Kharijites, and to refute them at the very beginning of their movement. So the Ibadhis continued to preserve the closest practical version of Islam in a living community. For various reasons the Ibadhis gained large support among the Azdis and the Arab tribes of Hadramawt and Yemen, as well as some major Berber tribes of North Africa, and by the early decades of the second century H., they (Ibadhis) were able to establish their own states in Southern Arabia and in North Africa.

After the death of Jabir b. Zaid in 93 H., Ibadhis withdrew from the surrounding population into a secret organisation which had developed and kept to its own doctrine. Since then the Ibadhi school has retained its independent features which present the old Islamic teachings in the Traditions and the Athar reported through certain tabi'un from the Companions of the Prophet, Professor Sergeant, speaking about the Zaydis, said, "The Zaydis appear to represent in the early stages of their development a form of Islam closest to the original primitive theocratic shape of the faith."2 The Ibadhis would fit this description perhaps more than the Zaydis since their system of law and their doctrines were formulated earlier. Ibadhi authorities also confirm this view and admit that the Zaydis, of all Islamic schools, are the closest to them. Abu Ammar Abd al-Kafi points out only three issues of difference between the two schools: the question of the Imamate; their approval of Ali's acceptance of arbitration; and the regarding as Polytheists of those who held that God is to be seen on the Last Day.3

The foundation of the Ibadhi school by Jabir b. Zaid, an eminent Traditionalist, and its growth through the efforts of Abu Ubaidah Muslim b. Karimah and his colleagues as an educational institution prevented its leadership from falling into the hands of anyone other than the most upright and learned members, whether during the time of 'secrecy' or 'manifestation.' Ibadhi jurisprudence although based on material reported by Ibadhi authorities alone used the same methods as the rest of the Muslim schools in forming opinions. However, the Ibadhi school can be easily distinguished by the fact that its legal system was very much concerned with the moral conduct of its followers. In other words, observing the spirit of the law as well as the letter of the law. An example of this appears in the acts which causes the breaking of fasting and ablution, among which only the Ibadhis include all immoral acts such as telling lies, slander and suchlike, listening to slander or music etc. and looking into others' houses or eyeing foreign women etc. In this respect, the system of 'walayah' and 'baraah' developed by Ibadhis was mainly based on full observation of the religious obligations in order that the person might be taken as a 'waliy' and accordingly receive all rights due to him from fellow Ibadhis. This attitude regarding moral conduct of the person covered other aspects of faith such as excluding grave sinners from the right to intercession by the Prophet on the