STUDIES IN IBADhISM

by

Dr. Amr K. al-Nami

Open Mind

First in Open-Books Paperback 2007

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Sincere thanks are extended to Professor R.B. Sergeant for many helpful suggestions, discussions and criticism, which he constantly rendered throughout the period in which he supervised the writing of this research.

Special thanks are due to many Ibadhi friends and scholars in the Ibadhi communities of North Africa for their hospitality and unrestrained help. I am extremely grateful to the owners of private collections of Mss. for free access to their valuable libraries without which this work would have been impossible. Thanks are also due to Sheikh Muhammad al-Salimi, and Salim al-Harithi of Oman for lending me many valuable manuscripts, as well as all other friends who have helped me in one way or another.

I would also like to thank the Libyan Ministry of Education for providing me with a grant for the duration of this research, and the Faculty of Arts, University of Libya, for granting me a study leave in which to undertake this work. My thanks are also due to Pr. Omar Shaibani, the president of the Libyan Univ, Dr. Mansur Kikhya, Dean of the faculty of Arts and Mr. Abd al-Rahman al-Sharidi, head of printing and publication dep. to whom I owe the publication of this work in this excellent form.

GENERAL NOTES

"This work was originally the English part of a thesis submitted to Cambridge University in 1971 for the Ph.D. D. degree" The publication is made without any alteration. The Arabic texts of that thesis will be published separate in due course.

The translation adapted the previous work is the Middle East Center of Cambridge University. The definite article, al- is given always the small letters i.e. al-Wahab al-Shammakhi, etc., unless it is the beginning of a sentence. For the title of books, only the first letter of the title is given except when the title contains names of more than one word; i.e. the original work and a commentary, or summary of two works, i.e. al-Wad wa al-hayah.

The footnotes are given at then end of each chapter. As most of the Mss. I used for this study have not been numbered before, I numbered them in pages; therefore the references are made accordingly, except where the Mss were already numbered in folios, the reference in this case being made to folios distinguished by letters a and b. For the Qur'anic verses quoted in this work, the author used the translation of the late Professor Arberry, unless otherwise stated. The reference was made to the original text of the Qur'an, the number of the Surah, and the number of the 'Ayah and not to the translation.

For the Abbreviation of the Periodicals, the author adopted the abbreviations given in Index Islamicas (pp. xxix; - xxx; 11, xxii – iii; xxiv-xxv).

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................... 3

GENERAL NOTES....................................................................................... 4

PREFACE....................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER I ................................................................................................. 13

THE FOUNDATION OF THE IBADHIAH, AND THE IBADHI VIEWS ON THE KHARIJITES ....................................................................................... 13

"ABDULLAH B. IBADH" .................................................................................. 13

IBADHI VIEWS ON THE KHARIJITES .......................................................... 16

CHAPTER II................................................................................................ 36

JABIR B. ZAID AL-'AZDI ................................................................................ 36

CHAPTER III............................................................................................ 53

ABU 'UBAIDAH MUSLIM B. ABI KARIMAH............................................... 53

The expansion of the Ibadhiyah in North Africa ........................................... 61

The Bears of Learning (Hamalat al-'ilm) ................................................. 63

CHAPTER III............................................................................................. 71

IBADHI JURISPRUDENCE.............................................................................. 71

IBADHI CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD OF HADITH:............................ 75

AL-JAMI AL-SAHIH:................................................................................ 76

I) Al-Mudawwanah by Abu Ghanim Bishr b. Ghanim al Khurasani: ............... 79

II) Al-Diwan al-ma'rud 'ala 'Ulama' al-Ibadhiyah: .......................................... 81

III) K. Nikah al-Shighar by Abu Sa'id 'Abdullah b. 'Abd al-'Aziz: .................... 83

SOME EXAMPLES FOR THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IBADHI SCHOOL AND OTHER ISLAMIC SCHOOLS IN LEGAL AND RELIGIOUS OPINIONS:.................................................................................... 88

