Muslims, Scholars, Soldiers

Abstract

This study of the origin and development of the Ibāḍī imāmate ideal into its medieval Arabian and North African articulations traces the distinctive features of the Ibāḍī imāma to precedents among the early Khārijites, Rashidūn Caliphs, and pre-Islamic Arabs. Using the four “states of religion” (masālik al-dīn) as an organizing principle for its chapters, the book examines the four associated Imām-types that are appropriate to such states—the Imām al-Ẓuhūr (Imām of Manifestation), Imām al-Difā‘ (Imām of Defense), Imām al-Shārī (the “Seller” Imām) and Imām al-Kitmān (Imām of Secrecy)—and locates each Imām-type within a trajectory of Ibāḍī development. Some distinctive features of the Ibāḍī imāmate tradition, such as the shārī Imām who selflessly fought for the establishment of the Ibāḍī polity, are shown to be rooted in the early Khārijite martyrdom narratives that were appropriated by the Ibāḍiyya and later transformed into systematic doctrines. Still others, such as the “weak” Imām who accepted provisional authority under the control of the ‘ulamā’, hearken back to pre-Islamic patterns of limited authority that subsequently found their way into early Islamic political norms. Working from a perspective that challenges the “exceptional” interpretation of Khārijite and Ibāḍite doctrine and practice, this study seeks to root much of Ibāḍī political theory in the same early traditions of Islamic political practice that later provided legitimacy to Sunnī Muslim political theorists. The result is a historically grounded and complex presentation of the development of political doctrine among the sole remaining relative of the early Khārijites.

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