Ibadism

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The Ibadi Muslims, a little-known minority community, have lived in North Africa for over a thousand years. Combining an analysis of Arabic manuscripts with digital tools used in network analysis, Love takes readers on a journey across the Maghrib and beyond as he traces the paths of a group of manuscripts and the Ibadi scholars who used them. Ibadi scholars of the Middle Period (eleventh–sixteenth century) wrote a series of collective biographies (prosopographies), which together constructed a cumulative tradition that connected Ibadi Muslims from across time and space, bringing them together into a 'written network'. From the Mzab valley in Algeria to the island of Jerba in Tunisia, from the Jebel Nafusa in Libya to the bustling metropolis of early-modern Cairo, this book shows how people and books worked in tandem to construct and maintain an Ibadi Muslim tradition in the Maghrib.

Ibāḍism is the only surviving sect of Khārijism, and thus represents the third main branch of Islam, after Sunnism and Shīʻism. Ibāḍīs, who number less than 1% of the world’s Muslims, are found mainly in the Sultanate of Oman, in the Mzāb and Wārgla (Ouargla) regions of southeastern Algeria, in the Nafūsa mountain region of northwestern Libya, and on the island of Jirba (Djerba), Tunisia. The traditional narrative of Ibāḍism’s origins dates it to ‘Abd Allāh ibn Ibāḍ’s split from the radical Khārijism of Nāfiʻ ibn al-Azraq in 64/684 CE. Ibāḍīs say that Jābir ibn Zayd (d. 93/711 CE) organized the sect in Baṣra, but recent scholarship questions much of this traditional narrative. This article discusses recent scholarship on Ibāḍism’s historical development, summarizes its distinctive teachings in theology and jurisprudence, and offers a brief analysis of the relationship of Ibāḍism to the Bū Saʻīdī sultanate of Oman and Zanzibar.

This article examines the significant yet largely overlooked role of the Mzabis, a community from the northern edges of the Algerian desert, in Algerian and Tunisian anticolonialism and nationalism. In so doing, it pursues two aims: first, to shed light on the importance of Tunis to the politicization of the Mzabis in the 1920s and to their induction into local and regional anticolonial
and national movements; and second, to highlight the tensions of subsuming regional identities into overarching national identities by focusing on Mzabi political activists’ negotiation of the relationship between the Mzab and Algeria as a national project. The article also explores the spectrum of political possibilities and alternatives envisioned by Mzabis as they participated in religious reform, anticolonial, and nationalist movements. This spectrum, I argue, conveys the fluid relationship between local, national, and regional identities, thus undermining teleological readings of national identity formation.

The area studies model is an impediment to the historical analysis of linkages and connections not governed by its geographical and conceptual boundaries. Its shortcomings are even more pronounced in the historiography of the modern period, when interactions and exchanges between different communities have changed dramatically, in both scale and scope. In the region loosely defined as the Middle East, the problem is further compounded by the collapse of the Ottoman order and the erection of state borders. The framework of methodological nationalism tied to those borders has been productive of certain kinds of histories and not others. In this intervention, Ghazal takes the case of Ibadis, their geographic distribution, political activism, and patterns of communication, to showcase the shortcomings of area studies as a model of historical analysis. A more viable alternative to spatially bounded analytical frames, Ghazal proposes, is the network.

(Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, Nov 2017)

This article offers a summary of a recent project aimed at the conservation and preliminary inventory of the Bin Yaʿqūb (Ben Yaqoub) family library in the village of Guīzin (Guezin) on the island of Jerba, Tunisia. The inventory, carried out from Septem-ber to December 2015 with generous funding from a Collection Care and Emergency Response Grant from The Islamic Manuscript Association (tima), sought to insure the long-term protection of this collection as well as to compile a preliminary inventory of its contents. This article provides an overview of the survey, including its stated goals and the extent to which it realized those objectives. The second half of the article provides a preliminary inventory of the library's contents.

