in secret to avoid suppression by their enemies who will not allow the Ibadhis to profess their beliefs if they discovered them. In this sense, hiding one's beliefs is the best way to preserve them. So 'secrecy' becomes an obligation in such a case.37 Ibadhis started their movement in secrecy to avoid suppression by the Umayyad rulers. Both Ibadhi leaders Jabir b. Zaid and his successor Abu Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah acted in the stage of secrecy (kitman). All their activities were carried out in secret. During this time, secrecy was recommended almost in everything; it is reported that Dhuman b. al-Saib, a pupil of Jabir and one of the leading Shaikhs of the Ibadhis community of Basrah, said, "Why is it that one of you hides his money and shows his religion; perhaps he will come across someone who will wrest it from him?!"38 Ibadhi scholars claim that the stage of secrecy (kitman) in their doctrine is derived from the life of the Prophet; but they differ in fixing the exact period of secrecy in the life of the Prophet. According to Shaikh Muhammad Yusuf Atfaiyish, it is the period between the beginning of the revelation up to the time when the number of the Muslims reached forty by Umar b. al-Khattab declaring his acceptance of Islam.39 Abu Sulaiman Dawud b. Ibrahim al-Talati regards all the period before the Prophet's immigration to Madina as a stage of secrecy,40 while Abu Ammar Abd al-Kafi says, "The Prophet stayed in Mecca for some time after the revelation, in secrecy."41 It seems that he meant the period of three years of the prophethood before the revelation of this verse:

"Proclaim what you have been ordered and turn aside from the polytheists."42 However, this was the basis on which Ibadhi scholars furnished the proof for the obligation of secrecy (kitman) as a religious duty ordered in the Qur'an.

After the collapse of the Rustamid Imamate in Tahert in 909 A.D. Ibadhis of North Africa tried to revive their Imamate under the leadership of Abu Khazr Yaghla b. Zaltaf, but they lost the battle of Baghy which they fought against the Fatimids on the year 358 A.H.43 After this the Ibadhis entered the stage of secrecy up to our times. No attempt was made afterwards by the Ibadhis of North Africa to establish a new Imamate. The regulations for the stage of secrecy as explained by Abu al-Abbas Ahmad b. Bakr are that, "the Ibadhis must gather and appoint a leader to whom they pay their zakat and alms-giving (huquq).44 He takes it from the pious among them and distributes it among the pious ones. They must visit each other and form the 'majalis' for teaching their doctrine and worshipping God. They must also hold collective prayers and carry out all that they can of the duty of enjoining good and prohibiting evil".45 Ibadhi communities during the time of secrecy become underground organisations which work in secret to keep the unity of the community and the teachings of the Ibadhi school.

The stage of secrecy which began in North Africa after the defeat of the Ibadhis