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 Ibadhī 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.

V, VI Husainiyah and Umairiyah

al-Husainiyah are the followers of Ahmad b. al-Husain al-Atrabulsi b. Abi Ziyad.220 According to the late Shaikh Muhammad b. Yusuf Atfiyish, Ibn al-Husain is from Tarabulus al-Sham, but there is no evidence to support this