hidden, or secret meaning), especially in connection with revelation.

hidden, or secret meaning), especially in connection with revelation.[^2] Since this movement adopted some aspects of Greek philosophy, such as emanation­ism,[^3] its followers were considered by Sunni authors to be heretics and out­side the pale of faith.[^4] During the Caliphate of al‑Mamun (198/813‑281/833) the Batiniyyah movement was quite strong;[^5] some half a century later it was widely spread in Iraq, Persia, Sind (western India), and Oman (south‑east Arabia), as well as in North Africa, but it did not enjoy an enduring influence.[^6] It is to be remarked, however, that while a number of individuals in Muslim Spain had shared ideas with the Batiniyyah, no sectarian or heretical doctrine ever struck roots or succeeded in winning over communities of any dimensions there.

So, the second/eighth century had witnessed a heavy atmosphere of esotericism weighing on some fundamentals of Islam such as the essence of God, the understanding of the Qur'an, and the attitude towards the Caliphate. Added to this there was a trend of upholding opinion as a valid source of jurisprudence at the same level with the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet.

At the same time there was also the Mu'tazilite school which assumed reason as a more deciding factor than revelation in all matters of religion.

Since all these movements had chosen Iraq as their principal battle‑field, another school, contrary to all of them and as extremist as any of them ­appeared in Iraq itself and insisted on the verbal understanding of the Qur'an and of the sayings of the Prophet Mubammad as the sole guiding line to their real meanings clothed in the words of God and of His Apostle.

This school was founded by a jurist Dawud ibn 'Ali, and it received its name the Literalists' ( Zahiriyyah ) school from the clinging of its followers to the wording of the revelation and not to the interpretation of it. Dawid ibn ‘Ali, His Doctrine and His School The family of Dawud ibn 'Ali belonged to Kashan, a town in the neighbour­hood of Isfahan.

His father was a secretary ( katib ) to `Abd Allah ibn Khalid, judge of Isfahan, in the days of the Caliph al‑Mamun.[^7] Dawud[^8] himself was born in Kufah in 202/817. His family moved later to Baghdad where he was brought up, educated, and afterwards laid the foundation of his school of jurisprudence which bore his name al‑madhhab al‑Dawudi ,[^9] but which was better known as the Zahirite school ( al‑madhhab al‑zahiri ).