state of bara'ah.

It appears that all Muslims in general in the first half of the first century knew the principle of al-walayah and al-baraah. Ali, Mu'awiyah and their supporters have practised it. Ibadhi sources report that the Muslims gave Ali b. Abi Talib the pledge of allegiance on the oath given to Abu Bakr and Umar, and on bara'ah from 'Uthman and his party.150 Jahiz also reported that Mu'awiyah sat in Kufah receiving the oath of allegiance from the people on the condition of bara'ah from 'Ali b. Abi Talib; then a man from b. Tamim came and Mu'awiyah asked him to give his oath on that condition, the man said, O, Commander of the faithful, we obey your living, i.e. the Companions, and will not declare bara'ah from your dead."151 It is also reported that Hujr b. 'Adiy and his followers ('Ali's party) used to curse Mu'awiyah. Mu'awiyah gave orders for them to be arrested, and sent his messenger to the main prison to call them to bara'ah from 'Ali if they wanted to be set free; and if they refused, they would be killed. Eight out of fourteen, among whom was Hujr, refused to declare baraah from Ali, and they were killed.153 Kharijites were also among those who advocated the principle of al-walayah wa al-baraah.154 In his letter to Simak b. Ubaid, al-Mustawred b. Ullafah wrote, "..... We call you to the book of God, the Sunnah of the Prophet, and to (walayah) for Abu Bakr and Umar, blessing of God unto them, and to (baraah) from Uthman and Ali b. Abi Talib because of their innovations in religion, and their abandonment of the judgement of the Qur'an."155 It is also reported that the Muhakkimah leaders who joined Abdullah. Al-Zubair to protect Mecca from the attack of the Umayyad army, asked Abdullah b. Al-Zubair to renounce Uthman, al-Zubair and Talhah.156 The same is reported about Urwah b. Udaiyah who was asked by Ubaidullah b. Ziyad about his opinion of Uthman and Ali, his reply was that he took Uthman as a (waliy) for the first six years of his rule, then he declared 'baraah' from him for the rest; and he took Ali for a waliy up to the time he accepted arbitration.157

Ibadhi followed the doctrine of (al-walayah wa al-baraah) as a religious obligation more than a political attitude afterwards. Its rules and regulations appeared in Ibadhi jurisprudence from the very beginning, and were practised within the Ibadhi community as explained before, while we find no more of this principle among non-Ibadhi Muslims in the same form as it exists among the Ibadhis.

Examples of the influence of the system of al-walayah and al-baraah on Ibadhi jurisprudence:

Apart from what has already been explained, the system of al-walayah and al-baraah influenced Ibadhi jurisprudence in many ways. We may point out the following examples as evidence of this influence: