THE SUB-DIVISIONS OF THE IBADHI SECT

The following pages are devoted to the study of the development of the theological discussions within the Ibadhi school, the different views which appeared, and the resulting sub-divisions of the sect.

The Polish scholar, Tadeusz Lewicki, was the first scholar to treat this subject using information from Ibadhi sources. His article "Les sub-divisions de l' Ibadhiyya" 140 was the most useful study of the Ibadhi theological groups.

In this present work, it is hoped that a more detailed study of this subject will be given. It is not intended to deal with the sub-divisions of the Ibadhis of the 'East', except where they are connected with the sub-divisions of the Ibadhis of North Africa.

The available sources contain a very limited amount of information on the early theological arguments which took place in the early stage among Ibadhi scholars during the time of Abu Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah. Ibadhi chroniclers mentioned a certain Salih b. Kathir or Kuthaiyir who raised issues which made the Ibadhis shun him.141 It is not known what those issues were, but their being ascribed to a theologian suggests that they might have been theological views. It seems that his views were not of much importance, and were not taken seriously, either by him or by his Ibadhi contemporaries, for he was still respectable enough to be elected to negotiate with Abdullah b. al-Hassan on behalf of the Ibadhis.142 Although the negotiation did not take place, it showed that Salih was still accepted in the Ibadhi community.

The question of divine 'decree' (qadar) confused some Ibadhi scholars, and some of them adopted the same views as the Qadarites. Among these scholars were Hamzah al-Kufi, al-Harith b. Mazyad al-Ibadhi, and another scholar called 'Atiyah from Khurasan.143 They were all influenced by the Qadarite view on the creation of works, i.e. man being the author of his actions and not God. Abu Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah opposed them strongly and they were ostracized by the Ibadhis.144

The second question on which differences of opinion appeared among the Ibadhis at this stage was the doctrine of al-Walayah wa al-Baraah. It is reported that an Ibadhi youth called Abd al-Rahman b. al-Mu'sir held that all the people were in a state of walayah, except for those who plainly merited baraah. His father and other Ibadhi scholars tried to make him change his views and correct them, but he refused to alter them; they therefore expelled him from their community, and warned their people that he was not of them