Ibāḍī Islam, practiced by the sultans who ruled Zanzibar from 1832-1964, is a moderate sect that emerged out of Khārijism.  Like the Khārijites, Ibāḍīs recognize as Muslims only those who belong to their own sect; unlike the Khārijites, they do not support violence against non-members.  Although they advocate ‘dissociation’ (barā’a) from non-Ibāḍīs, this is an attitude of withholding religious ‘friendship’ (walāya) and not one of hostility.  Ibāḍism emerged during the heated political disputes of early Islam and was nurtured in the relative isolation of Oman’s mountainous interior and of remote areas of North Africa. The sultans of Zanzibar ruled over a highly diverse population, mainly Sunni Muslims.  Bū Sa‘īdī rulers sponsored the development of Zanzibar as a centre of Islamic scholarship for both Ibāḍīs and Sunnīs. In practice, Ibāḍī-Sunnī relations were very friendly and Sunnī scholars were among the sultans’ closest confidants.  During the reign of Sayyid Barghash (1870-88), some conversions of Ibāḍīs to Sunnī Ilsam provoked a severe reaction from the monarch; Ibāḍī scholars of the time also felt threatened by the attraction of Sunnī Islam. Nonetheless, Ibāḍī and Sunnī scholars had cordial and collegiate relations and crossed sectarian lines for the purposes of study and adjudication.

Özet
İslam tarihinin oldukça erken bir döneminde ortaya çıkmış, belli bir dönem varlığını ve etkinliğini sürdürmüş, ancak daha sonra kâhir ekseriyetiyle mevcudiyetini kaybetmiş Hâricîler, gerek akademik gerekse de popüler yazında günümüzde yaşayan ancak birbirinden kalın çizgilerle ayrılan iki mezhebî grup (İbâdîler ve Selefîler) ile çeşitli bağlamlarda irtibatlandırılmaktadır. İbâdîlerin köken itibariyle Hâricîlerin ‘günümüze kadar ulaşan tek kolu’ ve ‘organik devamı’ olarak görülmesinde haklılık payı bulunmakla birlikte özellikle Ezârika üzerinden oluşturulan Hâricîlik resmi üzerine İbâdîliğin iliştirilmesi birtakım problemli neticeleri husûle getirmektedir. Aralarında herhangi bir organik bağ bulunmamasına rağmen Selefîlerin tümünün veya belli bazı alt gruplarının Hâricîlerin ‘günümüzdeki görünümleri’ veya ‘neo-Hâricîler’ şeklinde tanımlanması ise bir zihniyet veya pratik benzerliği temelinde yükselmektedir. Ancak bu durum da bazı netameli durumları gündeme taşımaktadır. İşte bu çalışma özelde İbâdîlerin ve Selefîlerin Hâricîlerin günümüzdeki devamı olarak nitelenmesinin doğurduğu metodik problemler genelde de bu örneklem üzerinden mezhep araştırmalarının mahiyet ve metodolojisi üzerine odaklanmaktadır. Bunu yaparken birtakım yargılara varma değil, metodik problemleri gündeme taşıma ve bunların halline dair tartışma ve önerileri provoke etme amacını gözetmektedir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Hâricîlik, İbâdîlik, Selefîlik, Metodoloji, İslam fırkaları, Ezârika, tekfîr, IŞİD/DÂİŞ, Metodoloji

Abstract
Is Modern Khārijīs Ibāḍīs or Salafīs 
-A Discussion on Methodology-
Khārijīs, who appeared in the relatively early period of Islamic History, maintained its existence and efficiency for a certain time and later went out of the existence of its majority, has been sometimes correlated, in both some scholarly and popular publications, with Ibāḍīs or Salafīs, who are living Islamic groups today, however both disassociate each other. A convinction that Ibādīs, as its origin, are ‘the only surviving sub-sect of Khārijīs’ or ‘Khārijīs’s organic continuation” has a point. However, attaching Ibāḍīs to Khārijīs on a picture of Khārijism drawn on the basis of ideas and practices of Azāriqa, the most radical sub-sect of Khārijism, brings about some methodic problems. On the other, a definition that Salafism as a whole or its some certain sub-groups are ‘modern appearances of Khārijism’ or ‘Neo-Khārijīs’ although there is no organic connection to Khārijism, is based on a similarity of mentality or practices. This raises some problematic issues, too. This study focuses on methodic problems resulted by the description of both Ibāḍīs and Salafīs as the continuation of Khārijīs and aims, with special reference to this case, to provoke discussions on the nature and methodology of a research of Islamic sects.
Key Words: Khārijism, Ibāḍism, Salafism, Methodology, Islamic Sects, Azāriqa, takfīr, ISIS/Daesh, Methodology

Ibadis, like the Mu`tazila, reject the possibility of seeing God in the afterlife. This article examines Ibadi discussions on the topic and the articulation of this rejection in Ibadi theology, with emphasis on scholars in the modern period.

