The Formation, Systematics, and Differences of the Ibāḍiyya

The Ibāḍiyya sect, whose formation coincided with the 1st century of Hijri, found fame as a political sect rather than jurisprudential. Underlying such an understanding lies the ties of some personalities they considered predecessors with the Kharijites. This situation prevented the Ibāḍiyya madhhab from being known as a fiqh sect. For this reason, the Ibāḍiyya sect has been studied mainly in the field of kalām due to its sect’s history and religious beliefs. This orientation has also led to the neglect of the fiqh aspect of the madhab. However, the Ibāḍiyya sect is an independent religious sect with rich jurisprudence and literature. In fact, according to the Ibāḍis, their sect is the first fiqh sect to be formed chronologically. Although, they are attributed to ʿAbdallāh b. Ibāḍ, the Ibāḍis accept Jabir b. Zayd as the founder. Until the end of the 3rd century, the Ibāḍis abstained from calling themselves Ibāḍī because they said that the fiqh sects should be attributed to their founders and that the sect’s founders were Jābir b. Zayd. They insistently underline that the attribution of their sect to ʿAbdallāh b. Ibāḍis due to political motives. For this reason, Ibāḍis see Jābir b. Zayd was the founder of their madhhab. Jābir was one of the tābiʿūn (successors) scholars and became famous as the mufti of Basra. Abū ʿUbayda Muslim b. Abī Karīma, who is accepted as the most influential figure of the Ibāḍiyya sect after Jābir, has an essential place in the formation and systematization of the sect. Abū Ubayda kept the sect together despite the pressures against the Ibāḍis during the Umayyad and the Abbasid periods, allowing it to spread out of Basra, especially in North Africa. The transfer of the Ibāḍiyya sect to different geographies as of the second quarter of the 2nd-century Hijri has been an essential process in the systematization of this sect. In addition, the spread of the Ibāḍiyya sect to regions outside Basra increased the codifications related to Ibāḍī fiqh. Kitāb al-mudawwana al-kubrā, which belongs to Abū Ghānim al-Khurāsānī, one of the most valuable works of Ibāḍī fiqh that has survived to the present day, is the product of this period. The Qur’ān, Sunnah, ijma, qiyas, and other istidlal methods were also used by Ibāḍiyya. So, the legal strategies used by Ibāḍītes could be said not to be perfect but very similar. But Ibāḍiyya is separated from any other sects about ilham. In this study, we will study the connection of Ibāḍiyya to Kharijism during the formation period, its emergence, fiqh, and jurisprudential methods