Bāṭin or baten ( ar, باطن) literally means "inner", "inward", "hidden", etc. The
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...
, for instance, has a hidden meaning in contrast to its exterior or apparent meaning, the
zahir (zaher).
Sufis believe that every individual has a batin in the world of souls. It is the inward self of the individual; when cleansed with the light of one's spiritual guide, it elevates a person spiritually.
This notion is connected to
Allah's attribute of the Hidden One, who cannot be seen but exists in every realm.
Many
Ismaili Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
thinkers have stressed the importance of the balance between the exoteric (''
zahir'') and the esoteric (''batin'') in the understanding of faith, and have explained that spiritual interpretation (
''ta’wil'') entails elucidating the esoteric meaning (''bātin'') from the exoteric form (''
zahir'').
Muslim groups believe that ''batin''
can be fully understood only by a figure with esoteric knowledge. For
Shia Muslims, that is the
Imam of Time.
In a wider sense, batin is the inner meaning or reality behind all existence, the ''zahir'' being the world of form and the apparent meaning.
A grounding feature of
Ismailism is the co-existence of the physical and the spiritual, the ''zahir'' (exoteric) form and the ''batin'' (esoteric) essence. The esoteric is the source of the exoteric, and the exoteric is the manifestation of the esoteric. This concept is highlighted in the “Epistle of the Right Path”, a
Persian Ismaili prose text from the post-Mongol period of
Ismaili history, by an anonymous author.
See also
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Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality ...
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Esotericism
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Esoteric interpretation of the Quran
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Batiniyya
Batiniyya ( ar, باطنية, Bāṭiniyyah) refers to groups that distinguish between an outer, exoteric ('' zāhir'') and an inner, esoteric ('' bāṭin'') meaning in Islamic scriptures. The term has been used in particular for an allegoristic ...
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Alevism
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Bektashi Order, another group focusing just like Alevis on ''Batin'' and ''
Zahir''
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Ismailism
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Nizari
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Alawites
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Qarmatians
References
External links
Sufi Live
Ismaili theology
Quranic exegesis
Shia Islam
Islamic terminology
{{Islam-stub