Al-Ibāḍiyyah (Arabic الاباضية) is a form of Islam distinct from the Shi'ite and Sunni denominations. It is the dominant form of Islam in only one Muslim country, Oman. One of the earliest schools, it was founded less than 50 years after the death of the prophet Muhammad.

The school derives its name from ˤAbdullāh ibn-Ibāḍ at-Tamīmī. However, followers of this sect claim its true founder was Jabir ibn Zaid al-'Azdi from Nizwa, Oman.

Ibāḍī communities are generally regarded as conservative. Ibāḍiyyah rejects the practice of qunūt or supplications while standing in prayer. Sunni Muslims traditionally regard the Ibāḍiyyah as a Kharijite group; Ibāḍīs reject this designation. Ibāḍīs regard other Muslims not as kuffar "unbelievers" (as most Kharijite groups did), but as kuffar an-niˤma "those who deny God's grace". They believe that the attitude of a true believer to others is expressed in three religious obligations:

• walāyah: friendship and unity with the practicing true believers, and with the Ibadhi Imams.
• barāh: dissociation and hostility towards unbelievers and sinners, and those destined for Hell.
• wuqūf: reservation towards those whose status is unclear.

Ibāḍīs agree with Sunnis in approving of Abū Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab, whom they regard as the two rightly-guided Caliphs. They regard Uthman ibn Affan as having introduced bidˤa "blameworthy innovations" into Islām, and approve of the revolt which overthrew him. They also approve of the first part of ˤAlī's caliphate, and, like Shias, disapprove of ˤĀ'isha's rebellion against him and of Muˤāwiyya's revolt. However, they regard ˤAlī's acceptance of arbitration at the Battle of Siffin against Muˤāwiyya's rebels as un-Islamic and as rendering him unfit for the Imamate, and they condemn ˤAlī for killing the early Kharijites of an-Nahr in the Battle of Nahrawan.

In their belief, the fifth legitimate Caliph was Abdullah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi. All Caliphs from Muˤāwiyya onwards are regarded as tyrants except Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, on whom opinions differ. However, various later Ibāḍī leaders are recognized as true imāms, including Abdullah ibn Yahya al-Kindi of South Arabia and the imāms of the Rustamid dynasty in North Africa.

Ibāḍī Muslims are also found in East Africa (especially Zanzibar), Libya (in Jabal Nafusa), Algeria (in the Mzab) and Djerba Island in Tunisia. The early medieval Rustamid dynasty in Algeria was Ibāḍī, and refugees from its capital Tahert founded the North African Ibāḍī communities which exist today.

External links

• Ibāḍī Islam: an introduction
• A Concise History of al-Ibāḍiyyah
• An overview of Ibāḍism
• Ibn-Ibāḍ and the Ibāḍī School of Islamic Law

Islamic sects | Madhhab

إباضية | Ibaditen | Ibadiidid | Ibadioj | اباضی | Ibadisme | Ibaditi | აბადიტები | Ibadisme | イバード派 | Ibadyci