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 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
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