The Life and Works of Imam Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah

 Background

Many groups of individuals that spread throughout the east and west acquired knowledge and learnt the founding principles of the school from Jabir ibn Zaid. The greatest of these individuals was the imam Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah, who was the undisputed authority for Ibadhis after Jabir ibn Zaid, even though there were colleagues of his who were just as knowledgeable in God's religion and its application. Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah was a mawla (client) of the Banu Taimim. According to al-Jahiz, he was a mawla of 'Urwah b. 'Udayyah, brother of Abu Bilal Mirdas.

Imam Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah was born in Basrah (around 45 A.H) and lived there until his death (around 145 A.H). He lost his eyesight later in his life.

He was nicknamed Abu 'Ubaidah (which literally means "father of 'Ubaidah) because 'Ubaidah was his daughter and she took knowledge from him.

He was a poor man who was widely known as "al-Qaffaf" (basket maker), since he used to weave baskets. This was a noble and free profession, with which he and his students were able to earn a legitimate and noble living, through sweat and hard work. He succeeded Imam Jabir as teacher, and many people acquired their knowledge from him, in spite of the harassment inflicted upon him by the Umayyads oppressors. He was kept under tight surveillance and prohibited from teaching and diffusing the spirit of freedom that can withstand injury, but not overlook degradation.

The notable scholar al-Shammakhi said this of Abu 'Ubaidah: 'He assimilated knowledge and disseminated it, memorized the different hadith reports and mastered them, He is the one, from among all his colleagues, to whom the people looked and around whom they crowded in order to listen to the advice and cautions that echo in the listener's mind. Despite its extensiveness, he always professed (that he had only) limited knowledge.'

Teachers

Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah, the disciple and successor of Jabir ibn Zaid, was himself an eminent scholar who wrote a compilation of Hadiths.

Abu 'Ubaidah lived in Basrah and studied under Jabir ibn Zaid, Suhar al-Abdi, and Ja'far ibn al-Simak. Some scholars suggest that Abu 'Ubaidah met the same Companions as his teacher Jabir, and narrated Traditions from the Companions, Jabir ibn Abdullah, Anas ibn Malik, Abu Hurairah, Ibn Abbas, Abu Said al-Khudri, and Aishah. It is possible that he may have met some of these Companions or all of them but not for long period as did Jabir ibn  Zaid.

His principle teachers were Jafar ibn al-Simak, Suhar al-'Abdi and Jabir ibn Zaid. But he acquired most of his knowledge from Jafar ibn al-Simak and Suhar.

Abu 'Ubaidah, being a client of 'Urwah must have been influenced by him a great deal. His other teacher Suhar al-'Abdi was a great orator (Khatib), great genealogist, and author of a book on 'Amthal (proverbs), as well as a theologian. His teacher Jabir ibn Zaid was a great Jurist, and an eminent Traditionalist; Abu 'Ubaidah, having studied under these great men, possessed all the various qualities they had. He was an ascetic, pious worshipper, a brilliant orator, an excellent teacher, and great scholar, covering fields of theology, Jurisprudence, and Traditions. And, finally, he had an excellent organizing ability.

In the field of Ibadhi doctrine, Abu 'Ubaidah kept to the same method as Jabir ibn Zaid, but he contributed more theological opinion in order to face the rising problems in this field. This may also be due to the influence of his teacher Suhar al-Abdi. In his legal opinions, Abu 'Ubaidah kept to the same line as his predecessor, Jabir ibn Zaid, of whom he was very proud, as he said, "Every man of Traditions (sahib hadith) who has no Imam in jurisprudence is gone astray. If God had not favoured us with Jabir ibn Zaid we too would have gone astray." He also kept the same respect for the Companions and their opinions. He said, "He who has no teacher among the companions possesses nothing of the religion. God has favoured us with Abdullah ibn Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, cousin of the Prophet, Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, and Abdullah ibn Sallam, who were firmly rooted in knowledge. We walked in their steps, followed their sayings, relied on their conduct, and imitated their method....."

Tawtheeq (Reliability)

Abu 'Ubaidah won the confidence of Hadith scholars and others. Many people have praised him. He was authenticated by Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal, Yahya ibn Ma'in, Al-Razi, Ad-Dolabi, and Ibn Hibban. 

