The view that there are two types of knowledge in Islam, exoteric and esoteric, was first put forward by the Shiites. While Hz. Ali was still alive, some people who gathered around him talked about the existence of an esoteric knowledge that no one else knew. However, Hz. Ali rejected these claims and stated that, apart from some meanings that he deduced from the texts with the intelligence that Allah bestowed on him, he did not have any knowledge different from what everyone else knew (see Bukhari, “Jihad,” 171; Tirmidhi, “Diyat,” 16). Despite this, the Shiites maintained their belief that Hz. Ali, whom they recognized as the sole legitimate Caliph after the Hz. Prophet, had esoteric knowledge that no one else knew and that he was the “gate of the city of knowledge,” and they narrated some sayings that they claimed belonged to him. In one of these sayings, some of which have entered Sunni sources, Hz. Ali showed his chest and said, “This place is full of knowledge,” and in another statement, “Ask me about what you do not know before I leave you.”

Abu Mansur al-Ijli, one of the extreme Shiites, claimed that Allah sent down the Sunnah to the Prophet Muhammad and sent down the interpretation to him, and explained the Sunnah as the apparent knowledge and the interpretation as the hidden knowledge. Jabir b. Hayyan, who was considered one of the students of Ja’far al-Sadiq and who was claimed to know the hidden knowledge, defined this knowledge as “knowing the reasons for the establishment of laws and the special purposes that are in accordance with divine minds,” and with this explanation he pointed to philosophical knowledge.

Hz. After Ali, it is believed that the knowledge of the esoteric was passed down to Imams such as Muhammad Baqir and Ja'far al-Sadiq, and since they are not at the level of understanding and grasping this knowledge, it was not deemed appropriate to disclose it to the public. Because the public will not be able to grasp the esoteric meanings, they will reject what is said on this subject and therefore commit sins. According to a saying attributed to Hazrat Ali, the Prophet taught him seventy different kinds of knowledge, but he did not disclose them because he was afraid that the public would accuse him of lying. It is narrated that Imams such as Zayn al-Abidin and Ja'far al-Sadiq could not disclose the esoteric knowledge they possessed because they were afraid that they would be accused of idolatry and executed. It is also believed that the knowledge of al-Jafr, which Ja'far al-Sadiq is alleged to have known, is an esoteric knowledge (Kulayni, I, 240-241).

Such narrations hold an important place in Shia belief. The Shiites believe that this knowledge was transmitted to them through innocent Imams. Although there are similarities between them, there is a great difference between the esoteric knowledge of the Ja'fariyya and the Ismailiyya. The understanding of esoteric knowledge in the Ja'fariyya and Zaydiyya schools has never reached the point of invalidating religious obligations, as it has in the Ismaili school.

While the Shia's understanding of esoteric knowledge is limited to the subject of imamate and politics rather than religious rules, in Sufi thought the subject is addressed in a completely different context outside of these two areas.

Sufis divide religious sciences into two, one exoteric and the other esoteric; they call sciences such as hadith, jurisprudence and theology exoteric sciences, and Sufism esoteric science. They call those who deal with exoteric sciences esoteric scholars, rusuum scholars and people of exoteric, and themselves esoteric scholars and people of esoteric. According to the Sufis, the knowledge of the esoteric, which reveals the hidden meanings in the texts, the spiritual and moral essence of worship, and the secrets behind existence and events, is hidden and it is not permissible to reveal it to the public. Because the public either cannot understand this high knowledge and the subtle meanings in it or they misunderstand it. For this reason, the knowledge of the esoteric is taught only to those who are intelligent, talented, willing and whose hearts are open. In the beginning, the knowledge of the esoteric was only mentioned by means of signs and this knowledge was not expressed openly. The first Sufi to explain the knowledge of the esoteric by words rather than signs was Zunnūn al-Misri (d. 245/859). However, he only explained this knowledge to those who believed in him. Junayd al-Baghdadi taught this knowledge in vaults and behind closed doors. It is said that the first Sufi to openly mention the science of the hidden in the history of Sufism was Shibli (Jami, p. 33). However, the science of the hidden has always been taught secretly to a large extent, and this understanding has continued in the orders.