I) WIPING OVER SHOES AS PART OF "WUDU" ......................................... 89

II) PRAYERS (AL-SALAT) ............................................................................... 90

III) FASTING (AL-SAWM) ................................................................................ 91

IV) ZAKAT ............................................................................................... 92

V) MARRIAGE ....................................................................................... 93

VI) INHERITANCE .................................................................................. 93

VII) PENAL LAW .................................................................................... 93

CHAPTER IV............................................................................................ 102

IBADHI THEOLOGY....................................................................................... 102

The vision (al-Ru'yah) ....................................................................................... 104

The Qur'an ........................................................................................................ 114

The Imamate ..................................................................................................... 117

THE STATUS OF THE IBADHI THEOLOGY IN RELATION TO THE MAIN ISLAMIC SCHISMS.............................................................................. 118

THE SUB-DIVISIONS OF THE IBADHI SECT............................................. 122

1. Al-Wahbiyah .................................................................................... 123

AL-DIYANAT........................................................................................ 124

1. Unity: ........................................................................................................... 124

2. Justice: ..................................................................................................... 125

3. Divine decree: .......................................................................................... 125

4. The states of walayah and enmity: .......................................................... 125

5. Command and prohibition: ...................................................................... 126

6. Promise and threat: .................................................................................. 126

7. The intermediate position: ....................................................................... 127

8. No intermediate position: .....................................127

9. The names and statutes:.................................................................127

I al Nukkar..........................................................................128

II Khalafiyah........................................................................132

III al-Naffathiyah...................................................................133

IV Husainiyah and Umariyah....................................................135

V al-Sakkakiyah..................................................................137

VI al-Farthiyah.....................................................................137

IBADHI WORKS ON THEOLOGY............................................................138

CHAPTER V.......................................................................................162

THE SYSTEM OF AL-WALAYAH AND AL-BARAAH.................162

THE RULES OF AL-WALAYAH.........................................................164

THE RULES OF AL-BARRAH............................................................170

RESERVATION (AL-WUQUF)...........................................................172

THE ORIGINS OF THE SYSTEM OF AL-WALAYAH AND AL-

BARAAH.............................................................................................174

CHAPTER VI......................................................................................190

THE STAGES OF THE IBADHI COMMUNITY.................................190

Manifestations (zuhur).................................................................191

The stage of defence (difa).......................................................191

Shira, the sacrifice of one's life..................................................192

The stage of Secrecy (kitman)...................................................194

RECAPITULATION.............................................................................200

BIBLIOGRAPHY:....................................................204

LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS:.........................................................204

LIST OF ARTICLES.................................................................209

PUBLISHED WORKS...............................................................211

PREFACE

Al-Ibadhiya, or al-Ibadhiyah, is one of the earliest Islamic sects, the foundation of which goes back to the first half of the first century H. The school took its name from Abdullah b. Ibadh, one of its early theologians.

The name Ibadhiyah applies to a Muslim group, which was considered by most writers as a moderate branch of the Kharijite movement. The adherents of this school still form a number of independent communities holding fast to its teachings. The largest of this lives today in Oman and Muscat in Southeast Arabia. There are other minorities in Zanzibar of the East Coast of Africa, in Jabal Nafusah and Zuwarah in Libya, in Jerba Island in Tunisia and in Wad Mzab in Algeria.

Very little is known about the Ibadhiyah, their doctrines, origins and development. Modern European scholars have made useful contributions in the field of Ibadhi studies, but their studies were directed mainly to the history of the Ibadhi communities or some aspects of their present social and religious life. With the exception of a few articles on Ibadhi theology, Ibadhi teachings in general have not been dealt with seriously. The studies conducted by European scholars on Ibadhism were based mainly on historical sources. The vast Ibadhi writings on jurisprudence and theology were not properly utilized. This was no doubt due to the difficulty of access to such sources.

The earlier paper on Ibadhi bibliography was presented by Motylinski in his article on "Bibliographe du Mzab"^* in which he listed the Ibadhi works given by al-Barradi, adding his own notes and findings. However he does not give specific locations of the Mss. he mentions, nor does he give a satisfactory description of them with the exception of the historical works. The value of this study lies in the fact that it was the preliminary step, which facilitated subsequent researches. The latest and most useful list of Ibadhi work in Mzab was made by the late Professor J. Schacht in his article "Bibliotheque et manuscript abadites" in which he listed the extant Ibadhi Mss. in the private collections of Mzab, arranged according to their subjects, giving the names of the collections and the numbers of the Mss. The other lists of Ibadhi collections of Mss. were compiled by other modern scholars: A list of the Ibadhi Mss. in Krakow in Poland made by Wladyslaw Kubiak, in his article "al-Makhtutat al'arabiyah fi Polunia" in Majallat Ma'had al-Makhtutat al-arabiyah; a list of the Ibadhi Mss. in the Oriental Institute of Naples, made by Rubinacci, and also the description of the Ibadhi Mss. in Dar al-Kutub or Cairo, made by the late Fu'ad al-Saiyid in the Catalogue of Dar al-Kutub.

