For this reason, the early generations regarded the Jahmiyyah as heretics. At that time, the heretical Shiite groups had not yet emerged. Rather, during the ordeal imposed by the Jahmiyyah, under the caliphates of al-Ma’mūn, al-Mu‘tasim, and others, heretical esotericist groups began to emerge alongside the Jahmiyyah. Among them were the Khurramiyyah, the followers of Bābak al-Khurramī; this is one of the names given to the esotericists.

It is said that in the year twenty—the year in which Ahmad was flogged—the earliest Qarmatians appeared in Iraq. They subsequently gained power in Hajar under al-Janānī and his followers. Their major missionary movement then emerged in the Maghreb and later in Egypt, until the people of the Sunnah subsequently conquered it. Their remnants remain scattered throughout the earth.

These people have various forms of heresy beyond matters concerning the divine names and attributes, but