This dissertation analyzes the ongoing attempts of Omani Ibadis to re-envision Islamic identity in the modern era. Arguably Islam’s oldest distinct sect, Ibadism has offered alternative formulations of Islamic belief and jurisprudence that never claimed the adherence of a majority of Muslims, but thrived in enclaves in Arabia and North and East Africa. Omani Ibadis’ encounter with modernity began around the turn of the 19th century and accelerated after 1970 under Sultan Qaboos. Like Muslims across the globe, the Ibadis of Oman have navigated the transformations of modernity, striving for coherence between their sectarian identity and the evolving world around them.

A mixed methodological approach combines textual analysis and fieldwork to examine the modern religious discourse of Ibadi ʿulamāʾ primarily, and of lay Ibadis secondarily. Interviews with 58 diverse individuals offer a window into the reality of public religious life in Oman. The survey of the works of contemporary ʿulamāʾ encompasses books, articles, pamphlets, video lectures, and social media postings.

The study of these resources enables a set of observations about the engagements of modern Ibadis with their textual tradition. The modern state’s control over public religious life, the centrality of fear as a recognized and valued tool for inspiring positive behavior, and the concern with presenting Ibadi identity in a way that appeals to a broad Sunni audience are important themes that recur throughout the chapters. Additionally, the language of tolerance emerges as a ubiquitous idiom in contemporary Omani Ibadi discourse, and scholars and lay believers alike express their sect’s distinctiveness in terms of positive relations with religious others.

I argue that the spread of Saudi Salafism presents an enduring challenge to Ibadism’s place within the international umma. Here, a study of Salafi scholars’ opinions on Ibadism informs a subsequent exploration of contemporary Ibadis’ responses to those opinions as well as their own discourse on Salafism.

Finally, this dissertation documents the recent emergence of the tayyār ʿaqlānī (rationalist stream) of Ibadism, a movement that challenges the state-affiliated Ibadi mainstream and advocates for internal criticism in order to better integrate Ibadism into modernity.

From the beginning of the tenth century, a strong authority whose
representatives belong to the Banū Yahrāsan asserts itself in Djerba.
This exclusively masculine power is at once political and religious, it
is hereditary, it marks a desire for appeasement in conflicts with
schismatic groups and quickly gives a certain place, unfortunately
difficult to evaluate, to collegiality. According to the written
sources, the Banū Yahrāsan are at the origin of the foundation of
the halqa, determinant for the future of the Ibād ī Maghreb, and
have left a strong imprint that survives until today in the sacred
geography of the island. The writings of Sulaymān al-Hīlātī show
how this golden age was still captivating the seventeenth-century
Ibādīs by inviting them to gather in many buildings, mosques or
mausoleums, which perpetuate to this day the memory of the
Banū Yahrāsan in Djerba.

In this article, I want to offer the following two interventions in the discussion of “music” and “Islam”: first, I want to positively reassess Lois Ibsen al-Faruqi’s landmark 1985 article “Music, Musicians, and Muslim Law” by engaging with her central diagrammatic expression of Qur’ānic hierarchy; and second, I want to highlight an under-recognized aspect of Muslim jurisprudential scholarship with regard to a variety of sonic practices: the issue of function and practicality. Rather than criticizing or attempting to replace al-Faruqi’s claims, I want to think positively alongside her work in order to tease out further dimensions of her linear model. Adding the value dimension of practicality— which I explore through recent Ibāḍī scholarship—to her linear schematic model (and thereby pluralizing the relational network between sonic practices and Qur’ānic recitation) both allows a useful co-conception of Islamic jurisprudential scholarship on music and highlights a heuristic mode often overlooked in previous discussions. Specifically, I want to draw out of al-Faruqi’s model a latent Dumontian premise: rather than a linear hierarchy of gradual transformation from most similar to least similar to Qur’ānic recitation, recitation may be best understood as “encompassing” other Islamically licit sonic forms. Sonic practice might therefore exist— in anthropologist Joel Robbins’s terms— within a plural value scheme, with any specific practice tugged toward contrasting polarities.

