Ibāḍī theology refers to the study of God within the Ibāḍī branch of Islam, and shares a path with Islamic theology. Although the school was founded in Basra, modern-day Iraq, its followers subsequently sought refuge in Oman, Yemen, Hadramawt in the southeast peninsula of Arabia, and North Africa. Though largely ignored by the mainstream of Arab and Muslim scholarship, and scarcely tapped by Orientalist research, there does exist a continuous tradition of Ibāḍī scholarship throughout the centuries to this day.
Philosophy of Ibāḍī theology The development of Ibāḍī theology, also known as Ibāḍī Kalām (an approach to Islamic theology likened to scholasticism), can be traced to the works of scholars and imams of the Ibāḍī community, whose histories, lives, and personalities form part of the greater Islamic history. Ibāḍī theology can be understood on the basis of the works of theologians Ibn Ibāḍ, Jābir bin Zayd, Abū 'Ubaida, Rabī' b. Ḥabīb, and Abū Sufyān among others. Although Ibāḍīsm was extinguished in Basra, the foundation of the Ibāḍī community, in the late 2nd century AH (ca. 8th century CE), the Ibadi teachers of Basra and their works continue to constitute sources of inspiration for the life and teaching of the Ibāḍī community. For this reason, Ibāḍī teaching is difficult to properly understand without an awareness of the life, history, and personalities of the Basra community and a knowledge of the growth of the various Ibāḍī communities that were mainly established in southern Arabia, Oman, North Africa, and East Africa
Ibāḍīs today prefer to be known using the term Muḥakkima, and consider themselves their descendants. However, they reject the extreme tendencies of the Khawārij, differentiating themselves from insurgents and extremists. This position is expressed explicitly by the "most prominent Ibāḍī Kalām theologian" of the 2nd century AH (ca. 8th century CE), 'Abd Allāh b. Yazīd al-Fazārī, in the only surviving folio of his brief work K. al-Futyā.Wilkinson C. John, (2010) Ibāḍism: origins and early development in Oman. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2010, pp.153 .
The basic principles of Ibāḍī theology do not differ from those of the other Islamic schools, the madhāhib, but it has its own identity which, for Ibāḍīs, is the true Islamic identity. Ibāḍīs say the Qur'an is the fundamental source of Islamic faith and life. They also value the aḥādīth of the Muhammad and his companions (Ṣaḥāba), who preached and interpreted the Qur'an in the Muslim community. The Ibāḍī approach to the theological, legal and social problems that develop in various Qur'anic verses is based on the words and traditions of Muhammad and the traditions of his companions and their students.
The imamate of Basra Following the example of their first Imam, Jabir ibn. Zayd, Ibāḍī theologians find support for their views in a large number of companions of Muhammad, particularly ʻAbdullāh b. Al-'Abbās, Muhammad's cousin and an interpreter of the Qur'an. ʻAbdullāh b. Al-'Abbās was one of the first Muslims to undertake the interpretation (Tafsīr) of the Qur'an. The raʼy method of Qu'ran interpretation used by ʻAbdullāh b. Al-'Abbās was subsequently adopted by Ibāḍī and Muʻtazila scholars to metaphorically interpret the various Qur'anic names for God and to avoid tashbīh (anthropomorphisms).Abdulrahman Al-Sālimī, (2014). "Ibāḍism and the creation of the Qur'ān". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 144. .
An important contribution to the Ibāḍīs' theology came from the third Imam, Al-Rabīʻ b. Ḥabīb b. ʻAmr al Farāhīdī, who incorporated the aḥādīth (the sayings and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad) into the āthār of the Ibāḍī community. From the beginning, learned men and spiritual leaders of the Ibāḍī community developed a spiritual and intellectual movement which closely followed the religious, political, and social ideas of Islam, and elaborated on religious and theological teachings on all matters related to Islamic society. The Ibāḍī movement sees itself as the guardian of Islam against the secularisation of power (the Muhakkima). As such, it developed—together with the Muʻtazila movement—a rich theology that transformed Classical and Late Antiquity to the demands of the prophetic word.
