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Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies |
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Annie C. Higgins Throughout the early Islamic period, people from various Shurat subgroups identified themselves in their poetry and to others as ‘the exchangers’ (al-shurat), an appellation derived, along with related words, from Qur’an 2:207. The faces of different categories of exchangers--the ideal, the elegized, the summoned and the leader--depict various facets of the concept of exchange. The singular form, ‘exchanger’ (sharin), was claimed as an identity by people from across the spectrum of Shurat groups, activist and quietist, from the earliest moments of the Shurat experience until the late Umayyad period. Its basic meaning is two-fold: making a choice and taking decisive action. Whether activist or quietist, each person who called himself an exchanger (sharin) was distinguishing himself from the governing authority. It was his interpretation of exchange that determined how he expressed his opposition. The poems containing this term give us insight into the variety of meanings that exchange could signify. In addition to being used to define ideas about governing authority and leadership, it has often been associated with fighting the adversary in battle. The poems show that it can also mean to retreat, to be executed in captivity and even to admit defeat. The exchanger (sharin) is presented in the context of his life beyond the battlefield and beyond mere rhetoric. Thus, the poetry sheds valuable light on various social relations within Shurat communities.
Brahim Cherifi La halqa des 'azzâba, fondée au début Ve/XIe siècle, était initialement une école d’ascèse et de transmission du savoir religieux. Elle évolua pour devenir, à partir du VIe/XIIe siècle, un organe associé à l’élaboration des lois régissant la vie dans la cité ibâdite nord-africaine. La création de cette institution religieuse constitue une évolution majeure de la pensée politique et théologique ibâdite. Sur le plan politique, la halqa entérine définitivement l’abandon de la notion d’Etat par les ibâdites, qui renoncent du coup à la diffusion de leur doctrine par la force. Aussi fait-elle apparaître au sein des populations berbères ibâdites des communautés religieuses instituant par leur mode de vie une nette distinction entre la société civile et religieuse. Concernant le M’Zab, l’étude des délibérations élaborées par la halqa et la djemaa, la nature des relations entre les deux institutions montrent que le pouvoir religieux ne domine pas et ne subordonne pas les textes de ces délibérations aux lois religieuses. Tout au contraire, c’est le droit “coutumier” berbère qui se voit consacré dans ces textes juridiques et se constitue comme principe organisateur de la cité mozabite. L’hypothèse d’un système théocratique, avancée par les auteurs de l’époque coloniale et reprise par de nombreux autres auteurs contemporains, s’inscrit donc dans une représentation de ce terrain biaisée par l’anticléricalisme dont l’influence s’est fait sentir en France au XIXe siècle. L’apparition du mouvement des réformateurs au début XXe siècle a profondément marqué l’histoire de cette institution et celle de l’ibâdisme contemporain ; elle a fait naître des halqas qui se veulent en rupture avec l’ordre traditionnel. Les 'azzâba réformateurs ont ainsi investi en force le champ politique, remettant en cause le principe de la distinction entre les activités religieuses et non religieuses.
Leonard C. Chiarelli The Ibadi sect of Islam originated in Iraq during the first/seventh century, but missionaries soon travelled west to the Maghrib where many Berbers, who had already converted to Islam, became followers. The Ibadi missionary effort culminated with the establishment of an Ibadi Imamate by 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Rustam in about AH 160/AD 776. Many Berber tribes in North Africa became affiliated with this state while establishing good relations with the Aghlabids, who then ruled modern-day Tunisia and Tripolitania. When the Aghlabids launched their conquest of Sicily in 212/827, members of Ibadi Berber tribes were among the Muslim forces. With the establishment of Muslim rule on the island, Ibadi tribes from North Africa began to settle there. Arabic and Ibadi Ibadi historical sources suggest that their communities in Sicily became part of the Ibadi trade network that flourished between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean. The rise of Ibadi commercial interests on the island may have led Ibadis there into conflict with the new Fatimid state that replaced Aghlabid rule. It seems possible that some of the struggles between the Muslims of Sicily and the Fatimid central government in Ifriqiya were due to Fatimid attempts to control the Ibadi trade network and to undermine the economic power of the Ibadi tribes on the island, much as they had done in North Africa.
