التَّأوِيلُ الإِسمَاعِيلِيُّ لِلضَّلَال — الضَّلَالُ وَالاِنحِرَافُ: كَيفَ تُقرَأُ 'وَلَا الضَّالِّين' [الفَاتِحَة: 7] وَجَذرُ [ض-ل-ل] [أَن تَضِلَّ الطَّرِيق] وَالتَّعَارُضُ القُرآنِيُّ بَينَ الهُدَى وَالضَّلَالِ فِي التَّأوِيلِ الإِسمَاعِيلِيِّ بِوَصفِهِ الضَّيَاعَ البُنيَوِيَّ النَّاجِمَ عَن قَطعِ الصِّلَةِ بِوَلَايَةِ الإِمَام
In Ismaili ta'wil, al-Dalal (الضَّلَال — Misguidance, Going Astray; from *d-l-l*: to be lost, to lose the way, to wander without direction; daall/daalla = one who is lost, one who has strayed; the Arabic root is concrete: originally a desert traveler who has lost their path and wanders without landmarks; the Quran uses *dalal* extensively: 1:7 'sirat alladhina an'amta 'alayhim ghayri al-maghdubi 'alayhim wa-la al-dallin' [the path of those You have blessed — not those who incur anger, and not those who go astray]; the contrast in 1:7: three groups: [1] al-mun'am 'alayhim [those blessed — the Imams and those in walayah with them]; [2] al-maghdub 'alayhim [those who incur anger — those who know the truth and actively reject it; identified in classical exegesis with Jews who rejected Jesus; in Ismaili ta'wil with those who reject walayah knowingly]; [3] al-dallin [those who go astray — those who do not know the truth because they lack the Imam's guidance; identified in classical exegesis with Christians who lost their way; in Ismaili ta'wil with those who practice zahiri religion without ta'wil]; other key verses: [1] 2:198 'wa-in kuntum min qablihi la-mina al-dallin' [and before this you were among those who went astray]; [2] 93:7 'wa-wajadaka dallan fa-hada' [He found you wandering — fa-hada: so He guided]; the Prophet's own pre-prophetic state is described as dalal from which God guided him; [3] 37:69 'innahum alfu aba'ahum dallin' [they found their fathers going astray]; inherited misguidance; the dhulm-dalal connection: in Ismaili ta'wil, the root of dalal is *dhulm* [misplacement/oppression]; dhulm means putting something in the wrong place; dalal is the consequence: once the one who should be in the position of guidance [the Imam] is displaced, all who should be following guidance are structurally lost; the displacement of the Imam [ghasb, usurpation] creates communal dalal; Ismaili ta'wil of al-dalal: [1] dalal as structural dislocation: unlike the moral reading [dalal = sinful behavior], the Ismaili ta'wil reads dalal as structural: it is the condition of one who lacks the Imam's walayah; just as a desert traveler without landmarks cannot find the way regardless of their moral intentions, the person without walayah cannot achieve guidance regardless of their zahiri piety; [2] the al-dallin of 1:7: in Ismaili ta'wil, al-dallin are not necessarily immoral; they may be sincere zahiri practitioners of religion; but without ta'wil and walayah, their sincerity is like the sincerity of the lost traveler — genuine, but structurally unable to reach the destination; [3] 93:7 wa-wajadaka dallan: the Prophet's pre-prophetic state as dalal reveals that dalal precedes guidance even for the most elevated; the divine guidance [fa-hada] is the cosmological act by which the Imam and prophets are drawn into connection with divine reality; [4] inherited misguidance and the da'wa's task: 37:69 'they found their fathers going astray' points to the communal dimension of dalal; generations can be lost not because of active sin but because of accumulated disconnection from the walayah-chain; the Ismaili da'wa's task is precisely to reconnect individuals to the walayah-chain and dissolve inherited dalal; [5] guidance [huda] as the positive pole: dalal and huda are structural opposites; huda is not moral improvement but cosmological reorientation toward the Imam; the mu'min who enters walayah is not merely 'guided' in a moral sense but reconnected to the cosmic orientation that is the Imam's batin) is the Ismaili cosmological understanding of spiritual lostness.
Lost in the Desert
The Arabic root d-l-l is concrete before it is metaphorical. The desert traveler who loses their landmarks wanders without direction — not because they are immoral but because they have lost orientation. The Quran’s al-dallin (those who go astray) carries this spatial, navigational meaning: people who cannot find the way.
In al-Fatiha — the most recited text in Islamic devotion, repeated seventeen times daily in prayer — the community asks for “the path of those You have blessed” and distinguishes this from the path of two other groups: those who incur divine anger, and those who go astray (al-dallin). The daily repetition makes this distinction foundational: guidance is the specific path, and there are two ways to miss it.
Dalal as Structural Dislocation
Ismaili ta’wil reads dalal primarily as structural rather than moral. The dall (one who is astray) may be sincere, devout, and zahiri-observant. Their condition is not defined by wickedness but by disconnection: they lack the Imam’s walayah and thus lack the orientation that walayah provides.
This is a significant move. The zahiri tradition reads al-dallin primarily as those who err through bad theology or practice. The Ismaili ta’wil reads them as those whose sincerity operates in the zahir without batin access — the equivalent of a sincere traveler walking with great determination in the wrong direction. The effort is genuine; the orientation is lost.
The root of dalal is dhulm (misplacement, displacement): when the one who should hold the position of guidance — the Imam — is displaced, structural dalal follows for all who should be following that guidance. The usurpation of the imamate (ghasb) does not harm only the Imam; it generates communal dalal that is transmitted across generations.
The Prophet’s Own Dalal
93:7 — “and He found you wandering (dallan) and guided you” — applies the term to the Prophet Muhammad’s own pre-prophetic state. This is theologically significant: dalal is not a condemnation but a description of the condition before guidance. Even the most elevated human being begins in dalal until divine guidance orients them. The Ismaili ta’wil reads this as revealing the structure: everyone begins without walayah; walayah is the divine gift of orientation, not the reward for prior virtue.
See also: Bayah And Walayah, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Fatiha, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Nifaq, Tawil Esoteric Interpretation, Ismaili Tawil Of Al Mumin