Гұлаттар: Шиа исламының ерте тармағы

Branch of early Shi'i Islam
The ghulāt (غُلَاة) were a branch of early Shiʿa. The term mainly refers to a wide variety of extinct Shiʿi sects active in 8th and 9th century Kufa in Lower Mesopotamia, and who despite their sometimes significant differences shared several common ideas. These common ideas included the attribution of a divine nature to the Imams, metempsychosis (the belief that souls can migrate between different human and non human bodies), a particular gnostic creation myth involving pre existent 'shadows' (aẓilla) whose fall from grace produced the material world, and an emphasis on secrecy and dissociation from outsiders. They were named ghulāt by other Shiʿi and Sunni Muslims for their purportedly "exaggerated" veneration of Muhammad (c. 570–632) and his family, most notably Ali (c. 600–661) and his descendants, the Imams. The ideas of the ghulāt have at times been compared to those of the late antique gnostics, but the extent of this similarity has also been questioned. Some ghulāt ideas, such as the notion of the Occultation (ghayba) and return ([[Raj'a) of the Imam, have been influential in the development of Twelver Shi'ism. Later Ismaʿili Shiʿi authors such as Ja'far ibn Mansur al Yaman (died c. 957) and Abu Ya'qub al Sijistani (died after 971) also adapted ghulāt ideas to reformulate their own doctrines. The only ghulāt sect still in existence today are the Alawites, historically known as 'Nusayris' after their founder Ibn Nusayr (died after 868). A relatively large number of ghulāt writings have survived to this day. Previously, only some works preserved in Ismaʿilism were available to scholars such as the Umm al Kitāb "Mother of the Book", which was published in 1936 (8th–11th centuries), the Kitāb al Haft wal aẓilla "Book of the Seven and the Shadows" published in 1960 (8th–11th centuries), and the Kitāb al Ṣirāṭ "Book of the Path" published in 1995 (c. 874–941). However, between 2006 and 2013 numerous ghulāt texts that have been preserved in the Alawite tradition were published in the Alawite Heritage Series.

Like Shi'i Islam itself, the origins of the ghulāt lie in the pro Alid movements of the late 7th century that fought against the Umayyad Caliphate to bring one of Ali's descendants to power. The earliest attested use of the term ghulāt is found in several reports about the followers of Mukhtar al Thaqafi, leader of a revolt against the Umayyads on behalf of Ali's son Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyya, which was part of the Second Fitna, 680–692. According to these reports, some of al Thaqafi's followers organized regular meetings in the houses of various Kufan women to listen to diviners (كُهَّان⁩) prophesying about future events. The followers who attended these meetings were denounced as ghulāt by other followers of al Thaqafi. The Arabic verb ghalā, 'to exaggerate', 'to transgress the proper bounds', was in broader use at the time to denounce perceived 'un Islamic' activities, which may include soothsaying (kahāna). But the use of the term here could hardly have been in reference this, since al Thaqafi himself often practiced soothsaying, and was respected for this by all of his followers. Rather, the reason for the use of the term ghulāt for this subgroup of al Thaqafi's followers may be more specifically related to the Quranic use of the word ghalā ('exaggerate'). It occurs in the Quran twice, in surahs an Nisa (4:171) and al Ma'idah (5:77), as follows (occurrence of the word ghalā underlined):

5:72. They certainly disbelieve, those who say, “Truly God is the Messiah, son of Mary.” [ ] 73. They certainly disbelieve, those who say, “Truly God is the third of three,” while there is no god save the one God. [ ] 5:75. The Messiah, son of Mary, was naught but a messenger—messengers have passed away before him. And his mother was truthful. Both of them ate food. [ ] 76. Say, “Do you worship, apart from God, that which has no power to benefit or harm you, when it is God Who is the Hearing, the Knowing?” 77. Say, “O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion beyond the truth, and follow not the caprices of a people who went astray before, and led many astray, and strayed from the right way.”

