8vo. xxxvii, 472 pp., 3 maps, genealogical table, cloth in d/w, biblio, general index, index of Arabic Terminology, previous owner’s signature verso of back cover, lower jacket lightly marked, otherwise copy in mint condition, part of the Oxford Oriental Monographs Series, Oxford University Press, Oxford & NY, first edition, 2010.

Synopsis

Ibadism represents a branch of the third great division in Islam, that of the Khawarij. It survives in some isolated communities in North Africa, but manifested itself periodically in Oman as a full Imamate well into the twentieth century.
Using early material recorded in Basran and Omani sources, this book deconstructs the standard account of origins, showing that Ibadism’s evolution into a madhhab (school) can only be understood in a wider historical perspective of the tribal and regional dimensions. Its activation among the Yamani tribes of Iraq requires reappraising what the Yaman-Nizar division represented in the Umayyad period, and the opening chapters demonstrate that there was a real split in pre-Islamic times between northern and southern Arabs that was reflected in the great revolts of Ibn al-As’ath al-Kindi and Yazid b. al-Muhallab al-Azdi. The nascent Ibadi movement in Basra, whose solidarity was enshrined in walaya, the spiritual and physical cement binding the community to God, exploited the resulting resentment to establish Imamates in southern Arabia, followed by North Africa. Study of the earliest sources throws considerable light not only on Ibadi origins, but also the early emergence of Islamic kalam and fiqh and the influence of contemporary theological debate.