Special Attributes 

Abu 'Ubaidah, in addition to his noble religion, his honourable legacy wide knowledge, adherence to principle, his holding on to the truth, severity towards sinners and steadfastness in the face of misfortunes, was the epitome of modesty, of gentle disposition and a yielding character, who acknowledged the limit of his knowledge and his weaknesses. He was a Muslim in the way he practiced religion, in his character, in his actions and his knowledge. He was one of those charged with making the call to Islam, and who would not be tempted by the material things of this life, nor by the delights of this world: he had no indulgence or leniency for falsehood. He was born to born to fight: to fight falsehood in all its forms and manifestations, to fight falsehood propagated by power of government, to fight falsehood created by minds using the logic of bid'ah (heresy), to fight falsehood in education that results from neglecting the (cultural) heritage of this community, to fight falsehood that is the result of the ignorance stemming from blind imitation, to fight the falsehood of meekness disguised as patience in enduring humiliation, to fight the falsehood of fear in the form of relinquishing steadfastness in order to endure misfortunes and avoid upheaval.

In fighting against falsehood in all its forms and manifestations, he was aware that the life of an individual is too short to establish this Noble Message. For this reason, he worked towards the creation of a generation of conscientious and educated young men, who perceived the truth of the Islamic Message and who understood the inner meanings of its laws. The foremost qualities that a believer in God must possess are to feel powerful because of God, to be humble towards believers, stern towards unbelievers and steadfast in the face of trials in order to uphold God's word.

Policy

It can be said that the Ibadhi movement with the leadership of Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim was an intellectual religious movement, its activities in Basrah were mainly educational. The policy of Abu 'Ubaidah was to educate the members and teach them the Ibadhi doctrine, and to have as many students as he could from different provinces of the Muslim countries, in order to establish a universal Imamate over the Muslim world. In order to carry out his activities in Basrah, Abu Ubaidah disconnected himself completely from the rulers so that he would be on the safe side. His policy in this respect was contrary to the policy of his predecessor Jabir b. Zaid. Abu 'Ubaidah's instructions to his followers were that they must not have any connections with the rulers.

'Abdullah b. 'Abd al-'Aziz a student of Abu 'Ubaidah, reported that one of the rulers ('Ummal) said to an Ibadhi member, "Let me write down your name in the register (diwan) and share with you your salary; and my brother will save you the trouble of the oath (al-bai'ah), and you take the money spontaneously." 'Abdullah said, "I went to Abu 'Ubaidah and asked him about his opinion concerning that offer, he said, 'Do not go to them or be near them there is no good for you in that." A similar story is reported by al-Rabi' b. Habib, another student of Abu 'Ubaidah, who succeeded him as a leader of the Ibadhi community in Basrah. He said, "An Ibadhi member wanted to accompany a newly appointed ruler and to go out with him. We asked the man who ordered you to go out with this governor? Another man said that Abu 'Ubaidah allowed him to do so. Al-Rabi' said, "I went to Abu 'Ubaidah and asked him if he had allowed that person to accompany the governor," he said, 'I did not order him with anything of that nature; it is said in the proverb: The fox said, 'I have ninety-nine tricks, no one of them is more useful to me than that the dog does not see me, and I do not see him.' It is the same with the Muslim; there is nothing better for him than not to see them (the rulers) or let them see him, by God; I am afraid for their Mu'adhin, that he will not be safe in calling for prayers, for them, so how about the others?" This firm attitude taken by Abu 'Ubaidah towards the rulers was the main mark of his policy, the only exception to this rule being 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz to whom a delegation was sent on behalf of the Ibadhi movement.

Under pressure from the Umayyad tyrants, Abu 'Ubaidah, together with his friend and colleague Dammam, was forced to carry on his teaching activities in hiding and to conceal his noble school from the eyes of al-Haijaj and his agents - al-Hajjaj the despot whose tyranny and oppression few sincere believers managed to escape. Al-Hajjaj sought the advice of a Magian concerning them, since he wanted a type of food that would torture the person who ate it but would not kill him. The Magian told him to give them a combination of leeks and oil. This remained their diet until al-Hajjaj died and they were released. Many a time the imprisonment and torture would make Dammam very weary, but Abu 'Ubaidah would say to him, with the patience of a faithful believer in God, 'Whom have you become weary of?'

Al-Hajjaj, his agents and his leaders did all they could to silence the voice of truth, oppress those that call to dignity and carry forward the holy law, imprisoning, torturing and killing them. They filled the earth with fear and terror. They did all that and much more, but they were only successful in fanning the flames of revolt and bringing about the end of their power. In the end, al-Hajjaj perished, along with the state that he used to worship beside God and the powers he set up to fight believers.

