A. al-Salimi

Institute of Shariah Sciences, Muscat, Oman

E-mail: aalsalimi1970@gmail.com

THE INFLUENCE OF IBADI SIYAR MANUSCRIPTS ON THE ORIENTALISTS' UNDERSTANDING OF THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAMIC THEOLOGY

Abstract. The article is devoted to the achievements and approaches of specialists, mostly American, British, German, French and Italian in the analysis of Ibadi siyar and the new perspectives of the research connected with the analysis of the MSS material. The general tendency in the field now is to follow the footsteps of Van Ess, Madelung and Cook, and rather than developing new theories and hypotheses, to seek out and identify well documented texts that will offer a reliable picture of Islamic thought before the 3rd/9th century. To provide a clearer general context, the texts could also be rearranged in historical order and grouped on the basis of the ideas they present. Most works produced by the different Ibadi groups during the early period are not representative of particular literary genre. However, we do not have precise data on the Islamic material on ‘ilm al-kalam that has been discovered so far from the period up to the end of the 3rd/9th century. Because of the importance attached to siyar by Ibadi ‘ulama’ during the 10th/16th and 11th/17th centuries Ibabi schools began to seek out their roots and collect early manuscripts and works of literature on the Ibadi legacy. The latter were copied and preserved per se without diluting them or considering them in the context of the other Islamic schools. That is why the Ibadi school was able to remain united and steadfast in the face of the contemporary modernization movements which continue to this day. Most of the compilations of the texts that are currently in our possession comprise not more than ten volumes in all. Scholars and copyists have rearranged each of these manuscripts, so that each copy has a different number and sequence of siyar texts. The existing text formats raise the important question of whether Ibabi siyar are actually a literary genre. Until now nobody has really studied siyar in such a way that their specific genre characteristics have been defined in detail.

Key words: Oman, Ibadism, Ibadi siyar, ‘Umani siyar, Ibadi legacy, early Islamic theology, ‘ilm al-kalam, fiqh, sira, hadith, siyar as literary genre 

