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I
It is reported that an
Ibadhi called al-Hassan b. 'Abd al-Rahman proposed to 'Umm 'Affan
who was an Ibadhi as her father; when her father consulted her,
she would not agree to marry him. Jabir's opinion was that she
must not be given in marriage against her wish. When a non-Ibadhi
Muslim proposed to he and she agreed to marry him, Jabir ordered
her father to give her in marriage to him. 21
II
Abu 'Ubaidah took
different attitude in a similar case. It is reported that he
shunned an Ibadhi member for giving his daughter for marriage to
a non-Ibadhi Muslim, and was very angry about it. According to
his student, Abu al-Mu'arrij, "Abu 'Ubaidah disliked the
marriage of an Ibadhi woman to a non-Ibadhi Muslim, although it
was lawful, out of fear that he may confuse her and change her
beliefs. He followed a similar attitude taken by 'Umar b. al-Khattab
when he prevented the Companions from marrying women of the
'People of the Book' out of fear that the Muslims may prefer
their beauty and neglect the Muslim women; although it is lawful
to marry the women of the People of the Book." 22 It appears
that Abu 'Ubaidah took this firm attitude to isolate Ibadhis
from the other groups of Muslims, so that they will not be
influenced by the different opinions arising at that time. The
other reason could be that Abu;'Ubaidah in his planning to
establish the Ibadhi Imamate, wanted to ensure the security of
his plans and movements, so no strangers can affect them. The
system of al-walayah wa al-bara'ah was of great importance in
this respect. 23
The
activities of Abu 'Ubaidah covered two main lines:
a)
Looking after the Ibadhi
organization.
b)
Teaching Ibadhi doctrine
to the learning students.
In his secret institution, which
was no more than a deep cave somewhere in Basrah,24 he educated
the men who played the most important part in the development
of the Ibadhi doctrine, and its political success.
Basrah was the centre of the
Ibadhi movement till the end of the second century for several
reasons:
a)
The religious leaders of
the movement lived in Basrah and carried out all their
educational activities there.
b)
In Basrah the movement
gained full support from the large number of Jabir's kinsmen of
al-'Azd, and their leading family of the Muhallabids.
c)
Basrah was one of the
intellectual Capitals of Islam forming besides Kufah the
cultural centre of the Islamic and Arabic studies.
d)
Finally, Basrah was in
the centre of the Muslim countries of Asia, a fact which made
the contacts easier between the centre of the movement in Basrah
and the other branches of Khurasan, Oman, Yemen, and Mecca.
In Basrah, the Ibadhi
organisation with the leadership of Abu 'Ubaidah and the council
of the Shaikhs, carried out the responsibility of forming the
policy of the movement and preparing learned men for missionary
work to be sent all over the Muslim countries to propagate the
Ibadhi doctrine. One of these Ibadhi missionaries of Basrah was
Salamah b. Sa'd (Sa'id) who was sent to North Africa, towards
the end of the first century and the beginning of the second
century H.25 It is reported from Imam 'Abd al-Wahhab from his
father 'Abd al-Rahman b. Rustam that he said, "The first man who
brought the Ibadhi sect to al-Maghrib, was Salamah b. Sa'd. He
came to us in Qairawan, with the company of 'Ikrimah, the client
(mawla) of Ibn 'Abbas, both riding the same camel on which they
carried their provisions; Salamah b. Sa'd was propagating
Sufrism. 'Abd al-Rahman said, 'I heard Salamah saying, 'I wish
that the Ibadhi movement manifests, even for one day from
morning to night, I would not mind if my head was cut off after
that."26 It appears that the mission of Salamah b. Sa'd in
North Africa was of three purposes:
i)
To propagate the doctrine
of the Ibadhi school.
ii)
To choose some leading
members from the visited countries and send them for training in
Basrah.
iii)
And to have a close study
of these countries and report to the Ibadhi leader in Basrah.
As a result of the journey of
Salamah b. Sa'd to North Africa, which took place about 105-107
H., the bearers of learning (Hamalat al-'ilm) were sent to
Basrah and studied with Abu 'Ubaidah for five years.27 Several
missionaries have been sent to different countries for the same
purposes as those of Salamah b. Sa'd; for there were bearers of
learning (Hamalat al-'ilm) to Yemen, Hadramawt, Khurasan, and
Oman.28
All activities of the Ibadhi movement in Basra were carried out
in secrecy, the special state known in Ibadhi doctrine as the
state of (Kitman), secrecy.29 The Umayyads' suppression against
any opposition obliged Ibadhi to carry on with their activities
in secret for safety, and this was assured by establishing
special centres (majalis) in secret places where they exercised
their religious and educational activities. |
