per vulvam; on the undecided case of the two 'Muslims' suspected of killing each other; the Proof of God; the Imamate; Friday service; gifts from rulers; "help" and "guidance" (al-awn wa-i'ismah); discussion of Ibn al-Husain's doctrine on God's command and prohibition concerning polytheists. The last eleven topics are the questions on which Wahbi Ibadhis differed from the rest of the Ibadhi groups.

In Part II the following subjects are discussed; the obligation of repentance; obligations (faraid); emigration (hijrah); the attitude towards the apostate; the testimony of the dissident Muslims; the wisdom of God; love of God; substance (jawhar) and accident (arad); the motions; the 'attributes', senses; and finally, the Unity of God and refutation of anthropomorphism and equalizing things with God.

The contents of the book show that it was designed to cover all known theological topics, and discuss contrary views of other groups such as Qadarites, Murjiites, Sufris, and Hashwiyah, as well as the views of the other Ibadhi splinter groups.

The following works were contributed by the students of Abu al-Rabi:

i) Masail al-Tawhid, by Abu al-Abbas Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Bakr (d. 504 H.).264

ii) K. usul al-din, by Tabghurin b. Dawud Isa al-Malshuti (lived during the second half of the fifth century H.).265

iii) The third work is also written by Tabghurin b. Dawud Isa and known as K. al-Jahalat. The author in this work phrases questions on different moot theological problems and answers them one by one. It is reported that the questions on man, distinction between infidelity and polytheism, and the signs (al-dalail) were added to the text by Abu Ismail Ibrahim b. Mallal,266 but the author of Sharh al-Jahalat, Abu Ammar Abd al-Kafi, says that the additions are ascribed to a number of Shaikhs, and he is not certain about who actually added them.267

After this stage, scholastic theology attracted the attention of a number of great Ibadhi scholars of North Africa. A group of theologians emerged in the Ibadhi community of Warijlan and the surrounding areas, and they all left significant works. In fact, the works written in this period attained such a degree as was never surpassed by North Africa Ibadhi scholars of any other time.

The leading scholar of this group was Abu Ammar Abd al-Kafi b. Abi Ya'qub al-Tanawuti (first half of the sixth century H.).268 He studied Ibadhi theology and jurisprudence under his teacher Abu Yahya Zakariya b. Abi Bakr in Warijlan, and went to Tunis where he studied Arabic literature and grammar