The Hyperbolic Roots of Gnostic Wilayat

Inquiries into the worldview of Shiite hyperbolists, though most of them have disappeared, can be useful and functional in some ways. This is what the present article deals with. Contrary to the famous history of the wilayat, i.e. its attribution to Sufism or Hakim Termezi himself, the present article roughly resolves some of the ambiguities related to the teachings of Sufism and the sophistications of some Orientalists in the field of Sufism by presenting its framework and roots among Shiite hyperbolists. In the personal, allegorical interpretations of hyperbolists, the Shariah (the sacred law) had the two layers of the interior and the exterior, and the origin of this duality was the god who had one immortal or heavenly aspect and five mortal or worldly aspects. And he was the heir to the heavenly God who was the protector of the interior of the Shariah. Every one of these aspects was transmitted to the silent and speaking prophets. As a result, the heavenly gods or the supreme earthly gods were transmitted from one body to another or were reincarnated. Later in Sufism, the heir to the heavenly or supreme god was moderately changed to owliya (guardians). And even the term wali (guardian) was defined as baqa’ bellah (subsistence through God) or rabb (the Lord). From the perspective of hyperbolists, this wali, who had surpassed the exterior of the Shariah, which was for the public, was indeed God Himself and was not imagined to have any obligation and to be worried about the Heaven or Hell and even the apparent death.