# Who are the Ibadis and what do you think of Ibadism? *Thoughts on Ibadism: an early Khariji offshoot that became a peaceful minority* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vryy1_gzeus/s/1/ - Date: 2021-03-16 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Thoughts on Ibadism | Mufti Abu Layth (0:02–6:18) - Status: latest answer on its topic; general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRYy1_gzEUs&t=2s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vryy1_gzeus/ **Topics:** Sects, sectarianism and takfir; Succession and the first civil wars **Question as asked:** Thoughts on Ibadism? **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The Ibadis are an early, less extreme offshoot of the Khawarij who survive today in Oman and, as a small minority, became known for coexistence. Their independence from Sunnis and Shia helps corroborate early history, such as the place of Makkah. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the Ibadis moved away from extremism as time went by, and suggests that this may just have been adaptation. **Evidence, his words at 2:33:** “but as time went by they did uh move remove themselves from that extremist um kind of manifesto so they stopped because you see maybe that's just uh maybe that's just adaptation” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRYy1_gzEUs&t=153s) ## Longer summary Asked for his thoughts on Ibadism, Mufti Abu Layth says the Ibadis are interesting because, being very early, they offer a third line beside mainstream Sunnis and the Shia, a kind of triangulation. He describes them as a splinter of the Khawarij, whom he calls extremists while noting they were a spectrum that split into factions such as the Azariqa [?], and says the Ibadis trace their roots to Abdullah ibn Ibad in the Umayyad period and to Jabir ibn Zayd, a student of the companions. He says they were the less extreme strand, developed their own fiqh and fatwas, accepted hadith mainly through Jabir ibn Zayd, compiled a small collection called al-Jami' al-Sahih [?] which he places some three hundred years later, after Sahih al-Bukhari, and pray with the arms at the sides as the Malikis do. He recounts that the Khawarij of North Africa hunted the Umayyads in the time of Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya, were later crushed, and survived in the Bahrain region and Oman, today an Ibadi state whose late Sultan Qaboos was widely praised; he suggests that as an extreme minority they adapted by becoming known for peace and coexistence. He says he would like to host an Ibadi shaykh on MindTrap, and adds that because Sunnis, Shia and Ibadis were all opposed to the Umayyads, the three traditions could never have agreed to replace Makkah and the Hajj with another location, which is why triangulation helps to corroborate early evidence. ## Sources and names cited - Ibadi - Khawarij - Azariqa [?] - Abdullah ibn Ibad - Jabir ibn Zayd - the Ibadi hadith collection al-Jami' al-Sahih (Musnad al-Rabi' ibn Habib) [?] - Sahih al-Bukhari - sadl (arms hanging) - the Umayyads - the Abbasids - Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya (al-Dakhil) - Sultan Qaboos of Oman - Shia - Sunni ## Transcript (machine tier, 0:02–6:18) [0:02] thoughts on ibadism yeah you know that's ibadis are interesting i mean you see ibadis do help form a kind of triangulation method if we want in islam because they are very early and the way you've got sunnis mainstream and you've got shia but there was another splint that was ibaldi's which were from the khawarij which were the extremists but you know the khawarij [0:38] did have um they were like a spectrum not everybody was butchering people but many of them were but not every they had a lot of splinter factions and it happens with any kind of nutcase groups that they then start fighting amongst themselves and hence it happened with the uh as well so you had like the azad and you had other people and you had the ibadis now you know there's some that its roots are with this person called um abdullah ibn [1:18] ibab and he's quite early actually so from the time of bunny omega and they also trace it back to jabyrib nazaid as well um the companion oh sorry the the student of the companions although i don't know if some claim he falls into a companion as well but they trace it back to jabari brazil as well so the this group of seem to be the less [1:55] nut case type and over time they developed and started to have their own fear and then they they've got like their own fatawa they were very keen on people trying to learn their own fear can develop their own rulings as they go along they also did believe in hadith but they believed in hadith that came i believe mainly through jabber nazid and stuff like that so they only have a very small collection which they their book is also called the sahih something but it comes much later [2:33] i think it comes about 300 plus years later on so after like sahil bukhari and stuff um but they also call it the german sahih forgotten what their full name is now but and they do have certain strange prac not strange sorry peculiar practices like they also pray with the arms to the side like the malikia do and they seem to have continued that practice but as time went by they did uh move remove themselves from that extremist um kind of manifesto [3:13] so they stopped because you see maybe that's just uh maybe that's just adaptation because in the early days in the time of bunny omega they were in north africa yeah those of you that have watched my andalus stories my endless history or even heard my lecture on abdul rahman ibn marawiya who [Music] who kind of escapes and he the abba sids and then he goes to africa and goes to what is like modern-day [3:51] libya but he avoids north africa because there they were the khawarij and the khawaris were also after the umayyads to execute them so they weren't at that stage of peaceful people but then over north africa they get kind of crushed so in time what happens is they seem to have remained an entity in i think around the bahrain region and oman and today they are in oman that's where they still are so oman is a um it it is an ibadi state [4:31] so they they have rulers and you know and who is it that passed away recently sultan kabus that's he was really praised by people but in time because they became an extreme minority it was important for them that they're not extreme because if you're extreme you will be crushed and annihilated by the majority so they became very kind of coexisting and all about peace and not all about but all about coexistence and they are quite seen as peaceful so that's a brief history but i would [5:10] love to learn more about them in depth i have tried to look out for an ibadi sheikh if i could find one and maybe you know get a dialogue it'd be awesome to get an ibadi sheikh on mind trap you see what is interesting and i've spoken about this on the petra question the makkah question that was this makkah just a abuni umayya invention and i've highlighted that that would have been impossible because you see it's not just the sunnis the shia were anti-pani umayya and the ibadis were anti-bani umayya there's no way that these three [5:50] traditions which have continued till today would agree to replace makkah with a different city and replace the hajj with a different location and they would all agree on it that's impossible so this triangulation method is good in ascertaining certain um you know when we want to corroborate certain evidence cool ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment VRYy1_gzEUs/s/1. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/vryy1_gzeus/s/1/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.