References 

• Al-‘Awtabi, Salama b. Muslim (2015), Kitab al-Diya’ [The Book of Light], S. Babziz & D. Babziz (ed.), Muscat: Wizara al-awqaf wa al-shu’un al-diniyya.
• Al-Barradi, Abu al-Fadl Abu al-Qasim b. Ibrahim (1302/1884), al-Jawahir al-muntaqa fi itmam ma akhla bihi Kiab al-Tabaqat [The Chosen Jewells on Completing the Missing of the Book of Tabaqat], Cairo: al-Matba‘a al-Baruniyya.
• Al-Izkawi, Sirhan b. ‘Umar b. Sa‘id (2006), Kitab Kashf al-ghumma al-jami‘ li-akhbar al-umma [Reveal the Mass of the News of the Nation], H. M. al-Nabudha (ed.), Beirut: Dar al-Barudi.
• Al-Kadami, Abu Sa‘id Muhammad b. Sa‘id (1984), Kitab al-istiqama [The Book of the Straightness], Muscat; Wizara al-turath al-qawmi wa-l-thaqafa.
• Al-Kindi, Abu Bakr Ahmad b. Abdullah b. Musa (2015), al-Musannaf [The Composed], M. Baju (ed.), Muscat: Wizara al-awqaf wa al-shu’un al-diniyya.
• Al-Kindi, Muhammad b. Ibrahim (1984—1994), Biyan al- Shari‘a [The Shari‘a Manifest], Muscat: Wizarat al-turath al-qawmi wa-l-thaqafa.
• Al-Salimi, A. & Madelung, W. (eds.) (2017), Ibadi Texts from the 2nd/8th Century, Leiden: Brill.
• Al-Salimi, A. (2010), “Identifying the (Ibadi / Omani) siyar”, Journal of Semitic Studies, vol. 55(1), pp. 115—162.
• Al-Salimi, A. (2012), “Trends in religious reform on the Arabian Peninsula”, Hemispheres: Studies on Cultures and Societies, vol. 27, pp. 161—173.
• Al-Salimi, A. (2017), Early Islamic Law in Basra in the 2nd/8th Century: Aqwal Qatada b. Di‘ama Al-Sadusi, Leiden: Brill.
• Al-Salimi, N. (1347/1928), Tuhfat al-‘ayan bi sirat ahl ‘Uman [The Gift of the Elites on the Oman History of the People of Oman], Cairo, Matba‘at al-sufliyya.
• Al-Sayyid, R. (1993), Mafahim al-jama‘a fi al-Islam [Groups Concepts in Islam], Beirut: Dar al-Muntakhab al-‘Arabi.
• Badger, G. P. (tr.) (1871), History of the Imams and Sayyids of ‘Oman of Salil-ibn-Razil, London: Hakluyt Society.
• Cook, M. (1981), Early Muslim Dogma: A Source-Critical Study, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Crone, P. & Zimmermann, F. (2001), The Epistle of Salim Ibn Dhakwan, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Crone, P. (1998), “A statement by the Najdiyya Kharijites on the dispensability of the Imamate”, Studia Islamica, vol. 88, pp. 55—76.
• Cuperly, P. (1984), Introduction à l'étude de l'Ibadisme et de sa théologie, Algiers: Office des publications universitaires.
• Ennami, A. (1971), Studies in Ibadism, Ph.D. thesis, Cambridge: University of Cambridge (unpublished).
• Ess, J. van (1977), Anfänge Muslimischer Theologie: zwei antiqadaritische Traktate aus dem ersten Jahrhundert der Higra, Beirut: Orient-Inst. der Dt. Morgenländischen Ges.; Wiesbaden: Steiner [in Komm.].
• Ess, J. van (1992—1997), Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra: eine Geschichte des religiösen Denkens im frühen Islam, Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter.
• Gaiser, A. R. (2010), Muslims, Scholars, Soldiers: The Origin and Elaboration of the Ibadi Imamate Traditions, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Gaiser, A. R. (2016), Shurat Legends, Ibadi Identities: Martyrdom, Asceticism, and the Making of an Early Islamic Community, Columbia: South Caroline University Press.
• Ibn Ruzayq, Hamid b. Muhammad (1977), Al-Fath al-mubin fi sirat al-Sada al-Bus‘idiyyin [Land Sliding Victory on the al-Bus‘idi Biography], ‘A. ‘Amir & ‘A. Mursi (eds.), Muscat: Wizarat al-turath al-qawmi wa-l-thaqifa.
• Kashif, S. I. (ed.) (1984), Al-siyar wa al-jawabat [Biographies and Answers], Muscat: Wizarat al-turath al-qawmi wa-l-thaqifa.
• Lewicki, T. (1957), “La répartition géographique des groupements ibadites en Afrique du Nord au Moyen Âge”, Rocznik Orientalistyczny, vol. 21, pp. 301—343.
• Lewicki, T. (1958 ), “Les subdivisions de l'Ibadiyya”, Studia Islamica, vol. 9, pp. 71—82.
• Nallino, C. A. (1916), “Rapporti fra la dogmatica Mu‘tazilita e qulla degli Ibaditi dell'Africa Settentrionale”, Rivista degli Studi Orientali, vol. 7, pp. 455—460.
• Radivilov, D. (1995—1996), “Декiлька повiдомлень про раннiх знавцiв iбадитськоï догми [“Several accounts on early Ibadi authorities”], Схiднийсвiт, vol. 1—2, pp. 121—125.
• Ross, E. A. (tr.) (1874), “Annals of ‘Omán, from early times to the year 1728 A.D. from an Arabic Ms. by Sheykh Sirhan Bin Sa‘id Bin Sirhan Bin Muhammad, of the Benu ‘Ali Tribe of ‘Omán”, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 43/2, pp. 111—196.
• Rubinacci, R. (1952), “Il ‘Kitab al-Gawahir’ di al-Barradi”, Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, vol. 4, pp. 95—110.
• Rubinacci, R. (1953), “Il califfo ‘Abd al-Mailk b. Marwan e gli Ibaditi”, Annali dell'Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli, vol. 5, pp. 99—121.
• Veccia Vaglieri, L. (1944) “Le vicende del Harigismo in epoca abbaside”, Rivista degli studi orientali, vol. 24, pp. 31—44.
• Veccia Vaglieri, L. (1949), “L'Imamate Ibaditeta dell’‘Oman”, Annali Istituto Orientale di Napoli, vol. 3, pp. 245—282.
• Watt, M. (1974), “Was Wasil a Kharijite?”, Islamwissenchaftliche Abhandlungen Fritz Meier zum 60, Geburtstag, R. Gramlich (ed.), Wiesbaden: F. Steiner, pp. 306—311.
• Wilkinson, J. C. (1981), “Oman and East Africa: new light on early Kilwan history from the Omani sources”, International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 272—305.
• Wilkinson, J. C. (1987), The Imamate Tradition of Oman, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Wilkinson, J. C. (1988), “The Omani and Ibadi background to the Kilwah sirah: the demise of Oman as a political and religious force in the Indian Ocean in the 6th/12th century”, in: A. K. Irvine, R. B. Serjeant & G. R. Smith (eds.), A Miscellany of Middle Eastern Articles in Memoriam Thomas Muir Johnstone 1924—1983, London: Longman, pp. 131—148.

Received by the Editorial Board: 15.08.2017