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Professor Schacht mentioned the
fact that "the variants of Muhammadan law which are recognised
by the ancient sects of Islam, the Kharijis and the Shiites, do
not differ from the doctrine of the Orthodox or Sunni schools of
law more widely than these differ from one another."115
He also noticed that "the
consequence of the ancient Khariji tenets was obviously never
part of a legal system recognised by the Ibadhis...." He
further added, "Whereas the political history of the Ibadhis
goes back to the middle of the first century H., their law was
derived from the orthodox schools at a much alter date."117
The latter conclusion was
undoubtedly a hasty one. The Ibadhis did not adopt the ancient
Khariji doctrine because they developed their own doctrine
removed from the Khariji groups who split from the same origin
of the old Muhakkimah party. They (the Ibadhis) also did not
derive their law from the orthodox Sunni schools because their
law was established before the Sunni school came into existence.
When Jabir bin Zaid, the founder of the Ibadhi school died Malik
bin Anas was about three years of age,118 and Abu Hanifah, the
Master of the Hanafi school, was about 12 years of age.119 As
for the similarity of opinions of all Islamic schools, this is
due to the same origins from which they all derived their legal
systems; Qur'an, Sunnah, and ijma.
When speaking about the
sectarian legal system, Coulson pointed out that the Kharijite
law is a cohesive system with its own spirit and character.120
He also followed Schacht's view concerning the variants between
the Ibadhi and Sunnite legal systems, stating that "the great
bulk of the Khariji law (this including Ibadhis) - and certainly
its basic tenets - can find adequate authority among the Sunni
jurists.'121
As the Ibadhis have derived
their legal system from the same sources as other schools, i.e.
Qur’an, Sunnah, and ijma, and have used almost the same methods
of juristic speculation in formulating opinions which were not
dealt with in the previous sources, the differences which
appeared between their legal system and those of other Islamic
schools were limited to Furud. The difference occurred in cases
where Ibadhis possessed Traditions narrated by their authorities
which the other schools did not approve of and vice versa. It
also resulted from the difference of opinion in interpreting
either of the two principle sources, Qur’an or Sunnah
In the following pages a brief
review of a number of outstanding features of Ibadhi law is
presented in order to illustrate the nature and the extent of
the divergence. |
