community, and to keep them in isolation from the surrounding communities of the pagans and the People of the Book. Then the system was altered to deal with those who did not fulfil the duties of the new religion and obligations to the new community.

The first event, which brought this system of ‘baraah’ into operation of the Muslim community against some members, of the Muslim community was the attitude of those who did not immigrate to Medina in spite of the clear order of the Prophet. The following verse was revealed to end the discussion, which arose among Muslims in Medina concerning their fellow Muslims who did not join them after immigration;111 “And those who believe but have not emigrated — you have no duty of friendship towards them till they emigrate.”112

The other event concerned the three men who abstained from the raid of Tabuk, viz., Ka'b b. Malik, Murarah b. al-Rabi, and Hilal b. Abi Umayyah. The Prophet forbade all Muslims to speak to them; then, after a lapse of a fortnight, he ordered them to separate from their wives. This went on for fifty nights until God sent his word concerning them that, “God has turned towards the Prophet and the ‘Emigrants’ and the ‘Helpers’ who followed him in the hour of difficulty, after the hearts of a part of them well-nigh swerved aside; then He turned towards them; surely He is Gentle to them, and All-Compassionate. And to the three who were left behind, until, when the earth became strait for them, for all its breadth, and their souls became strait for the, and they thought that there was no shelter from God except in Him, then He turned towards them, that they might also turn; surely God turns, and is All-Compassionate.”114

It is not the concern of this work to study the system of ‘walayah’ and ‘baraah’ during the Prophet’s life, but just to show the origins of this system as it led to its foundation in the Ibadhi doctrine afterwards. The study of this system by Ibadhis was established on the basis of the Qur’an, Sunnah, and Ijma. Although these were the primary sources of jurisprudence followed by other Muslim schools, only the Ibadhis have developed this system of walayah and baraah and have given it great importance in theory and practice. This was due to the nature of the Ibadhi movement and the conditions in which it was founded.

The Ibadhi movement was founded in the early days of Umayyad rule. It had to deepen its roots throughout the Muslim countries at that time, avoiding the suppression of the Umayyad governors. It happened that Basrah was the centre of this growing movement, a fact which made the Ibadhis face many trials under the most “cruel rulers of their times” – viz., Ziad b. Abihi, his son Ubadidullah, and al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf. The religious stage of the Ibadhi