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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A History of Muslim Philosophy Volume 1, Book 3 Chapter 14: Zahirism Zaharism by Omar A. Farrukh, Ph.D, Member of the Arab Academy, Damascus (Syria) Background Since the second/eighth century, an interminable dispute dragged on between those who upheld the authority of Tradition ( ahl al‑hadith ) in all matters of theology and jurisprudence, and those who advocated opinion ( ashab al‑ra'i ).

It was expected, as pointed out by Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah (p. 805) that the people of the Hijaz, particularly those of Madinah, should be versed in the science of Tradition (the sayings and doings of the ).

With the rise of the `Abbasid Caliphate and the shifting of the political power and the religious leadership completely to Iraq, where the people had had less access to the sayings of the Prophet, and where the aspects of life, the agrarian problems, for instance, were more diverse and complicated through the inter­mingling of the successive civilizations since times immemorial, a new school, that of opinion, made its inevitable appearance.

The upholders of opinion, however, did not neglect Tradition, but they found it necessary to supplement Tradition with additions drawn from older codes and prevalent usages or framed by considerations of the actual situation in their new environment. At the same time an esoteric movement also began among the Shiites under a variety of names, the most current of which was the Batiniyyah[^1] (seekers after the inner or spiritual interpretation of revelation).

The forming of this sect is attributed to a certain Maimun of whose descent we are com­pletely in the dark. The Batiniyyah movement took its name from the belief of its followers that every zahir (apparent state of things) has a batin (an inner, allegorical.