[The pdf contains the text accepted by the publisher]

Resumé en français:
Le culte ibadite en Afrique du nord a toujours été étroitement lié à la langue berbère. les îlots ibadites d’Afrique du nord demeurent berbérophones jusqu’à ce jour et le passage au malikisme est souvent accompagné de la perte de l’usage du berbère. Sur la base des témoignages anciens, on retrace quelques aspects des rapports sociolinguistiques entre les deux langues au fil des siècles (le berbère comme langue utilisée dans les serments, traductions/commentaires en berbère de textes arabes ou en arabe des textes berbères, différents usages au niveau de l’écrit ou de l’oralité).
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English abstract:
Ibadism in North Africa has always been closely linked to the Berber language. The Ibadi communities of North Africa remain Berber-speaking to this day and the transition to Malikism is often accompanied by the loss of the use of Berber. On the basis of ancient testimonies, we retrace some aspects of the sociolinguistic relations between the two languages over the centuries (Berber as the language used in oaths, translations / comments in Berber of Arabic texts or in Arabic of Berber texts, different uses at written or oral level)

At first sight, North African Ibāḍism emerged during the Berber uprisings against Umayyad and ʿAbbāsid rule and stayed at the margins of the empire. The imamate of Tāhart even stood, in the posthumous memory of the school, as an ideal counter-model of the caliphate. In fact, during the 8 th and 9 th centuries western Ibāḍism remained under the influence of its eastern strongholds , in particular Baṣra where the sectarian elite was well integrated into ʿAb-bāsid culture. Intense scholarly exchange linked west and east thanks to intermediary meeting points like Mecca and Fusṭāṭ. The Ibāḍī political opposition of 'Berber' and 'Arab' ethnicity certainly worked against the imperial discourse, but the Persian shuʿūbiyya shaped it. The Rustamid imamate came to be the symbol of a Persian state in a Berber milieu and its capital and state apparatus underwent a gradual orientalization. Trade also played a key role in connecting the Ibāḍī network with the empire. Baṣra was a notorious emporium and Ibāḍī merchants circulated widely between the ʿAbbāsid realm and its western fringes. The Maghribīs owned stores in Fusṭāṭ and traveled as far as Baghdad and Sāmarrāʾ. Trans-Saharan trade, including slaves and gold, also presumably saw its first development thanks to imperial demand.

This paper examines the process of the formation and trans-formation of the architecture of the rulers (especially its military part) in Oman. The hypothesis is that this process can be used to understand the formation and trans-formation of Islamic architecture everywhere and throughout 14 centuries even if we chose to examine its validity on a more restricted and relatively less known case study: The Islamic architecture in Oman during Al Ya’ariba Imamate 1624-1742

[Paper accepted for publication]

The Kitāb al-Barbariyyah, a Berber text containing a commentary on the Mudawwanah of Abū Ghānim Bishr b. Ghānim al-Khurāsānī, starts with a book which does not properly belong to the commentary but constitutes an independent text, namely a tawḥīd, i.e. a short catechism containing an exposition of the main points of the Ibāḍi doctrine. Some other texts of this kind are already known and have been studied, in particular by Sachau (1899), Motylinski (1905) and Rubinacci (1964), but all of them are known in the Arabic version, even when they were formerly written in Berber. The text from the Kitāb al-Barbariyyah is the only one still preserved in Berber and the only one produced in a Nukkārite milieu. This paper gives a first description of it, attempting to outline its structure and content, and exposing the main questions it addresses, with a consideration of the other known texts that deal with the Ibāḍi creed.

