for they maintain that everything the Messenger ﷺ stated about faith in Allah and the Last Day was merely a figurative depiction of the real truths, meant only to benefit the common people. In their view he did not, through those statements, set forth the truth, guide creation, or lay bare the realities.

They themselves are divided into two sub-groups:

1. Some among them assert that the Messenger ﷺ never knew the realities as they actually are.

2. They further claim that certain “divine philosophers,” as well as some individuals they label “saints,” did know those realities, and they even contend that among these philosophers or saints are figures more knowledgeable about Allah and the Last Day than the messengers. Such a belief is the doctrine of the extremist heretics among the philosophers and of the esotericists—specifically, the esoteric wing of the Shīʿah.