the Ibadhis in general and stated that it is so named after Abdullah b. Wahb al-Rasibi.152 Both modern Ibadhi scholars of North Africa, Muhammad Yusuf Atfaiyish and Abdullah al-Baruni, adopted the same view and held that Wahbiyyah is named after Abdullah b. Wahb and not after Abd Al-Wahhab. Atfaiyish argued that if it was named after Abd Al-Wahhab, the form should be Wahhabi and not Wahbi.153 But this opinion also is based on the grammatical rules of Arabic only.

It is worth mentioning here that the name was largely used by Berbers in North Africa and it is possible that the correct form of the name was altered to make it easier for the Berber tongue, and it became Wahbiyah instead of the correct original form 'Wahhabiyah'. The other fact which supports the opinion that the name Wahbiyah is derived from Abd Al-Wahhab, is that the name did not appear before the opposition of the Nukkar to the Imamate of Abd Al-Wahhab, that opposition which split the Ibadhi community of North Africa into two parties, the followers of Yazid b. Fandin who were called al-Nukkar, and the followers of Abd al-Wahhab who should have been named after him "al-Wahhabiyah' then as suggested earlier, the name was changed and became Wahbiyah.

Wahbiyah represent the mainstream of the Ibadhis of North Africa. They played the most important part in both the political and intellectual fields and are the only group which managed to continue to exist until the present day. In all information about the Ibadhi communities and their activities in the past, we are indebted to this group and its literature. As this chapter is concerned mainly with the theological differences between the different Ibadhi groups, it is useful to include here a translation of the Wahbi aqidah written by Abu Sakin Amir b. Ali al-Shammakhi (d.592). For more details about the theological views of Wahbiyah, and their creeds (Aqaid) specialist works are available for consultation in both French and Italian.154

AL-DIYANAT

(AN IBADHI WAHBI CREED)

by Amir b. Ali al-Shammakhi

Translation

The divergence between Muslims arose from nine basic elements; unity, divine decree, walayah and baraah, command and prohibition, praise and threat, the intermediate position, the denial of an intermediate position, names155 and statutes.