Shiites believed that the Prophet’s teachings were inherited by particular lines of his descendants. The esoteric knowledge of the religion and the ability to interpret infallibly the Qur’an’s layers of hidden meaning passed from father to designated son like bloodlines. Those descendants designated in succession as Imams spoke with the authority of the Prophet. Further sectarian splintering into Imami (Twelver) and Ismaili (Sevener) schools followed disagreements over which line transmitted this hidden ‘ilm.
