The writer of this article has presented the Qur’anic ideas of the Isma’ilian sect by the use of their principal references. He starts with examining the reasons for antagonism of some Ash’arites towards Esoterics (batinis) and then surveys the Qur’anic viewpoints of Isma’ilians. It seems they believe in the forty-day cessation of revelation and that their analysis of the revelation is rationalistic. They also consider the terms of the Qur’an as coined by the Prophet and view the stories of the unseen, and the rhetoric and the meanings of the verses as miraculous. They do not accept the literal distortion, but do accept the semantic distortion and believe the abrogation of religions by the Qur’an. In exegesis, they regard the narrative method the only acceptable exegetical method, and consider the tension among interpreters as originated from the terminology of the verses and variety of talents in different interpreters.
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