When Sayyid Saʻid b. Sulṭān moved the capital of the Omani empire to Zanzibar in 1832, he transformed his new capital into a center for Islamic scholarship, inviting both Sunni and Ibāḍī scholars to make their home there.  Because Ibāḍīs were a small minority on the Swahili coast, they lived and worked in close interaction with Sunnis.  The letters of the Sunni scholar ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Amawī indicate the friendship he shared with Ibāḍīs and his familiarity with some of their writings.  Some of the works of Ibāḍī scholars in Zanzibar pertain particularly to the region, but much of the literature could have been written anywhere.  Ibāḍī works in Zanzibar in the 19th and early 20th century include anti-Sunni and anti-Christian polemics, reflecting the challenges Ibāḍī scholars faced in that region, including widespread conversions of Ibāḍīs to Sunni Islam and the activities of Christian missionaries.  By the late 19th century, the Ibāḍī nahḍa in Zanzibar merged with the reformism of ‘Abduh and Riḍā and the emergence of the pan-Islamic movement.  Nonetheless, Ibāḍī scholars remained staunch defenders of Ibāḍism’s distinct doctrines and history.

After coming to power in 1970, Sultan Qaboos bin Said has been striving to promote equal rights among Omanis, based on national preference. This political discourse also draws its legitimacy from religion; based on an ideal of tolerance born of the state religion, Ibadism, to the point of pervading individual representations when choosing a spouse. The foundations of national identity question the notion of modernity, perceived as a process of transformation in marriage, where individual choice takes precedence over family preferences. This article endeavors to observe how the politicization of love and matrimonial alliance is taking place, based on ideals of equality and tolerance, as opposed to preferences and exclusion.

Avec des contributions de Mehdi Ali Khodja et Tahar Bellal, Mongi Ben Maad, Walid Ben Omrane, Brahim Benyoucef, Mathilde Bielawski, Vermondo Brugnatelli, Mounia Chekhab-Abudaya, Olivier Collet, Nabel Dbeez, Agnès De Féo, Valerie J. Hoffman, Augustin Jomier, Mohamed Merimi, Soufien Mestaoui, Floriane Morin, Beniamino Polimeni et Virginie Prevost.
Depuis une quinzaine d’années, les études sur les ibadites se sont multipliées, favorisées notamment par l’édition de sources autrefois difficilement accessibles. Alors que la plupart des publications s’interrogent sur les origines de l’ibadisme, sur sa théologie et son histoire médiévale, ce numéro traite de la place qu’occupe aujourd’hui dans la société nord-africaine cette minorité religieuse, à laquelle le contexte politique très turbulent de ces dernières années impose de nouveaux défis.
Après un lent recul géographique entamé au lendemain de la chute de Tahert en 909, les Berbères ibadites se sont finalement concentrés dans trois régions bien particulières, caractérisées par un certain isolement, au nord-ouest de la Libye, en Tunisie et en Algérie. Dans les trois cas, ils vivent aux côtés des musulmans malikites ; à Djerba, ils côtoient également une petite communauté juive. Réputés pour leur discrétion, les ibadites sont la plupart du temps inconnus des autres musulmans, même au sein des pays dans lesquels ils vivent, ou demeurent si méconnus que certains préjugés historiques perdurent.
Les études réunies dans ce volume permettent de souligner ce qui rapproche fortement les trois régions ibadites et ce qui les différencie les unes des autres. Elles ont été rédigées par des chercheurs confirmés, mais aussi par des gens très éloignés des milieux académiques qui ont accepté de décrire la minorité ibadite à laquelle ils appartiennent et/ou d’enquêter sur leur région natale.

Les vestiges archéologiques exceptionnels de Sedrata sont ceux d’une ville médiévale enfouie sous les sables du Sahara algérien, près de Ouargla. Ce carrefour du commerce transsaharien alimentait la Méditerranée en or et en esclaves. Ce fut aussi un centre pour les ibadites, une minorité musulmane dont les héritiers visitent tous les ans les ruines de leur passé. Son destin fut lié à cette communauté, mais aussi à l’épuisement des ressources hydriques. L’enquête entrelace les disciplines et les temporalités pour offrir au lecteur la première image complète de cette cité, au cœur de l’histoire africaine. Cette redécouverte s’appuie sur les sources ibadites et sur les archives de fouilles inédites de Marguerite van Berchem (1950-1955). Le manuscrit inachevé, la riche collection de photographies, de dessins et de plans légués par son projet novateur nourrissent une étude historique et archéologique de l’établissement, dont les célèbres programmes décoratifs sont de nouveau interprétés et datés.

