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The eagerness of the early
Ibadhi authorities to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet
manifested itself in their contribution in the field of Hadith.
Ibadhis considered themselves as the true followers of the
Sunnah. The usage of the term 'Sunnis' as a definition of the
four orthodox schools of Islamic law was usually rejected by
Ibadhis on the basis that they also, if not alone, are the true
followers of the Sunnah. 27 They contributed to the field of
Hadith by preserving and recording their own collection of
Hadith. All early authorities, who founded the Ibadhi school,
were eminent Traditionalists such as Jabir b. Zaid, Abu Nuh
Salih b. Nuh al-Dahhan, and Hayyan b. al-'A'raj. Their names
are well known in the Islamic collections of Hadith, and are
regarded by the Traditionalists as 'reliable'. 28 As for the
scholars such as Abu Sufyan Mahbub b. al-Rahil, they also were
Traditionalists and were regarded by Sunni Traditionalists as
'reliable', though they were not as well known as those
mentioned previously. 29 Apart from transmitting Tradition of
the Prophet, Jabir b. Zaid participated in recording Traditions
of the Prophet by writing down Traditions from some of his
colleagues30 and allowing his students to write down Traditions
on his authority.31 Ibadhi sources repeated the information
given by Abu Zakariya' al-Warijlani, in his Siyar about the
Diwan of Jabir b. Zaid, which he had composed, and which was
available in the library of the 'Abbasid Caliph, Harun
al-Rashid.32 Hajji Khalifah also mentioned Diwan Jabir b.
Zaid,33 but he did not give any further information about the
Diwan or the source of his information about the Diwan or the
source of his information about it. As he has not mentioned any
Ibadhi sources in his book, it is possible that he derived his
information about the Diwan of Jabir from non-Ibadhi sources
unknown to us. This however, supports the Ibadhi information
about the Diwan, and creates hope for a future discovery of one
of the earliest works on Hadith. 34 In support of the assertion
that Jabir b. Zaid has recorded Traditions and other forms of
legal opinions from the Companions and some of his colleagues,
the following information should be considered, "Abu 'Amr 'Uthman
b. Khalifah al-Sufi, from Shaikh Yikhliftan b. Aiyub, from Abu
Muhammad said, 'The Diwan of Jabir was in the possession of Abu
'Ubaidah, then in the possession of al-Rabi' b. Habib, then in
the possession of Abu Sufyan Mahbub, then in the possession of
his son Mohammad b. Mahbub, from whom they (i.e. The books or
the volumes of the Diwan) were transcribed in Mecca" 35 It may
be of some value to mention here that the word Diwan is used in
many places in Ibadhi chronicles meaning a collection of books
and not a particular book. 36
Early Ibadhi sources preserved
few notes regarding the rules of narrating and recording
Traditions. Abu 'Ubaidah said, "It does not matter to change
the position of the words of the Traditions of the Prophet or of
the 'Athar by bringing them forward or putting them back if the
meaning is the same." He was asked, "What about adding or
omitting letters such as ( , ) or ( i ) if the meaning was not
affected?" He said, "I hope that it will not matter." 37
Speaking about from whom
religious knowledge ('ilm) is to be obtained, Abu 'Ubaidah said,
"It must not be learned from a heretic propagating his heresy; a
fool whose foolishness is well known; a liar, even if he is
truthful in his futya; or from him who did not distinguish his
school, (madhhab), from others." 38
It appears that knowledge of
Tradition is not necessary for scholars to teach 'ilm, which
means fiqh, i.e. knowledge of legal opinions. Abu 'Ubaidah was
asked about the person who did not memorise Traditions of the
Prophet - is he reliable (thiqah), can he teach 'ilm? He said,
"God be praised, is it that every one memorises Hadith? Nay,
knowledge is to be learnt from the reliable person even if he
does not know a single Tradition." 39
Concerning adoption of
Traditions, there are two references, the first one reported in
Masa'il Abi 'Ubaidah. He was asked whether the questioner
should follow the fatwa of the reliable person if he based it on
a Hadith narrated from a Companion. He said, "If you recognized
the truth you must follow it, otherwise you must not." He
added, "You must not submit to a man who tells of all he has
heard, but you must distinguish the reliable opinions, and ask
who has more knowledge than he has." 40 As for referring to
books for delivering legal opinions, Abu 'Ubaidah was asked
about the case when a learned man says to another man, "This is
my book, take it and transmit it, and deliver fatwas from its
contents." He said, "The man is not allowed to deliver a legal
opinion except what he has heard from the learned man, or states
that he saw in a book so and so." 41 'Abdullah b. 'Abd al-'Aziz
stated that the Traditions which were current among the
Companions and the 'Successors' must be adopted, but those which
were not well known (shawadh) must not be taken into account. 42
However, more rules concerning
hadith appeared later in the work of Abu Ya'qub al-Warijlani,
al-'Adl wa al-'insaf. Most of those rules are known in Sunni
books on 'ilm al-hadith. It is assumed that Abu Ya'qub may have
picked up some of them from his Sunni teachers in Cordova, and a
number those rules would have been handed down to him from
Ibadhi authorities of earlier times, such as Muhammad b. Mahbub,
and his father Abu Sufyan, for it is reported that their books
came into his hands. 43 It may be of some importance to mention
here the rules laid by opinions, from which legal opinions can
be delivered. The rules are that the writer should be a (waliy),
the man who dictates should be a (waliy), two 'awliya' should
inspect the dictation, and two other 'awliya' should inspect the
writing. 44 |
