|
It appears that the idea of
secret centres (majalis) was founded as early as the days of
Ziyad b. Abi Sufyan, for it is reported that 'Urwah b. 'Udayyah
was caught in a sarab (under ground cave), where he was
worshipping.30 These secret retreats were used of meetings of
the members of the movement where they used to invoke God and
discuss their present situation. These kind of majalis were
mentioned by Abu Bilal Mirdas as well.31 From the given
information it appears that there were three types of majalis:
i)
Majalis of the Shaikhs,
or the leaders of the movement; in these majalis the Shaikhs
discussed the plans of the organization, and meetings in such
majalis usually took place during the night, and no young
members were allowed to attend the meetings unless they were
fully trusted. Abu Sufyan Mahbub b. al-Rahil said, "We heard
one night that a meeting was held in the house of Hajib, the
Shaikhs did not allow us to attend their meetings during the
night; I told one of the Omanis, 'Let us go to Hajib's house,
for they may allow us in.' We went to the house and were
permitted to enter. We found there al-Mukhtar b. 'Awf, and two
or three Shaikhs, Hijab ordered us to inform Balj b. 'Uqbah
about their place; so we told him. After we prayed 'Isha' they
started speaking, each one stood and spoke for some time, then
he sat down and another stood, and so on, until the light of the
morning. Al-Malih said, "Shu'aib b. 'Amr, brother-in-law of
Hajib, and one of the best Ibadhi youths, came to Hajib's house
that night; the distance between his residence and the house of
Hajib was about three miles, but Hajib refused to let him in."
32
ii)
The second type of
Majalis is majalis for all members to which they come to hear
addresses from the Shaikhs on religious subjects in general.
There was no special programme for such majalis; it depends on
the persons who were in charge of them and their abilities and
inclination. "If a person was seen with the impression of
submissiveness on his face, that would mean that he had attended
the majalis of Abu Sufyan Qunbur recently, for his majalis were
for invocation of God, recital of the Qur'an, and frightening
people of the Hell and the chastisement of God." 33 Some time
the organiser of the majalis would ask the speakers to stress on
a certain subject to bring the attention of certain members to
it. 34 A large number of these majalis were formed in Basrah
during this period. Ibadhi historians mentioned the majalis of
Abu al-Hurr 'Ali b. al-Hussain which used to be on Monday and
Thursday, 35 majalis of Abu Sufyan Qunbur, and the majalis of 'Abd
al-Malik al-Tawil. 36 Women have special rooms in these majalis
and were allowed to attend this type of majalis. 37 Some women
offered their houses to be used for the majalis. 38
iii)
The third kind of the
majalis are those which were held for regular students who
wanted to study Ibadhi doctrine, or to be trained for missionary
work. It is reported that Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah
used to teach his students in a secret cave with someone on
guard outside to inform them if he saw a stranger coming, by
moving an iron chain so Abu 'Ubaidah would stop his lecture and
carry on with making baskets; his covering work, from which he
took the title al-qaffaf (basket maker).39 Only members of the
movement were allowed to join these majalis but if they showed
any sort of deviation they were to be expelled from the
majalis.40 During the period of Jabir and Abu 'Ubaidah, members
were very careful in their activities, on some occasions they
attended their meetings wearing women's dresses or disguised as
merchants and workers so no-one of their enemies would take
notice of them.41 In the time of Ziyad and his son the houses
which were used for holding majalis were attacked on many
occasions and members were arrested, but in spite of all the
difficulties, the Ibadhi's activities at that time were carried
out mainly through the majalis.42
It appears that the idea of
majalis was transferred by Ibadhi students from Basrah to North
Africa. It is reported that Abu Khalil al-Darkali, a student o
the 'bearers of learning', told his students, "Go to the majalis,
you lazy boys, for there have been who joined them between his
country and Qabis, and between his country and Fazzan."43 It
was said that he meant himself by that. However, the majalis
were established during the stage of secrecy to ensure the
safety of the Ibadhis and they became afterwards one of the
essential requirements of the Ibadhis community during the
periods of Kitman (secrecy).
It can be said that the Ibadhi
movement with the leadership of Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim was an
intellectual religious movement, its activities in Basrah were
mainly educational. The policy of Abu 'Ubaidah was to educate
the members and teach them the Ibadhi doctrine, and to have as
many students as he could from different provinces of the Muslim
countries, in order to establish a universal Imamate over the
Muslim world.44 In order to carry out his activities in Basrah,
Abu Ubaidah disconnected himself completely from the rulers so
that he would be on the safe side. His policy in this respect
was contrary to the policy of his predecessor Jabir b. Zaid.
Abu 'Ubaidah's instructions to his followers were that they must
not have any connections with the rulers. 'Abdullah b. 'Abd
al-'Aziz a student of Abu 'Ubaidah, reported that one of the
rulers ('Ummal) said to an Ibadhi member, "Let me write down
your name in the register (diwan) and share with you your
salary; and my brother will save you the trouble of the oath
(al-bai'ah), and you take the money spontaneously." 'Abdullah
said, "I went to Abu 'Ubaidah and asked him about his opinion
concerning that offer, he said, 'Do not go to them or be near
them there is no good for you in that."45 A similar story is
reported by al-Rabi' b. Habib, another student of Abu 'Ubaidah,
who succeeded him as a leader of the Ibadhi community in Basrah.
He said, "An Ibadhi member wanted to accompany a newly appointed
ruler and to go out with him. We asked the man who ordered you
to go out with this governor? Another man said that Abu 'Ubaidah
allowed him to do so. Al-Rabi' said, "I went to Abu 'Ubaidah
and asked him if he had allowed that person to accompany the
governor," he said, 'I did not order him with anything of that
nature; it is said in the proverb: The fox said, 'I have
ninety-nine tricks, no one of them is more useful to me than
that the dog does not see me, and I do not see him.' It is the
same with the Muslim; there is nothing better for him than not
to see them (the rulers) or let them see him, by God; I am
afraid for their Mu'adhin, that he will not be safe in calling
for prayers, for them, so how about the others?"46 This firm
attitude taken by Abu 'Ubaidah towards the rulers was the main
mark of his policy, the only exception to this rule being 'Umar
b. 'Abd al-'Aziz to whom a delegation was sent on behalf of the
Ibadhi movement.47 |