André Ravéreau est parti le 12 Octobre 2017 à 19h. C'est ainsi que sa fille a annoncé la nouvelle aux membres de l'association Aladar qui a été créée autour de Ravéreau pour finaliser ses travaux d'écriture et recevoir ceux qui veulent apprendre l'architecture avec lui.

Réformisme, salafisme, wahhabisme, Frères musulmans, djihadisme, chiismes, alaouites, zaydites, ibadites, ismaéliens, soufis...
Depuis les attentats, journalistes, politiques et experts, reconnus ou autoproclamés, saturent les médias avec la question de "l'islam", parfois envisagé comme un facteur explicatif unique et tranché des conflits contemporains, parfois éludé des analyses. Un terrain des idées dangereux où s'opposent les partisans du "tout-à-voir" et du "rien-à-voir".
Partant de l'histoire, cet ouvrage déconstruit les idées reçues et analyse de manière synthétique les doctrines et les enjeux contemporains des principaux courants de l'islam, par le prisme du "théologico-politique". Tenant compte des derniers acquis de la recherche, des encadrés présentent leurs textes fondateurs et les évènements ou personnages qui sont essentiels à la compréhension de leurs idéologies.
Un livre de référence accessible pour ceux qui veulent comprendre ces islams qui changent le monde.

Sabrina Mervin, chargée de recherche au CNRS, est directrice du centre Jacques Berque, Rabat. Elle est l'auteur d'une Histoire de l'Islam : fondements et doctrines (Champs Flammarion).

Nabil Mouline, chargé de recherche au CNRS, est rattaché au centre Jacques Berque, Rabat. Il est l'auteur de l'ouvrage Le Califat. Histoire politique de l'Islam (Champs Flammarion).

"Manuscripts and oral sources: new perspectives for the studies on Eastern Berber and the history of its speakers"

This contribution aims at drafting a short history of the linguistic studies about Eastern Berber, including under this label the languages spoken or attested in Libya, Egypt as well as Tunisia, a country which up to now has been strikingly neglected by the Berberologists. Most of the existing literature on Eastern Berber comes from Italian researchers, and the first part of the article summarizes the work which has been done since the end of the 19th century.
In spite of their isolation from the other Berber languages and of the strong pressure exerted by the surrounding Arabic dialects, the eastern languages still retain many important features which make them worth a deeper study.
In particular, some remnants of an old literature coming from the ibāḍite regions (Algeria: Mzab; Tunisia: Jerba; Libya: Zuara and Jebel Nefusa) are still kept in oral and written records. Recent researches by the author of the article led to the discovery of new interesting texts of different times: contemporary compositions, religious poems composed at the beginning of the 19th century, and even medieval texts.
As far as the oldest records are concerned, a huge manuscript tracing back to the Middle Ages, the commentary to Abū Ġānim’s Mudawwana by Abū Zakarīyaʾ Yaḥyâ al-Yafranī has been recently rediscovered and is being studied. It is one of the longest texts written in Berber, and will shed light on many issues in the oldest history of Berber, above all of its Eastern varieties.
As a conclusion, it is worth noting that the recent changes in Libya offer the possibility of a freer, better and deeper knowledge of the existing Berber languages, not only by European scholars but also by indigenous ones.

Abstract in English: Desctiption of the main manuscript (almost 900 pages) containing a work of islamic (Ibadite) jurisprudence in Berber. It is known as the "Kitāb al Barbariyya" (Ms. Bibliothèque Nationale de Tunis Or. 2550). A manuscript of great importance both for the knwledge of medieval Eastern Berber and for the study of the evolution of Ibadite teaching.

Abstract in Italian: Descrizione del principale manoscritto (quasi 900 pagine) contenente un'opera di giurisprudenza islamica (Ibadita) in berbero. Si tratta del "Kitāb al Barbariyya" (Ms. Bibliothèque Nationale de Tunis Or. 2550). Un manoscritto di primaria importanza per la conoscenza del berbero orientale nel medioevo e per lo studio dell'evoluzione della dottrina ibadita.