Writing the history of the early ‘ghulat’ – those Shi’is who for their ‘extreme’ views on God and the Imams came to be called ‘extremists’ – presents two chief obstacles. One is the polemical and skewed nature of outsider accounts, the other is the extreme paucity of original works written by the ‘ghulat’ themselves. Today, however, the second obstacle can partly be remedied, as a number of quotations from original ‘ghulat’ texts has come to light through the publication of a collection of Nusayri sources. These quotations – both, completely unknown or known by their titles only, provide an invaluable window into the literature of the early ghulat, into their religious worldview, and into their social history. This paper studies the history of the early ‘ghulat’ by looking at the convoluted fates of two such texts, a certain ‘Kitab al-azilla’ (‘The Book of Shadows’), and a ‘Kitab al-kursi’ (The Book of the Throne’). Written in the ‘ghulat’ milieu of 8th-9th centuries Iraq, they have partially survived in six different texts by 10th-11th century Syrian Nusayri authors, and partly in the famous ‘Kitab al-Haft’ (the best-known ‘ghulat’ work). They also contain a one-page-long overlap, borrowed from one text into the other and presented by its author as its integral part. Beyond reconstructing the content of ‘Kitab al-azilla’ and ‘Kitab al-kursi,’ and beyond unearthing the religious ideas found in them, this paper studies the history of the early ‘ghulat’ by following the fates of these two treatises. Having emerged in 8th century Kufa, and having initially peacefully coexisted with other fractions within Shi’ism, the ‘ghulat’ were gradually demonized and pushed underground, and in the 10th century their successors the Nusayris were transplanted by their leaders to a safer Syria. These two works likewise are a product of the 8th century ‘ghulat’ milieu, suppressed in Imami literature, and preserved by the Syrian Nusayris. By following in the footsteps of these two books, I hope to present a micro-historical picture of the ‘ghulat’ community between 8th century Iraq and 11th century Syria.