In his collection of hadith, al-Rabi'i b. Habib narrated 25 Traditions in support of the Ibadhi doctrine of applying the term Kufr to Muslims80. Ibadhi use of this term in this sense is based on usage in the Qur'an and traditions81. This distinction of terms (al-asma) was based on the Ibadhi view of 'faith (iman) which consists in professing the faith in words and practising the required duties. Those who fulfil the obligations of the faith in both word and deed are complete Muslims or Believers (muslimun muwaffun, or muminun muwaffun). Ibadhi creeds state two items to explain their opinion of the state of the other 'monotheists':

a) Intermediate position, i.e. the state of hypocrisy between 'faith' and 'polytheism'.

b) No position between two positions, i.e. no state between 'faith' and kufr82. This latter proposition was directed against Mu'tazilites, who held that he who commits a grave sin is in an intermediate position, neither a Believer nor a polytheist, but he is a fasiq, and they refused to call him a kafir. According to Ibadhi doctrine, fisq and kufr are one and the same.

Coming back to the Ibadhi view of the relation between their community and the rest of the Muslim community, they held that the only true Muslims are those who fulfil the obligations of the faith in work and deed. these are al- Muslimun al-muwaffun and they form the body of the 'Muslims' (jamaa'at al- Muslimin) or the 'missioners' (ahl al-da;wah), i.e. the Ibadhi community. The rest of the Muslim community is divided into three categories; tyrants, heretics (Ahl al-bida), and the general body of Muslims. they were all regarded as kuffar ni'mah, therefore Ibadhis can mix with them and live under their rule on the terms of religious dissimulation (taqiyah)83 within the Ibadhi state of secrecy (kitman). Changing the rule of tyranny, or commanding good and prohibiting evil is recommended under special rules84.

Ibadhis concurred in the principle that "There is no (hijrah) immigration after the conquest of Mecca" (لا هجرة بعد الفتح). This is directed against the Azraqites and other Kharijites who held that their camp alone is the abode of Islam (دار الإسلام), and those who took no action (qa'adah) and did not perform the hijrah to their camp are sinners and unbelievers85. In his sermon in Medina, Abu Hamzah al-Mukhtar b. Awf said, "The people are of us and we are of them, except a polytheist, worshipper of an idol, or an infidel belonging to the people of the Book, or a tyrannical ruler, or one who professes a heresy calling people to his heresy, (bidah)86.

During the time of al-Rabi b. Habib, the leaders of the Nukkar branch of the Ibadhi movement tried to convince al-Rabi to regard their Muslim opponents (al-mukhalifun) as polytheists on account of their anthropomorphic views, but