Valerie J. Hoffman Ibadi Islam, practiced by the sultans who ruled Zanzibar from 1832-1964, is a moderate sect that emerged out of Kharijism. Like the Kharijis, Ibadis recognize as Muslims only those who belong to their own sect; unlike the Kharijis, they do not support violence against non-members. Although they advocate ‘dissociation’ (bara’a) from non-Ibadis, this is an attitude of withholding religious ‘friendship’ (walaya) and not one of hostility. Ibadism 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. Bu Sa'idi rulers sponsored the development of Zanzibar as a centre of Islamic scholarship for both Ibadis and Sunnis. In practice, Ibadi-Sunni relations were very friendly and Sunni scholars were among the sultans’ closest confidants. During the reign of Sayyid Barghash (1870-88), some conversions of Ibadis to Sunni Islam provoked a severe reaction from the monarch; Ibadi scholars of the time also felt threatened by the attraction of Sunni Islam. Nonetheless, Ibadi and Sunni scholars had cordial and collegiate relations and crossed sectarian lines for the purposes of study and adjudication.
Amal
Ghazal The historiography of Salafi reform in the Arab world has confined this movement within Sunni circles and completely overlooked the role of Ibadi Salafism. Like their Sunni counterparts, Ibadi reformers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries called for a return to the era of the salaf in order to reform religious practices and renew Islamic thought. More interestingly, Salafism paved the way for a reconciliatory position between Sunnis and Ibadis for the sake of Muslim unity. This paper sheds light on Ibadi Salafism and highlights aspects of this Ibadi- Sunni rapprochement. It analyzes the writings of two modern Ibadi reformers, Qasim al-Shammakhi and Ibrahim Atfiyyash. While both supported Sunni reformers, each did so in a different way. Al-Shammakhi defended the Sunni Salafi argument to abolish the madhahib (schools of jurisprudence) and open the gates of ijtihad. This, he believed, would allow both sects to find a meeting point in the pre-madhahib era and would reveal the truth of Ibadism to Sunnis. Atfiyyash’s approach was to deny any relationship between Ibadism and Kharijism. He wanted to present Ibadis as adherents to the ideals of the salaf rather than those of a splinter group. Their different approaches reflect increasing flexibility in Salaf• Ibadism after World War I. In all cases, Sunni Salafi reform appealed to Ibadis and provided reformers from both sects with the opportunity to create an ideological and political alliance.
Hussam S. Timani This paper discusses the role of Khariji thought in modern Arab intellectual history and attempts to answer the question: What prompted Arab scholars to suddenly become interested in the Kharijis? After a brief introduction, the paper begins by looking at the modern reinterpretation of Khariji history in Ibadi scholarship and notes that modern Ibadi scholars seem convinced that a favourable image of the Kharijis will help to reconcile Ibadism with Sunnism. The second part of the paper argues that modern Arab scholars, who have unearthed and analyzed the vast corpus of Khariji poetry, have used the poetry as a rhetorical vehicle to rehabilitate the image of Kharijis in the turath and to narrow the religio-political gap between Kharijis and Sunnis. The paper’s third part contends that ideologically-oriented Arab scholars have reinterpreted and, most importantly, made use of Khariji history and thought in order to promote modern (Western) ideologies and beliefs long shunned in the Arab/Islamic world. In all cases, one may argue that the rise of modern Islamic fundamentalism and its portrayal as neo-Kharijism by some has led Arab scholars to reconsider the role and image of the historical Kharijis. Although only a handful of modern Arab scholars have discussed and analyzed Khariji poetry, they have produced an important and essential genre of literature on the history and beliefs of the Kharijis. This study is significant because it unravels a body of literature that is still little known in the West.
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