Ibāḍī theology embraces the fundamental principles of Islam, and purports to be based on the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad, and his companions (Ṣaḥāba, tābiʻūn wa tābiʻūn at-tābiʻūn), the life and works of which were incorporated into the āthār of the Ibāḍī community. The major theological and philosophical issues facing the community relate to God, the world, and human nature, and were negotiated in the Ibāḍī community by its leaders and teachers. Belief in one God is the foundation of Ibāḍīsm. Faith means confession that God is absolutely one, i.e., confession of absolute monotheism (tawḥīd). Ibāḍī theology, therefore, includes teachings about God, His creation, and humans, and discusses the essence and existence of God on one hand and, on the other, His relationship to His creation and creatures, especially his rational creature, the human being. These fundamental teachings of faith constitute the "roots" (uṣūl) or the "principles" of Ibāḍī theology, which are called uṣūl (singular, aṣl) or ʻaqāʼid (ʻaqīda).Yohei Kondo, (2014). "The Concepts of walāya, barā'a, and wuqūf among 2nd/8th – 3rd/9th Centuries Ibāḍis". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 189. .Ahmed Ismail, (2014). "The Theory of the Atom in the Ibāḍī, Ashʿarite and Muʽtazilite Schools". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 210. .Mustapha Ouinten, (2014). "Shaykh Muḥammad b. Yūsuf Aṭfayyish: sa contribution au développement de la pensée théologique Ibadite". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 285. .Farid Bouchiba, (2014). "Un manuscrit inédit d'hérésiographie: le Mabḥath al-firaq (Recherche sur les sectes) du shaykh Aṭfayyish (m. 1914)". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 291. .
The Ibāḍīs, according to their narratives, were one of the first to approach the Qur'anic passages and formulate the basic theological principles of Islam. They gave great weight to the 112th sura of the Qur'an entitled "Surat al-Ikhlās" or "Surat at-Tawhīd" which declares the believer's sincerity with all purity of heart for his faith in the one God, i.e., true monotheism.A.T. Welch, art. 'al-Ḳur'ān' in Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn. On early development of sura headings see Adam Gacek, Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum For Readers, Handbook of Oriental Studies (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2009), pp. 219–220.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ١
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ٢
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ٣
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ ٤
Transliteration: Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem 1 Qul huwa Allahu ahad
2 Allah hu samad
3 Lam yalid wa lam yulad
4 Wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only!
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten.
And there is none like unto Him.
With this surat and other Qur'anic passages, Ibāḍī theology emphasizes that God is the only being that has no resemblance to His creatures. Nevertheless, God is the creator of the world, and He is the One Who reveals the law and the truth in the Qur'an and cares for His people. Because "He is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, it is He Who gives life and causes death; and He is Able to do all things. He is the First (nothing is before Him) and the Last (nothing is after Him), the Highest (nothing is above Him) and the Nearest (nothing is nearer than Him). And He is the All-Knower of everything. He is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days and then Istawā (rose over) the Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty)" (Surat 57, 2–4). This is a passage that describes God's greatness and omnipotence, and the Ibāḍīs interpreted it allegorically (Taʼwīl) to avoid anthropomorphism. The Ibāḍīs applied the same interpretation to all the Qur'anic "beautiful names" (al-asmāʼ al-ḥusnā) that refer to the hand of God (al-yad) to express His power, and the eye (ʻayn) to indicate His global supervision. The image of God sitting on His throne (istiwāʼ ʻalā al-ʻarsh) was interpreted as His governance of the universe. They particularly repudiated the idea of the vision of God (ru'ya) at the eschaton.John C. Wilkinson, (2014). "Moderation and Extremism in Early Ibāḍī Thought". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 44. .Mohammed Ech-Cheikh, (2014). "Ignored Pages of the History of Ibāḍī Theology in North Africa during the Middle Ages The Wājiz (Summary) of ʿAbd al-Kāfī and the Dalīl (Proof and Demonstration) of al-Warjlānī". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 103. .Valerie J. Hoffman, (2014). "Refuting the Vision of God in Ibāḍī Theology". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 239-249. .
Main doctrines Ibāḍī theology emphasizes the unintelligible and impersonal nature of the divine essence, and asserts that God's being is inseparable from His essence. God's being, however, becomes concrete when it is connected to the Divine names and Divine properties that are made manifest in the moral and physical order of the world. God, therefore, has 99 beautiful names, because He, the "odd" (al-witr), loves these names. The 100th name is dhāt, the essence of God, which cannot be contained in the human mind, and is therefore unknown and inconceivable. It constitutes His internal hypostasis. God, however, is made known to the world with the rest of the names that He revealed in the Qur'an and with which He communicates with His creatures. The names of God are neither identical with God, nor different from Him (hal asmāʼ Allāh hiya huwa am ghayruh). The names are not part of God, nor are they added to the divine essence, since thus God would be divided. God, however, is not portioned; He is one and indivisible. In this sense, the attributes of His essence are eternal. The names, however, that we ascribe to God are our own words and, as such, are created concepts. The attributes of God, therefore, are external characteristics created by man and ascribed to God's essence from outside, and are, therefore, not eternal.Douglas Leonard, (2014). "Anthropomorphism of the Divine as Metaphor in Early Ibāḍī Theology and Reformed Calvinism". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 193. .Douglas Leonard, (2014). "Anthropomorphism of the Divine as Metaphor in Early Ibāḍī Theology and Reformed Calvinism". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 195. .Amal Ghazal, (2014). "Politics and Polemics. Ibāḍī Theology in North Africa in the Modern Period". In Francesca, Ersilia. Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works. 4. Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag AG. pp. 267. .