Denying the literal reality of Heaven and Hell as portrayed in the Qur’an and Hadiths and instead claiming that they were superficial falsehoods tailored for the masses dovetailed dangerously with the Ismaili claim that the exoteric reading of the revelation obscured the ‘Religion of Truth’ known only to the Ismaili Imam and taught to his elect followers. If it were accepted that the evident meaning of scripture could be set aside for an elite, inner sense on topics such as the nature of the Afterlife, the door to the Ismaili reading of scripture would be opened wide.
