the Ibadhi views or giving away their secrets, their attitude towards these persons is not to forsake them only, but to kill them by any means.124 It is reported that an Ibadhi youth came to Jabir b. Zaid and asked him about the best form of Jihad. Jabir said, 'Killing Khardalah,' and the youth asked another man to show him Khardalah and he stabbed him with a poisoned dagger inside the mosque. Accordingto a al-Jitali, Khardalah was a member of the Ibadhi movement but he relinquished Ibadhism and gave away the names of the members of the Ibadhi community to their enemies, and disclosed the locations of the places in which the Ibadhis held their meetings. 125

Secrecy (kitman), Manifestation (zuhur), Defence (difa), and Life Sacrifice (shira). 127

The course of Islamic history as presented by the Ibadhis shows that the true Muslim community, for which they stood in their struggle, existed in one of the above mentioned four stages. The 'manifest state' of Islam, which was established by the Prophet in Medinah, prevailed during the caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar, the first six years of the caliphate of Uthman and under the rule of Ali until he accepted the arbitration. After that the Muslim community was divided into three main groups: "those who extolled the cause of Uthman, those who extolled the cause of Ali, and the Muslims who kept to the right guidance.128

The Ibadhis stood for the cause of the revival of the 'manifest state' when the 'rightly guided' Muslims failed to revive it and were massacred in the battle of al-Nahrawan. They started a secret organisation in which they taught their members the true religion. It was essential for he members of the movement to know about the error which led to the corruption of the teachings of the Qur'an as explained and practised by the Prophet and his first two successors; as for the people who were responsible for the errors, the Ibadhis declared (baraah) from them. This principle freed the Ibadhis from the personal influence of the Companions of the Prophet who played the most important part in the civil wars among the Muslims. They judged these people according to the measure of piety and goodness as enunciated by the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Their faults were presented clearly in the early literature of the Ibadhis. In his letter to the Umayyad caliph, Abd al-Malik b. Marwan, Abdullah b. Ibad pointed out the faults of Uthman which caused the rising of the Muslims against his rule; 129 he said, "When the believers saw the faults of Uthman, they renounced him; for the believers are the witnesses to God."130 He further commented, "Whosoever took Uthman and those who wee with him as hi =s friends, we declare our estrangement from them, and for this we beg witness of God and His Angels. We are enemies of them with our hands, tongues and hearts. With this belief we live and with it we die ........ "131