According to the Sufis, the science of the hidden is not a science separate from Islam and outside of it. This science essentially consists of the deep and subtle meanings of the texts and was taught by the Prophet to some of his companions. In fact, it is narrated that he entrusted some secrets to his confidant (sahibu sirri’n-nabi) Huzeyfe b. Yaman, and that Abu Hurayrah said, “I learned two sciences from the Prophet; I spread one and kept the other secret. If I had spread that one, they would have cut off my head” (Bukhari, “Ilm”, 42). It is said that the knowledge of Ibn Abbas, whom the Prophet prayed for to become a religious scholar, is also an esoteric knowledge.

Junayd al-Baghdadi says that the “ilmi ladun” (see al-Kahf 18/65) that Hz. Musa learned from Khidr and the esoteric knowledge that Hz. Ali knew are the same thing. According to Sarraj, the Quran, hadith and Islam also have an esoteric and an esoteric. In a broad sense, the knowledge of sharia includes both of these. Indeed, according to the Sufis, this issue is indicated in the verse, “Allah has given you abundant blessings, both exoteric and innate” (Luqman 31/20). The “Islam” mentioned in the hadith of Gabriel is exoteric, and “faith” is esoteric; “ihsan” is the unity of the apparent and hidden realities (Sarraj, p. 22).

Sufis agree on the importance and value of the science of the esoteric, which they explain with signs and symbols among the people of the esoteric, but sometimes talk about openly among themselves. The superiority of the science of the esoteric was also emphasized in the first Sufi works. Ghazali regards the science of the esoteric as the shell (kishr) and the science of the esoteric as the essence (lub). The science of the esoteric is the knowledge of the path, while the science of the esoteric is the knowledge of the destination. Sufis say that the science of the esoteric is acquired through education and training, while the science of the esoteric is acquired through mystical intuition (kashf). In this way, the knowledge received from Allah directly through inspiration and kashf, such as the knowledge that comes from the Prophet through a certain chain or that is extracted from the texts through a special means, is called the science of the esoteric. Indeed, Ibn al-Arabi stated this when he said, “The saints receive their knowledge from the same source as the angel who brought the revelation to the prophet” (Fuṣûṣ, p. 54). He means the science of the esoteric with the word “wisdom” that he puts at the beginning of each section in Fuṣûṣ al-ḥikem. Ghazali divides the science of the esoteric into two: the science of dealing and the science of interacting. Although he explains the former in detail in his works, he states that it is not permissible to write the latter in books and disclose it (Iḥyâʾ, I, 20-23). ​​

The works of al-Lumaʿ by Sarraj and Ḳūtu’l-ḳulûb by Abu Talib al-Makki are important sources on the science of the esoteric. However, the most successful explanations regarding the science of the inner are found in Ghazali’s Ihya’u ʿulûmi’d-din. Ghazali states that all worships such as prayer, fasting, almsgiving, pilgrimage and Quran recitation have an outer and an inner aspect, and makes binary distinctions such as outer action-inner action, outer rule-inner rule, outer manners-inner manners, outer cleanliness-inner cleanliness. For example, according to him, the outer meaning of ruku is to bow, and its inner meaning is to show respect. Since the outer meaning is like the body and the inner meaning is like the soul, worships that do not have an inner aspect are considered lifeless.

Sufis who talk about the apparent and hidden aspects of the Quran, hadiths and knowledge state that the Prophet Muhammad also has an apparent and hidden aspect, that everyone, unbelievers and believers, knows his apparent aspect, and that only believers and saints can understand his hidden aspect. As indicated in the verse, “They look at you but do not see you” (al-A’raf 7/198), the reason why unbelievers look but cannot see is his hidden aspect.