The "People of the Book" mentioned here refers to Christians, who are castigated for ascribing a divine status to the prophet Jesus. He was not a "child" of God, but "only a messenger" who like all normal human beings "ate food". The Christian claim that "God is the Messiah, son of Mary" is characterized in 5:72 and other verses as 'disbelief', as is the claim that "God is the third of three" (a reference to the Trinity, in which Jesus is believed to be consubstantial with the Godhead). The Quranic concept of 'exaggeration' in both cases refers to 'exaggerating' the status of a prophet as being more than human. It seems probable that the followers of al Thaqafi who gathered in the Kufan houses were likewise denounced by their colleagues for having exaggerated the status not of Jesus, but of Ali. There had been an earlier movement in Kufa called the Sabāʾiyya, named after the South Arabian Jewish convert Abd Allah ibn Saba', who according to some reports had insisted that Ali was not dead and would return (rajʿa) to seek revenge upon those that opposed him. Since remnants of the Sabāʾiyya still existed in the time of al Thaqafi, and since one of the Kufan women at whose house the group denounced as ghulāt gathered belonged to the Sabāʾiyya, it may well be that this group also belonged to the Sabāʾiyya. After Mukhtar al Thaqafi died in 687, his movement sometimes came to be referred to as the Sabāʾiyya, and when Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyya, the Alid whom al Thaqafi's movement had supported, also died in 700, his followers, the [[Kaysaniyya, claimed that ibn al Hanafiyya had gone into hiding (ghayba), and that he would return before the Day of Judgment as the Mahdi to establish a state of righteousness and justice. It thus appears that in its earliest usage, the term ghulāt referred to those Shi'a who taught the dual doctrine of the Occultation (ghayba) and return (rajʿa) of the Imam, which other Muslims perceived as an 'exaggerated' view of the Imam's status. Later sources would also attribute to these earliest ghulāt some of the ideas for which the later ghulāt would become known, most notably the outright divinization of Ali, but there is no good evidence that this was the case. Rather, the 8th /9th century need to attribute these ideas to the earliest ghulāt probably arose from the fact that, while groups like the Sabāʾiyya had traditionally been known as ghulāt, their actual core ideas of occultation and return had become standard tenets of Twelver and Isma'ili Shi'ism, and so other ideas needed to be ascribed to them to justify the ghulāt label. Nevertheless, the later ghulāt did probably originate from these early groups, and some glimpses of later ideas may sometimes be found, for example the belief in metempsychosis, which was attributed to early 7th century ghulāt leaders such as the women Hind bint al Mutakallifa or Layla bint Qumama al Muzaniyya. One important difference with the later groups is the prominent role played by women, who organized the early ghulāt meetings in their houses and who often acted as teachers, upholding a circle of disciples. This stands in stark contrast to the ideas of the later ghulāt, who ranked women between the status of animals and men in their spiritual hierarchy.

Bayan ibn Sam'an (died 737) was the leader of a ghulāt sect called the Bayāniyya.

Al Mughira ibn Sa'id (died 737), leader of a ghulāt sect called the Mughīriyya, was an adept of the fifth Imam Muhammad al Baqir (677–732).

Abu Mansur al Ijli (died c. 738–744) was the leader of a ghulāt sect called the Manṣūriyya who was killed by the Umayyad governor Yusuf ibn Umar al Thaqafi.

Abd Allah ibn Harb (died 748–9) was the leader of a ghulāt sect called the Janāḥiyya who was killed by the Abbasid activist Abu Muslim al Khurasani.

Abu al Khattab al Asadi (died 755) was the leader of a ghulāt sect called the Khaṭṭābiyya who was killed by the Abbasid governor Isa ibn Musa. For a time, he was the designated spokesman of the sixth Imam Ja'far al Sadiq (c. 700–765), but Ja'far repudiated him in c. 748.

Al Mufaddal ibn Umar al Ju'fi (died before 799) was a close confidant of Ja'far al Sadiq and his son Musa al Kazim (died 799) who for some time was a follower of Abu al Khattab. Imami heresiographers regarded him as the leader of a ghulāt sect called the Mufaḍḍaliyya, but it not certain whether this sect ever existed. A number of important ghulāt writings were attributed to him by later authors (see below).

Ibn Nusayr (died after 868) and al Khasibi (died 969) were the two most important figures in the founding of Nusayrism (called Alawism in the contemporary context), the only ghulāt sect that still exists today.