Key to understanding the ways in which Fatimid apocalypticism was deployed in the construction and maintenance of empire is a discussion of some of the differences between Sunni and Shia hermeneutical methods. One of the major distinctions is that the early Shia emphasised the distinctions between the literal (ẓāhir) and hidden (bāṭin) meanings of the Quranic text. The Quran itself acknowledges that some of its verses are clear and others are equivocal:

Many Sunni interpreters place a period after ‘God’; the verse then reads, ‘But none knows its interpretation except God. And those who are firmly rooted in knowledge (al-rāsikhūn fī l- ʿilm) say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding.’ The meaning of these equivocal verses is, then, inaccessible to humans. The Shia, on the other hand, do not place any punctuation after ‘God’ so that the verse reads, ‘But none knows its interpretation except God and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge,’ the rāsikhūn fī l- ʿilm, who, according to Shia thought, are the Prophet Muḥammad and the imāms.

Multivalent Quranic interpretation became a staple of Shia hermeneutics. Fused to the presence of these equivocal verses was the necessity that those ‘firmly rooted in knowledge’ interpret them. While the development of Shia taʾwīl and tafsīr (exegesis) lies far beyond this discussion, it should be noted that in the Shia system, the meanings of equivocal verses are known only to God and His elect.

The early Ismaili system further developed this fundamental distinction between hidden and apparent meanings. The process of taʾwīl, derived from the root a/w/l, means to return to the origin, not simply the esoteric interpretation of the text, but the ḥaqīqa, or eternal truth, embedded within that bāṭin.