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 of 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 Unv, 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 folics, 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).

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 a 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 complied 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 or 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-Jannawni 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 Ibadhis 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 Atfaiyish 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 Atfaiyish, 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 doubt that his contribution towards presenting a clearer view of the Ibadhi School was of great importance. This is much in evidence in his magazine, al-Minhaj; in his notes on the works he edited and in his notes on the parts of E.I. translated into Arabic, in which he tried to correct euphonious views on the Ibadhiyah.

Similar activities took place in Tunisia and Algeria through the leaders of Hizb al-Islah of Mzab who joined in the activities of al-Hizb al-Dusturi of 'Abd al-Aziz al-Th'alibi. Among the leading Ibadhi personalities who played an important part in Tunisia were the late Muhammad al-Thamini, originally from Mzab, who established a Bookshop in Tunis, and participated in publishing and circulating Ibadhi literature, and the late Sheikh Sulaiman al-Jadawi of Jerba, who was the editor of the well-known paper, Murshid al-'Ummah. The leading figures of the parallel activities in Algeria were Abu al-Yaqzan Ibrahim, who issued about eight different newspaper during the French rule, and Sheikh Baiyud Ibrahim B. 'Umar who is responsible for the modern reformist movement in Mzab, and it schools and institutions. Both men were active members of Jam'iyat al-'Ulama and personal friends of the leading Sunni scholars of the Jam'iyah. They were all sincere in their aim of seeking better understanding with the neighbouring Sunnis. This movement, which was largely inspired by al-Baruni and his approach, relaxed the bitter attitude of opposition to the Ibadhis in their different communities, and provided a better atmosphere for the Ibadhis to present their views in a moderate way. The latest contribution in this field has been made by 'Ali Mua'ammar of Jabal Nafusah, Libya, who recently published a number of volumes under the title, al-Ibadhiya fi mawkib al-tarikh, planning to present a general study of the Ibadhis in their various countries. He also published other works dealing with legal and religious matters. The other scholar is Muhammad 'Ali Dabbuz of al-Qararah, Mzab, who undertook to rewrite the history of the Maghrib from the Ibadhi point of view. Up till now he has published seven volumes he dealt with the early history of the Maghrib. The other volumes were devoted to study of modern Algeria, Thawrat al-Jazair wa nahdatuha al-mubarakah. Both authors were students of Sheikh Baiyud and were largely influenced by his reformist views. Their works argue persuasively and vigorously with Muslims that they should return to the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and leave aside the causes of division resulting from following opinions of later scholars affected by political differences. This was the Ibadhi contribution to the modern Islamic attempt to restore the original Islam of the Book and the Sunnah. This was the Ibadhi contribution to the modern Islamic attempt to restore the original Islam of the Book and the Sunnah. This trend which was propagated by Muhammad 'Abduh and his student Rashid Rida, and followed up by the activities of their students, brought to Ibadhis new hope for better understanding. First it seemed to them that at last their Muslim adversaries had started to realise what they (Ibadhis) had stood for from the beginning. The Ibadhis took part in this movement throughout the political struggle for national independence in their different countries, and stood side by side with their Sunni neighbours against the invading powers. They tried always to present their views and doctrines, to clear away the old misunderstanding and release themselves from the traditional isolation in which they always lived with regard to their Muslim neighbours. The Ibadhi contribution to the Ibadhi studies branched into two directions:

a) Providing their own literature by edition and publishing old Ibadhi works, and adding new contributions, in new writings to meet with the present requirements.

b) Presenting a clearer picture of their views and history in order to gain better understanding from non-Ibadhi Muslims.

As for non-Ibadhi Muslims, there is no serious attempt yet on their side to study Ibadhism deeply through its own sources. However, signs of such attention to Ibadhi studies have started to appear in modern universities through contemporary scholars who were no doubt directed towards Ibadhi studies through the interest and contribution of the European scholars. Cairo University, where an Ibadhi student Muhammad Hanbulah under the supervision of Muhammad Sallam Madhkur is undertaking a comparative study of the laws of ownership in Ibadhi law and modern canon law in Libya, is taking the lead in this direction. There is no doubt that the originality of the subject and the possibilities it offers for new lines of research will encourage more studies in the future.

The object of the present study is to provide a clearer picture of the Ibadhi School based on original but newly discovered Ibadhi material. Although in area this study is concerned with Ibadhism in North Africa, it was essential to study the origins of the Ibadhi movement and its early founders in Basrah, its relation to the Kharijite movement, its connection with the early events of Islamic history and political development, the effect these (two latter) had on the Ibadhi school with regard to its theological and juridical views, then its expansion into North Africa. It is also aimed to present a clear view of Ibadhi jurisprudence and theology; the points of agreement and disagreement with the contemporary opposition movements and schools of law, and some distinguishing features of the Ibadhi doctrine, namely the system of 'Walaya' and 'Bara’ah', and the stages of the Ibadhi community. Three Ibadhi texts were edited as part of this thesis to provide samples of Ibadhi literature covering the fields of theology, jurisprudence, and the subject of Walaya and Bara’ah which falls into both fields1.

The present study is so far the first to be based on a large new