Page 215 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

The Omani Manuscript Collection at Muscat 205
a division amongst the pupils of A. ‘Ubaydah Muslim b. A.
Karlmah (Basran Imam of the first half of the second century A.H.
and the real founder of Ibadism) with a Shu‘aybiyyah party
developing around Shu‘ayb b. Ma‘ruf; this was opposed to the
extent of full excommunication (bara’ah) by al-Rab!* b. Habib
al-Farahldl and A. Ayyub Wa’il b. Ayyub al-Hadraml, A. ‘Ubay-
dah’s successors as ‘Imams’ in Basra. An early proponent of this
Shu‘aybiyyah school who propagated its doctrine in Oman was A.
’1-Mu’arrij ‘Umar b. Muhammad, but there is some evidence that
he recanted for he seems to be held in a status of wuquf
(suspended judgement) whereas his other contemporaries are
‘excommunicated’ by the ‘orthodox’.
During the Basran Imamate of Mahbub b. al-Rahll this dispute
took on serious political importance as it was taken up by the
Nukkar, ‘deniers’, of the Imamate of ‘Abd al-Wahhab b. ‘Abd
al-Rahman, the second Rustamid Imam of Tahert
(168-208/784-823), who eventually founded a separate state.7
During Muhanna b. Jayfar’s Imamate in Oman (226-237/841-851)
the main proponent of the Shu‘aybiyyah school in Basra, Harun b.
al-Yaman (al-Yamanl?) began a major propaganda campaign in
Arabia (cf. J.M. 5 iii). While the Omanis and the tladramls
remained loyal to the orthodox ‘Wahbiyyah’ line of the last Basran
Imam, A. $ufyan (W.40a), it is said that the YamanI Ibadis
followed Harun.

B. The R ustaq-Nizwa parties ’ dispu te
This subject has been discussed at some length in the writer’s
earlier article so that the nature of the dispute arising from the
deposing of the Imam al-$alt need not be repeated here. As
expected, further relevant material was found in these manuscripts,
notably the documents making up J.M. 2, 7 and 8i. But the real
prize was A. Sa‘Id al-Kudaml’s K. al-Istiqamah (W.39). Since, to
echo al-Salimfs words, ‘despite its length there is value in every
single word of it’ (it most certainly is highly repetitious), it will
perhaps be appropriate to conclude with an analysis of its content.

The K. al-Istiqamah fi ’l-wilayah \va-'l-bara’ah of A. Sa ‘Id
al-Kudami
This work should really be seen as an appeal to unity and a call to
forget a senseless dispute about a matter that should long have
been finished. Its basic argument is that since the real truth about
the deposing of the Imam al-Salt (272/886) by Musa b. Musa and