Khaṭṭābiyya was the name of a Ghali sect founded by Abu l-Khattab in Kufa. Abu l-Khattab claimed that Ja'far al-Sadiq, the 6th Imam of Shias, chose him as deputy and legatee (waṣī) and taught him the Greatest Name of God (Al-Ism al-A'zam). He was among the companions of al-Sadiq first, but then around 748 was rejected and cursed by him for his extremist ideas. The tension between Abu l-Khattab and al-Sadiq caused Abu l-Khattab's followers to split into several smaller sects.^[1][2]

Khattabiyyas were known for their beliefs about the divinity of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, his household, and certain other persons.^[3] According to Sa'ad Ash'ari and Kashshi, the first Khattabis considered al-Sadiq as God and considered Abu l-Khattab as a prophet who was sent by al-Sadiq. Ash'ari Writes that Khattabiyas, headed by Abu l-Khattab, believed that there should be two messengers at any time and the earth should not be empty of them: one is talker and the other is silent, according which in the beginning, Muhammad was talker and during his time Ali was silent. Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi also said that Khattabiyya had this belief about all twelve Imams, and that during al-Sadiq's time, they considered him the talker and Abu l-Khattab as silent, and they believed that after Imam Sadiq, Abu l-Khattab was the talker.^[4]