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Khalafiyah,
followers of Khalaf b. al-Samh, grandson of Abu al-Khattab Abd
al-A'la al-Ma'afiri, first Imam of the Ibadhi state of North
Africa.194
Al-Samh, the father of Khalaf, was the wazir of Abd al-Wahhab b.
Abd Al-Rahman b. Rustam. At the request of the people of Jabal
Nufusah Abd al-Wahhab appointed him governor of the Jabal.195
After the death of his father, Khalaf tried to establish an
independent Imamate in Jabal Nufusah and the surrounding areas.196
His view was that the distance between the Jabal and the Capital
of the Imamate in Tahert was too far, and divided by large areas
ruled by Aghlabids, which made the administration ineffective.197
According to
Abu Amr Uthman b. Khalifah, this was the only point of
difference between the Khalafiyah and Wahbi Ibadhis, i.e. the
Khalafiyah held that every area or territory (hawzah) should
have an independent Imam and other Imams should not interfere
with its affairs.198
Khalaf started his movement during the last years of the Imamate
of Abd al-Wahhab (end of the 2nd century A.H.) he ruled the
Eastern part of the Ibadhi territory between Jadu and Tripoli,
and gained the support of both banu Yifrin and Zawaghah.199
He fought two major battles against the Governor of the Jabal,
Abu Ubaidah Abd al-Hamid al-Jannawani, the last of which took
place in the year 221 A.H./835 A.D.200 He
also fought the successor of Abu Ubaidah, al-Abbas b. Aiyub.201
After his death, his followers continued their opposition to the
Governor of the Jabal and the Imamate of Tahert until the
powerful leader of Nufusah, Abu Mansur Ilyas defeated them and
forced them to flee to Jerba Island where he surrounded their
forces and captured their leader al-Taiyib b. Khalaf.202
It is reported that al-Taiyib repented and spent the rest of his
life in the Jabal.203
A minority
of the followers of Khalaf held to their views while yet living
with other groups of Nukkarites and Husainiyah in the Eastern
part of Jabal Nufusah in Yifrin, Babal, Takbal, and Kikklah204
up to the time of Abu Yahya Zakariya b. Ibrahim al-Baruni,
(second half of 5th century A.H.) who gained them back for the
Wahbi school.205
The other
splinter group which appeared for reasons of a political nature
was al-Naffathiyah, followers of Naffath,206 Faraj
b. Nasr. They were also called al-Kitmaniyah.207
Naffath was
of Nufusi origin. he studied in Tahert under the Rustamid Imams
and other Ibadhi scholars of Tahert.208
A contemporary student of his, was Sa'd b. Abi Yunus, son of the
governor of Qantrarah.209
They went together to Tahert for studies. After the death of
Abu Yunus, his son Sa'd decided to return to Qantrarah and
Naffath also returned with him.210
As Naffath had attained a high standard of knowledge, he
expected that Imam Aflah would appoint him governor of Qantrarah,
the post which was vacated through the death of Abu Yunus.
Instead, Aflah appointed Sa'd in the place of his father.
Ibadhi historians suggest that this was the reason which made
Naffath bear hatred towards Imam Aflah, and begin propagating
accusations against him.211
The
correspondence of Aflah with his governors concerning the affair
of Naffath shows that he possessed views which were regarded as
heresies (bida). He was described as an ignorant youth of no
experience. One of his heresies (bida) was referred to in one
of the letters of Imam Aflah. In his last letter to Naffath,
Aflah accused him of being one of those who believed that the
rulers (ummal) of the Rustamid state who were in the 'stage of
secrecy' (kitman) were no more than bishops (asaqifah), and they
were not to be obeyed, for they had no administrative power.212
The
following is the account of his views as stated by Abu Amr
al-Sufi;
1)
Allah is Everlasting Time (al-Dahr al-Daim). When he was asked
what that meant, he replied; I found that in the 'book' (al-Daftar).
2) The
Khutbah, sermon, at the Friday prayer is an innovation (bidah).
3) The
Imam who cannot protect his subjects from the oppression of
tyrants has no right to exact zakat from them because he is weak
and unable to fight and defend them. It seems that this was
directed against Imam Aflah. It is reported that Naffath said,
"To pay zakat to Aflah is like paying it to Nabar the king of
the Sudan.'213
Among his other censures against Aflah, Naffath mentioned that
Aflah had become fond of hunting and had neglected looking after
the interests of Muslims; appointed his son to the Imamate while
he was still living; and used rulers 'ummal' for collecting
zakat, although it was not the custom of the Apostle of God.
Naffath also claimed that Aflah embellished his physical
appearance; his face was one cubit (dhira),214 his
turban was one dhira, and his beard was one dhira.
With regard
to the legal opinions held by Naffath, three were considered
false by Wahbi Ibadhis:
i)
Concerning heritage, he held that the full brother's son was
more entitled to inherit than the half-brother on the father's
side.214
ii) It
is not lawful for the owner of a property of value to sell it
through necessity of hunger, for he who owns anything of value
cannot be in a state of necessity (idhtirar).
iii)
Presumption of death of an absent husband can only apply in
cases of travel overseas (wara al-bihar).215
It appears
that the attitude taken by Naffath which most seriously
disturbed the Imam of Tahert and his rulers was his opinion
concerning the relation between the Ibadhis and Ibadhi rulers
during the state of secrecy (kitman). It is probably because of
this attitude that Nafflath and his followers were called al-Kitmaniyah.
There is no
information about Naffath or any one of his followers having
written any works to expound their views. The only extant work
of Naffath known, a short letter preserved in a Ms., contains a
number of letters exchanged between early Ibadhi authorities.216
This letter was written by Naffath to Abu al-Qasim Sadrat b. al-Hassan
al-Baghturi, (163-333) A.H.), one of the leading scholars of
Nufusah.217
The letter shows how Naffath pictured the Ibadhi society of
Nufusah and its leaders. In the letter Naffath mentioned that
most of the legal decisions (Fatwa) as delivered by the rulers,
were made without proper knowledge, because the rulers had no
fear of God, and all those who had knowledge were suppressed
because of the ruler's conceit. He concluded his letter with
the following words; "We ask God to grant us good patience, he
who can be patient must be so, and he who cannot be patient must
conceal his faith and detach himself from the people and their
affairs."
According to
some scholars,218 Naffath
gave up his views and repented after his return from the East
(al-Mashriq), but there is no evidence to support this
suggestion. Although Naffath started his opposition to the
Ibadhi state from political reasons, just like al-Nukkar and
Khalafiyah, he never turned to violence in his opposition. His
theological and legal opinions were refuted strongly by Amrus b.
Fath and his colleague Mahdi al-Wighawi.219
These last
groups were founded originally for political reasons. The
Imamate in Tahert faced political opposition on different
occasions, but in this chapter our study is concerned only with
those groups which possessed and developed theological and legal
opinions.
The
following groups maintained theological and juridical opinions
different from those of the original Ibadhi movement but entered
into no political activities. |
