The Doctrine of muḫammisa according to Muslim Heresiography

Abstract

The article presents the doctrine of muẖammisa according to Muslim heresiography. The muḫammisa is one of ġulāt groups. This term is applied to groups accused of exaggeration (ġuluww) in religion and has covered a lot of groups from the early Šī‘ī circle. Muḫammisa is a current without a specific leader, it seems to have been a group of partisans having propagated a very particular idea: the divinity of five persons from ahl al-kisā’: Muḥammad, ‘Alī, Al-Ḥasan, Al-Ḥusayn and Fāṭima. The article focuses on their doctrines as presented by the heresiographers and their relation to another group, ‘alyā’iyya, who recognised ‘Alī as God and Muḥammad as his servant.