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Abdullah ibn Ibad, after who is named
a school of Fiqh that has been followed from the first
Islamic century up to the present day, belonged to Murrah, a clan of
the major tribe of Tameem. Yet reports about him are scarce even in
the sources of the Ibadi school itself. However, a prominent
contemporary Ibadi scholar believes that Abdullah ibn Ibad moved
from Najd, where his tribe lived, to Basrah in southern Iraq. Few
reports mention that he was born during the Prophet's lifetime, and
that he saw the Prophet briefly, which means that he was one of his
companions; but such reports are not taken too seriously. Most
reliable Ibadi sources consider him to belong to the Tabieen
generation. It is not known whether Abdullah ibn Ibad took any
active part in the civil wars that took place in the Muslim state at
the end of the reign of the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, and
during the time of Ali ibn Abi Talib, (may God be pleased with them
both). However, he was unhappy about the rule of Muawiyah,
criticising certain practices that he believed to be contrary to the
Qur'an and the Sunnah.
What is more confusing is that we do
not have reliable information about his death. However, it is
perhaps safe to say that he died towards the end of the reign of Abd
al-Malik ibn Marwan, the Umayyad Caliph who died in 86 H, (706 CE).
Nevertheless, some reports mention him with regard to events during
the reign of Marwan ibn Muhammad, the last Umayyad Caliph, but these
reports should be discounted as totally unreliable. The first
reliable report about him mentions that he went to Makkah to defend
it against the Umayyad army led by Husayn ibn Numayr during Yazeed's
reign.
When Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was trying
to oust the Umayyad rulers and to become the Caliph, Abdullah ibn
Ibad was in a delegation that tried to win him over to their point
of view. This delegation pledged their full support to him if he
would declare his acceptance of their views and distance himself
from his father as well as the two leading companions of the
Prophet, Uthman and Talhah. When he categorically refused, many of
them, including Abdullah ibn Ibad, left and returned to Basrah.
The question that arises here is who
were these people, and what group did they form? The answer is that
they were the remainder of the group that disputed with Ali ibn Abi
Talib after he had accepted the arbitration on his conflict with
Muawiyah. This group fought the River Battle against Ali which he
won decisively. It was about these that Ali was asked whether they
were unbelievers, and his answer was: "No. It was from unbelief that
they fled." He was asked whether they were hypocrites. Denying this,
he said: "Hypocrites remember God but little." In his answer, he
confirmed that these people were pious and remembered God often. He
was then asked what were they, and he said: "They are a group of
people who have been misguided, and they have been blinded and
unwilling to listen. They have rebelled and fought against us, so we
had to fight them."
Their trip to try to win Abdullah ibn
al-Zubayr over to their cause took place many years later, because
he did not seek to be a Caliph until after Muawiyah's death, and
Muawiyah was Caliph for 20 years.
This group was at the time going
through a difficult period, with some people trying to take over its
leadership by force. Most prominent among these was Nafi' ibn al-Azraq,
who labelled all other Muslim groups as unbelievers and idolaters.
At this point Abdullah ibn Ibad took a clear stand opposing Nafi'
ibn al-Azraq and his Khawarij supporters, advocating public
resistance to them. It was at that point that the Ibadi school began
to take shape, and hence it is known by Abdullah ibn Ibad's name,
although Ibadi sources give him a secondary role in its
establishment. There is no doubt, however, that Ibn Ibad was the
most prominent scholar among this group, declaring his views clearly
and openly, benefiting from the strong protection that his tribe
could provide for him. Moreover, the Ibadi school needed to make its
views clearly understood in an environment when numerous groups,
splinter groups, ideas and principles were appearing in the Muslim
world. Hence, Abdullah ibn Ibad was the one who undertook to voice
their rejection of such ideas including those of the Mu'tazilah, the
Shia and the Khawarij. It is believed that in his activities, Ibn
Ibad was carrying out the instructions given to him by Jabir ibn
Zayd, the real founder of the Ibadi school.