The issue of whether there is a contradiction between the apparent and the hidden has been discussed with great importance. After the legitimacy of a hidden and hidden knowledge was accepted, people with different opinions on this subject, sometimes expressing their own beliefs and thoughts in words such as “shathiyyât”, even reaching extremes, have resorted to presenting their own beliefs and thoughts as the hidden knowledge. However, such excesses have been rejected by all exoteric scholars and many Sufis as being contrary to the exoteric rules and fundamental principles of Islam. Indeed, many Sufis such as Abu Said al-Kharraz, Hujwiri, Ghazali, Suhrawardi have adopted the rule that “every esoteric knowledge that contradicts the exoteric is false.” However, according to Ghazali, who accepts that there may be a contradiction between these two sciences, even if only in appearance, as in the knowledge of the Prophet Moses and Khidr (see al-Kahf 18/65), only saints and wise men can know the truth of this knowledge and some secrets about fate and the soul that are not revealed to the public. The metaphorical meanings of the texts are also considered esoteric meanings. Just as there is a difference between knowing something and learning it by living it, there can also be a difference between the apparent and the hidden. Expressing through verbal language what is said through the language of the situation also leads to ambiguity.

The fact that the harmony and consistency between the science of the apparent and the science of the hidden has not always been sufficiently clearly demonstrated has led, on the one hand, to Sufis such as Sulemi, Ghazali and Ibn al-Arabi being accused of being Batiniyya, and on the other hand, to the influences coming from various external sources, especially Batiniyya, Shiism, Ikhwan as-Safa and Neoplatonism, easily taking hold in the Islamic environment under the name of “the science of the hidden” and “the inner meaning of the texts”.

The difference between the inner understanding of Ismailiyya and Ta‘limiyya and the inner meaning in Sufism is as follows: According to Ismailiyya, there are also outer and inner meanings of the texts; however, the inner meaning is the one that is truly valid; the apparent is only for the common people and the apparent. Ismailis do not consider themselves responsible and liable for apparent meanings and religious rulings based on them. In contrast, Sufis accept both the apparent and the hidden meanings of the texts as valid. According to them, the apparent meaning is “truth” and the hidden meaning is “reality”. For this reason, it is necessary to act according to both meanings.

The existence of the knowledge of the hidden was mostly accepted by the scholars of the hidden after Ghazali and under his influence. However, theologians accept the revelation and inspiration that came to the prophets, which they considered within the context of the true news with the mind and the five senses, as the source of knowledge. Later period theologians such as Ghazali, Razi, and Amidi accepted the information expressed by Sufis with terms such as discovery, inspiration, and esoteric knowledge as a source of information, but they took their conformity with the Book and the Sunnah as a basis in order to distinguish such subjective information from illusions and delusions. This view of the theologians is actually nothing more than a different expression of the Sufi principle that “everything that contradicts the apparent is false”, as mentioned above. Teftazani’s statement, “Even if knowledge is obtained through inspiration, this knowledge does not constitute evidence for everyone” can be considered a summary of the common views of the theologians on this subject.

Ibn al-Jawzi, who mentions a hadith that means “The knowledge of the esoteric is a secret from Allah’s secrets and a rule from His rules. Allah pours this knowledge into the hearts of whomever He wills of His saints” and says that this is a fabrication, criticizes other narrations about the knowledge of the esoteric, but ultimately accepts that inspiration is possible. Ibn Taymiyyah says that the knowledge of the esoteric means “knowing the hidden truths of faith”. The same author, who uses the word “mulhid” (see Majmuʿu fatāwā, XI, 221-227) for some Sufis, such as Ibn al-Arabi, who claim that the knowledge of the esoteric is the knowledge they receive directly from Allah, also accused Ghazali of equating the secret knowledge of the Sufis with revelation, citing his views in Mishkat al-Anwar as evidence.

Sunni Sufis such as Harith al-Muhasibi, Kalabazi, Qushayri, Hujwiri and Ghazali accepted the knowledge of the esoteric within the framework of the Quran and hadith, and they understood this as deepening the meanings of the texts.

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