyyah) only changed their names.
2. They believe that the Prophet is an ordinary person upon whom a sacred power was sent down by the first (god) through the help of the latter (god).
3. They believe that the Quran is just an expression of the Prophet about the knowledge sent down to him and that calling it ‘the Speech of Allah’ is only a figure of speech.
4. They also believe that every age should have an infallible Imaam who supports the truth, interprets phenomena, and clarifies the ambiguity of the Noble Quran, Prophetic narrations and matters related to reason. They all agreed that the Imaam is exactly like the Prophet in relation to infallibility and knowing the facts of every matter; however, he receives no revelation. But he obtains such knowledge from the Prophet because he is his successor and has the same status. They believe that every age has to have its Imaam.
5. Furthermore, they believe that every prophetic Sharee‘ah has a specific period. When it ends, Allah The Almighty sends another prophet to abrogate the Sharee‘ah of the previous prophet. Every Sharee‘ah lasts for seven centuries. So they claim that the Sharee‘ah of the Prophet was abrogated by the coming of the seventh Imaam Ja‘far ibn Muhammad.
6. Al-Baatiniyyah agree upon denying the Day of Resurrection and that the witnessed system of the worldly life such as the alternation of day and night, reproduction of human beings from sperm, reproduction of plants, and reproduction of animals cannot be destroyed by time. They also believe that the heavens and the earth cannot be destroyed. They said about the Day of Resurrection that it symbolizes the appearance of the Imaam and the beginning of a new phase of life by the appearance of the seventh Imaam who will abrogate the previous Sharee‘ahs and who will change everything.
7. They deny the existence of Paradise and Hellfire. They also claimed that the meaning of ‘the appointed return’ is that everything will return to its original state, and that man is composed of two entities: spiritual and material. The material entity will be dissolved to what it was composed of and return to its original state. That is the appointed return of the body. As for that of the soul, if it is righteous – according to them – it will unite after leaving the body with the spiritual world from which it has separated before and that will achieve happiness for it. However, the evil one will remain eternally in the material world, transfer from one body to another and thus it will suffer from pains and illnesses forever. Whenever it leaves a body, another body will receive it. This, in fact, is the essential part of the belief of Brahmanic Hinduism.
8. They also believe in absolute permissiveness and renouncing all obligations of religion. They believe that such obligations are like the chains and burdens from which they have been released because of following the infallible Imaam.
9. Some of them believe in the divinity of ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib, may Allah be pleased with him. They claim that he appeared in a human form to put his creation at ease.
Al-Baatiniyyah: Their Principles and Beliefs-I