المعنى الاصطلاحي :

A Shiite sect who believes that ‘Ali ibn Abu Tālib takes precedence over our Prophet, Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him.

الشرح المختصر :

"Al-‘Ilbā’iyyah" (and it is said: Al-‘Ilyā’iyyah) is a Shiite sect whose leader is Al-‘Ilbā (some said ‘Ilyā) ibn adh-Dhirā‘ ad-Dawsi or al-Asadi. They believe that ‘Ali is better than Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him. Some of them even claim that ‘Ali is the one who named Muhammad as a god and sent him to call people to worship him (‘Ali), but instead he called people to himself. They blamed Muhammad for that, hence, they were called the "Dhammiyyah" (blamers). They split into many groups. Some of them took ‘Ali and Muhammad to be gods, others gave precedence to ‘Ali, and they are called "Al-‘Ayniyyah". Others considered Muhammad and ‘Ali as gods together but gave precedence to Muhammad; and they are called "Al-Maymiyyah". Others considered "Ahl al-Kisā’", meaning Muhammad, ‘Ali, Fātimah, Al-Hasan, and Al-Husayn, to be gods and claimed that they are all sharing the same soul.

التعريف اللغوي المختصر :

"‘Ilbā’iyyah": the "Al-‘Ilbā’iyyah" sect, followers of Al-‘Ilbā ibn adh-Dhirā‘ ad-Dawsi, after whom they were named.