Abdullah ibn Ibad carried out further
political activities, including exchanging letters with the Umayyad
Caliph, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (d. 86 H). All Ibadi sources praise
him for writing to Abd al-Malik, but they do not mention whether he
lived beyond Abd al-Malik's reign.
Jabir ibn Zayd belongs to the Azd
Arabian tribe and it is believed that he was born in the village of
Farq, which is not very far from Nizwa in Oman. As a child, he moved
with his family to Basrah in southern Iraq. Perhaps the reason for
this move was that some of his relatives were in the army raised by
the local governor, Uthman ibn Abi al-Aas, to fight the Persians. It
is said that the man who killed the Persian army commander was Jabir
ibn Hadeed al-Yahmadi, a relative of Jabir ibn Zayd. This suggests
that several members of Jabir's family were in that army and they
settled in Basrah afterwards. All this took place during the reign
of Uthman ibn Affan, the third Caliph. Most sources say that Jabir
was born either in 18 or 21 H (639 and 642 CE). This means that
Jabir belongs to the second Islamic generation, the Tabieen.
We have little information about his
childhood or his parents, but we have good information about his
education at a time when Islamic studies were not yet firmly
established and formalized. He memorized the Qur'an at an early age,
and he learnt the hadith, acquiring very solid grounding in this
area. He learnt the hadith mostly from a large number of the
Prophet's companions whom he met in Basrah, Madinah and Makkah. It
is reported that Jabir felt that the pilgrimage could afford a
chance to meet a large number of the Prophet's companions who would
come from all over the Muslim world. But this would not be a casual
meeting, as most of them would organize sessions in the Prophet's
mosque in Madinah and the Sacred Mosque in Makkah. Hence, he
performed the pilgrimage frequently, with some reports mentioning
that he did the pilgrimage at least forty times.
Jabir ibn Zayd was a diligent scholar.
He met no fewer than 70 of the Prophet's companions who took part in
the Battle of Badr, the first major battle the Prophet fought
against the idolaters of Quraysh. He learnt from them all the
ahadith they learnt from the Prophet and all what they had to
report. He also met Aishah, the Prophet's wife, and asked her about
aspects of the Prophet's life at home. He even discussed with her
some of the political problems in which she played a prominent role.
Besides Aishah, Jabir ibn Zayd studied under a number of scholars
who were among the Prophet's companions, such as Abdullah ibn Umar,
Abdullah ibn Massoud, and Anas ibn Malik. However, his most
important teacher was Abdullah ibn Abbas. The two became close
friends with great respect for each other. It is reported that Ibn
Abbas said: "If the people of Basrah would only listen to Jabir ibn
Zayd, he would give them thorough knowledge of God's book." A man
from Basrah called al-Rabie asked Ibn Abbas his views on a certain
question. Ibn Abbas's reply was: "Why ask me when you have Jabir ibn
Zayd in your midst?"
Recognition of Jabir's great
scholarship was unanimous among his contemporaries. Al-Bukhari
quotes Jabir ibn Zayd as saying: "As I was doing the tawaf,
Abdullah ibn Umar passed by me and said: ‘Jabir! You are a true
scholar and people will ask you for rulings. Do not give any ruling
unless it is based on a clear text from the Qur'an or a confirmed
Sunnah. Unless you have such a strong basis, you will ruin
yourself and others.'" Indeed in scholarly merit, Jabir ibn Zayd is
sometimes ranked ahead of his contemporary al-Hasan al-Basri, an
acclaimed leading scholar.
Jabir was indeed the leading Mufti in
Basrah, issuing rulings on whatever problems were put to him. He
continued to teach the hadith and the Qur'an to his students. Jabir
formulated a clear understanding of the highly complex history
witnessed by the Muslim community in the early period, benefiting by
two important factors: his association with Ibn Abbas who witnessed
many of the political events in that period and his living in Basrah,
one of the most important centres of events at the time. However,
his profound understanding of politics made him steer a very
cautious course, away from all political activities. Instead he
devoted all his time to teaching Islam, leading a pious and simple
life. He says: "I have prayed God for three things, which He has
kindly granted me: a goodly and pious wife, a comfortable mount and
lawful income that suffices for my needs one day at a time." His
friends once asked him about his wealth, and he said: "None of you
is richer than me: I do not have a single dirham and I owe nothing
to anyone." Thus, he considered freedom from debt to be the mark of
wealth, even though he had no money.