Imam Abu 'Ubaidah was released from al-Hajjaj's prison to carry on his message of calling to God, adherence to religion and the implementing of His laws. He was liberated in his thinking, and disseminated proper lslamic principles, such as the dignity of a Muslim, his rejection of debasement and his (duty to) demand integrity of those in power, integrity in religion, in morals, in conduct, and in government. He used to enjoin those in power to adhere to the Sunnah, to follow the way of the righteous predecessors, to establish justice between people, and to implement the commands of God as they are presented in God's Book.

Abu 'Ubaidah's Approach on Dawah

Abu 'Ubaidah's did not desist from disseminating knowledge and spreading praiseworthy morals. He used to devote himself to educating God's servants about God's religion and explaining to them what they did not know of God's Book or the Sunnah of His Messenger.

Although tight surveillance meant that Abu 'Ubaidah was constantly spied on, and the orders of the oppressors prevented him from teaching, he set up his school in an unknown dungeon that was very long. He placed metal chains at the door, so that if he or his students heard rattling they knew that a stranger was trying to enter. They would, thus, suspend class and go about making baskets, so that the visitor would not suspect them. But when he departed, and they felt secure from the gaze of oppressors, they would resume what they had been doing, going from the administration of a workshop that produced baskets to the administration of one that produced sound hearts, minds and convictions.

Despite all the unrelenting surveillance, constant pressure and ongoing hardship, this great imam succeeded in creating an Islamic school, one that carried forth the light of Muhammad's guidance to the remotest places. Countless Muslims were educated produced bearers of knowledge that went both eastwards and westwards. ln addition to the long and persevering struggle waged by this imam against oppression and those who perpetrate it, he was also waging a long and persistent intellectual and religious struggle against heresy seductively contrived by the perverted minds and defective insight of Qadariyyah, Mujbirah and Khawarij, minds which in those days were afflicted with the love of Abu 'Ubaidah dispute and negligent of good deeds.

The method followed by Abu 'Ubaidah was to keep fast to the teachings of the Companions and the followers, and not to form any line which might lead way from their way. To him, following Sunnah is a sign that the Muslim has a good soul.

The activities of Abu 'Ubaidah covered two main lines:

a) Looking after the Ibadhi organization.

b) Teaching Ibadhi doctrine to the learning students.

In his secret institution, which was no more than a hidden dungeon on whose gates chains used to rattle and in which baskets were piled up with pen and paper, somewhere in Basrah, he educated the men who played the most important part in the development of the Ibadhi doctrine, and its political success.

Basrah was the centre of the Ibadhi movement till the end of the second century for several reasons:

a) The religious leaders of the Abu 'Ubaidah movement lived in Basrah and carried out all their educational activities there.

b) In Basrah the movement gained full support from the large number of Jabir's kinsmen of al-'Azd, and their leading family of the Muhallabids.

c) Basrah was one of the intellectual Capitals of Islam forming besides Kufah the cultural centre of the Islamic and Arabic studies.

d) Finally, Basrah was in the centre of the Muslim countries of Asia, a fact which made the contacts easier between the centre of the movement in Basrah and the other branches of Khurasan, Oman, Yemen, and Mecca.

In Basrah, the Ibadhi organisation with the leadership of and the council of the Shaikhs, carried out the responsibility of forming the policy of the movement and preparing learned men for missionary work to be sent all over the Muslim countries to propagate the Ibadhi doctrine.

All activities of the Ibadhi movement in Basra were carried out in secrecy, the special state known in Ibadhi doctrine as the state of Kitman (secrecy). The Umayyads' suppression against any opposition obliged Ibadhi to carry on with their activities in secret for safety, and this was assured by establishing special centres (majalis) in secret places where they exercised their religious and educational activities.

It appears that the idea of secret centres (majalis) was founded as early as the days of Ziyad b. Abi Sufyan, for it is reported that 'Urwah b. 'Udayyah was caught in an underground cave, where he was worshipping. These secret retreats were used of meetings of the members of the movement where they used to invoke God and discuss their present situation. These kinds of majalis were mentioned by Abu Bilal Mirdas as well. From the given information it appears that there were three types of majalis:

i)            Majalis of the Shaikhs:

Majalis of the Shaikhs, or the leaders of the movement; in these majalis the Shaikhs discussed the plans of the organization, and meetings in such majalis usually took place during the night, and no young members were allowed to attend the meetings unless they were fully trusted. Abu Sufyan Mahbub b. al-Rahil said, "We heard one night that a meeting was held in the house of Hajib, the Shaikhs did not allow us to attend their meetings during the night; I told one of the Omanis, 'Let us go to Hajib's house, for they may allow us in.' We went to the house and were permitted to enter. We found there al-Mukhtar b. 'Awf, and two or three Shaikhs, Hijab ordered us to inform Balj b. 'Uqbah about their place; so we told him. After we prayed 'Isha' they started speaking, each one stood and spoke for some time, then he sat down and another stood, and so on, until the light of the morning. Al-Malih said, "Shu'aib b. 'Amr, brother-in-law of Hajib, and one of the best Ibadhi youths, came to Hajib's house that night; the distance between his residence and the house of Hajib was about three miles, but Hajib refused to let him in."

ii)           The General Majalis:

The second type of Majalis is majalis for all members to which they come to hear addresses from the Shaikhs on religious subjects in general. There was no special programme for such majalis; it depends on the persons who were in charge of them and their abilities and inclination. "If a person was seen with the impression of submissiveness on his face that would mean that he had attended the majalis of Abu Sufyan Qunbur recently, for his majalis were for invocation of God, recital of the Qur'an, and frightening people of the Hell and the chastisement of God." Sometime the organiser of the majalis would ask the speakers to stress on a certain subject to bring the attention of certain members to it. A large number of these majalis were formed in Basrah during this period. Ibadhi historians mentioned the majalis of Abu al-Hurr 'Ali b. al-Hussain which used to be on Monday and Thursday, majalis of Abu Sufyan Qunbur, and the majalis of 'Abd al-Malik al-Tawil. Women have special rooms in these majalis and were allowed to attend this type of majalis. Some women offered their houses to be used for the majalis.

iii)         Missionary training Centers:

The third kind of the majalis are those which were held for regular students who wanted to study Ibadhi doctrine, or to be trained for missionary work. It is reported that Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah used to teach his students in a secret cave with someone on guard outside to inform them if he saw a stranger coming, by moving an iron chain so Abu 'Ubaidah would stop his lecture and carry on with making baskets; his covering work, from which he took the title al-Qaffaf (basket maker) as mentioned earlier. Only members of the movement were allowed to join these majalis but if they showed any sort of deviation they were to be expelled from the majalis. During the period of Jabir and Abu 'Ubaidah, members were very careful in their activities, on some occasions they attended their meetings wearing women's dresses or disguised as merchants and workers so no-one of their enemies would take notice of them. In the time of Ziyad and his son, the houses which were used for holding majalis were attacked on many occasions and members were arrested, but in spite of all the difficulties, the Ibadhi's activities at that time were carried out mainly through the majalis.

Hajj and Trading

Imam Abu 'Ubaidah took great care of Hajj (Pilgrimage) season. He was like his Imam; Jabir ibn Zaid, rarely missed Hajj. And if he missed it then he would depute his colleague and student Dammam ibn Al-Sa'ib. This is to benefit from the gathering of the Islamic nation and to convey the message through a wide range of people.

His plan was to achieve great advantages. These advantages could be summarized as follows:

·        The tremendous reward for performing Hajj, even if nafl (supererogatory).

·        Meeting with jurists, scholars, and regional callers (to Islam), especially those who remained from the Companions and great Followers.

·        Getting acquainted with Ibadhi pilgrims who were coming from regions like Oman, Khurasan, Yemen, Hadramout, Egypt, and Maghrib, As well as the ones living in Hejaz. They met at Mecca to exchange news and compare notes.

·         Solving problems which might occur between Ibadhi groups living in distant regions.

·        Responding to pilgrims' inquiries regarding Hajj provisions and any other religious questions they might have.

Writings

What can be realized from the personality of Imam Abu 'Ubaidah is that he was a practitioner more than a theorist. Therefore, he devoted his attention to teaching, fatwa (legal opinions), preparation of callers, and establishment of states that rule with Allah's religious laws and establishing justice between people.

His letters contain knowledge, Fatwa and political organization of the movement. The sign of this is the organizational relationship which was between him and the Ibadhi callers in East and West. Among these letters are:

·        The letter of Abu 'Ubaidah about Zakat (obligatory charity),

·        The letter of Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah and Abu Mawdud Hajib al-Tai to the people of Maghrib,

·        The letter of Abu 'Ubaidah and Hajib to the people of Oman,

·        The letter of Abu 'Ubaidah and Hajib in response to Murji'ah, and

·        The letter of Abu 'Ubaidah and Hajib to al- Fadhl ibn Kathir.

References:

Ibadhism in History: The emergence of the Ibadi school; by Ali Yahya Muammar

Studies in Ibadhism; by Amr Ennami

The Doctrines of the Ibadhi Creed Till the End of the Second AH Century; by Musallam Salim Al-Wahibi 

Al-Ibadhiyah Approach on Dawah; by Dr. Muhammed Salih Nasser