During the course of this study I made two tours to the Ibadhi communities in

North Africa in search of Mss. and material for my work. The first tour was during June - September 1968, and the second was during November - December 1969. Being myself an Ibadhi, it was easier for me to obtain access to private libraries and collections of Mss. than for non-Ibadhis. To my surprise, most of the important Maghribi works, including those which were thought to be lost, were still extant and in good condition. Moreover, there is still great hope for future discovery in this field. A description of some of the new Mss. discovered on my first tour has been published in the Journal of Semitic Studies. It is hoped that a complete list with a full description of all the Mss. I have examined will be made in the near future.

The region, which has not yet been fully explored and is no doubt a place where even more valuable Ibadhi Mss. are likely to be found, is Oman, which requires special attention from students of Ibadhi matters. I myself was unable to visit Oman, but was provided by some early works on jurisprudence and standard Sirahs of early Ibadhi authorities which were of great help in the study on the origins of the Ibadhi school and its relations to the early opposition movements in Islam.

Oman, being a major center of the Ibadhis and the Ibadhi imamate, received close attention from European scholars, an account of which has already been given by J. Wilkinson in his D. Phil. thesis on The Arab Settlement in Oman, Oxford, 1969, and which I therefore do not propose to treat here. However, what seems still to be needed as far as Oman is concerned, though it would not be easy to achieve, is the discovery of more material which would undoubtedly help in forming a clear picture of the Ibadhi school and its development in all Ibadhi areas. For, most of the early Ibadhi authorities moved from Basra to Oman, where strong Imamate was founded and which provided a more congenial atmosphere for those scholars to develop their views and contribute to other Ibadhi countries, but the original material of the Ibadhi doctrine in its early period may well be preserved in Oman, and the likelihood of making important findings there is quite feasible.

European scholars also paid close attention to the Ibadhis of North Africa. Masqueray, who translated the Sirah of Abu Zakariya al-Warijlani into French, started their studies. His work attracted the attention of other scholars who contributed to Ibadhi studies in different fields. In the field of history, Motylinski, in his article on the Ibadhi books, presented full tables of contents of the Ibadhi works on the biographies of the Ibadhi Sheikhs; the Sirah of Abu Zakariya; the Tabaqat of al-Darjini; al-Jawahir of al-Barradi, and the Siyar of al-Shamaakhi. He later edited and translated into French the history of Ibn al-Saghir al-Maliki on the Rustamid Imams. Full reviews of these Ibadhi sources appeared later. Lewicki made reviews of both Tabaqat of al-Darjini, and the

Siyar of al-Shammakhi, and Rubinacci reviewed K. al-Jawahir of al-Barradi. Lewicki, also, possessing a copy of the Siyar of al-Wisyani, published a series of articles using material from al-Wisyani and the other Ibadhi historical works. These cover a number of topics concerned with Ibadhi studies and with Ibadhi communities in their various countries, especially North Africa, their intellectual life and commercial and political activities. His studies appear to be the most satisfactory of those so far discussed despite a few minor points where he was misled mainly because of the lack of material. Brief historical accounts of the Ibadhis of North Africa were given first by Strothmann in his article "Berber und Ibaditen," then a fuller account of the Ibadhis, together with the other Kharijites in north Africa, was presented later by Chaikh Bekri in his article "Le Kharijisme Berber" The Ibadhi sources were used recently by the Italian scholars in the study of the early political conflict in Islam, notably by Vaglieri for an account of the conflict between Ali and Muaawiyah, and by Rubinacci for an account of the relation between the Ummayad Caliph 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan and the Ibadhis.