Jabir is classified as reliable by all
main hadith scholars who accept his reporting of authentic ahadith.
His students recorded much of his rulings, and some of these records
survive in manuscript form. These rulings and Jabir's heritage,
which was much more voluminous than what survives today, form the
basis of the Ibadi school of Fiqh. Jabir died in 93 H, 711
CE.
The question that is often asked is
whether Jabir ibn Zayd was knowingly establishing a school of
Fiqh, or a political movement, both of which are applicable to
the Ibadi school. This is a difficult question to answer, with Ibadi
sources strongly emphasizing that he was, and other reports,
particularly through sunni scholars, denying this. Be that as
it may, Jabir was a scholar of high calibre, who steered away from
politics, but certainly had his own views concerning the events that
led to the emergence of numerous sects and schools in the early days
of Islam.
Another figure of great importance in
the emergence of the Ibadi school was Abu Ubaydah Muslim ibn Abi
Kareemah who was a scholar of the Tabieen generation. He
studied under Jabir ibn Zayd, Suhar al-Abdi and Jaafar ibn al-Simak.
Reports suggest that Abu Ubaydah met a number of the Prophet's
companions whom Jabir had also met. He transmits many ahadith that
he heard from Jabir ibn Abdullah, Anas ibn Malik, Abu Hurayrah, Ibn
Abbas, Abu Saeed al-Khudri and Aishah. It is said that he pursued
his studies for forty years and then taught for forty years. But he
was the one most instrumental in laying down the foundations of the
Ibadi school. He apparently had strong organizational talents. There
is no doubt that Abu Ubaydah was a man of great qualities. He was
strongly devout, spending much time in worship. Furthermore, he was
a distinguished orator, splendid teacher and a scholar of vast
knowledge in Fiqh, theology and hadith. He benefited by all
these qualities in providing a solid foundation for the Ibadi
school.
The Ibadi school does not differ with
other Islamic schools in referring to the Qur'an and the Sunnah
for judgement on all matters. Indeed the Ibadi school attaches great
importance to the hadith. Its early and major figures were all
distinguished scholars of hadith. The third source the Ibadi school
accepts as a basis of rulings is the views of the Prophet's
companions.
There are certainly some Fiqh
rulings in which the Ibadi school differs with some or all other
Islamic schools, but these differences are all on matters of detail,
and, therefore, inconsequential. There could be no reason to
discount the Ibadi views, or ijtihad, on such matters.
However, the issue to which the Ibadi school attaches great
importance is that of loyalty and disclaim, or wala' and
bara'. That is, with whom a Muslim may consider himself in a
bond of brotherhood, and whom he should disown. Thus a Muslim has a
bond of loyalty with all prophets, all people mentioned in the
Qur'an as having believed in God, such as the priests referred to in
verses 82-85 of Surah 5, the People of the Cave mentioned in
Surah 18, the people who followed the Prophet Jonah,
Pharaoh's sorcerers who believed in Moses, Mary and her mother,
Pharaoh's wife, etc. and all true Muslims. A Muslim disowns all
those branded in the Qur'an as having disbelieved in God and His
messengers, such as Pharaoh and his men, the wives of Noah and Lot
and all unbelievers and all those who commit cardinal sins or
persistently commit minor sins without repenting of them. Also
Muslims must disown oppressive rulers and those who actively support
them.
Today the Ibadi school is predominant
in Oman, and there are several areas where it continues to be
followed. These are Zanzibar, and parts of Libya, Tunisia and
Algeria.
by:
Adil Salahi
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