Western scholars also dealt with the Ibadhi theology in a number of articles. These appeared after Motylinski presented a French translation of the Ibadhi creed of Amr b, Jumai; i in the year 1905. Nailino afterwards wrote his notes on what he considered to be a Mu'tazili influence on Ibadhi theology. Marino followed up this line of study in his article "Note de teologia ibadita". In this field, the Polish scholar Smogorzewski wrote an article on difference between Ibadhis and Malikis based on a few lines of verse by an anonymous Ibadhi "Un poeme abadite sur certaines divergence enterlest Malikites et les Abadites". Lewicki on his part wrote an informative article on the subdivisions of the Ibadhiyah. There is also a study of the Ibadhi creed of Abu Zakariya' al-Jannnawi with an Italian translation and an examination of its relation to other Islamic sects by Rubinacci.

Ibadhi Jurisprudence has not been dealt with seriously up to the present time. A few articles have appeared in which minor aspects of this subject were treated. There is the article by Rubinacci "La purita rituale secondo gli Ibaditi" in which the presented a comparative study of the subject al-taharah, in Ibadhi and other Islamic schools. There is also an article dealing with the authorities who transmitted the Ibadhi doctrine in North Africa written by Crupi La Rosa in Italian, and based on the work of the modern scholar, 'Abdullah b Yahya al-Baruni, Sullam al-ammah wa al-mubtadi'in. In French there is the work of Goichon on "La vie feminine au Mzab", and also the work of Milliot, "Recueil de deliberations des djema'a du Mzab" in which some points of Ibadhi law were touched upon.

Few other articles were directed to the study of the Ibadhi organization of the

'Azzabah. There is the article of Lewicki on al-Halka and also the article of Rubinacci, "Un antico documento di vita cenobitica musulmana" which deal with the rules of the Halqah. There were the main works on Ibadhi studies concerned with the Maghribi Ibadhi in the European languages. Few notes are to be found where the subjects of the early sectarian movements of Islam were studied, for all European scholars include Ibadhis among the Kharijites.

As for non-Ibadhi Muslim scholars, they always regarded Ibadhis as extreme Kharijites and heretics, and did not pay any serious attention to studying Ibadhi doctrine and forming a clearer image of the Ibadhi School. It was only recently that the Ibadhi School was included among the Islamic schools represented in the new Encyclopaedias of Islamic law appearing in Egypt and Kuwait. This interesting event came about as a result of the continuous Ibadhi activities directed towards gaining better understanding from the neighbouring Muslims. These activities were started by Sulaiman Basha al-Baruni of Jabal Nafusah, who was an active Muslim politician and played a major part in the fighting against the Italian invaders of Libya in 1911. Interest of the Muslim in the Ibadhi affairs was aroused by the part which al-Baruni played together with the Ibadhis of Jabal Nafusah in the war against Italy, his firm loyalty to the Ottoman Empire and his hard struggle for the Muslim cause. He stood for better understanding between Muslims, and was one of the earliest voices to invite Muslims to forget the differences caused by conflict of opinion among the (المذاهب) original masters of their Schools.

and to return to the direct judgement of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The prestige which was established by al-Baruni in international Muslim circles through his heroic struggle against Western colonial invasion brought appreciation for the Ibadhi contribution to Islamic unity, which was the slogan of most Muslim leaders at the time, and paved the way for the Ibadhi views to be heard. In addition to Baruniyah Lithographic Press, established in Cairo before the beginning of this century, Sulaiman al-Baruni established his own printing press during the early part of this century, and issued his newspaper al-Asad al-Islami, in which he propagated his views and tried to give a clearer picture of the Ibadhis. He also published a few Ibadhi books by Omani and Maghribi authors, including his own work on Ibadhi history, al-Azhar al-riyadiyah. The late scholar Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Aftaiyish of Mzab afterwards followed the activities started by al-Baruni in Egypt. He was exiled by the French from Algeria and settled in Egypt, where he issued his journal, al-Minhaj, and participated in editing and publishing the works of the modern Ibadhi scholar Muhammad b. Yusuf Aftaiyish, and some works of the Omani scholar al-Salimi. He was, during his long stay in Egypt, an unofficial representative of the Ibadhi school, defending and propagating Ibadhi views, and he was always ready for consultation on Ibadhi studies. There can be no