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The Essentials of Ibadi Islam. By VALERIE J. HOFFMAN. Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East. Syracuse: SYRACUSE University PRESS, 2012. Pp. xii + 344. $39.95.
Western scholars and students with an interest in the history of Ibädi Islam and Oman are no doubt familiar with the name and some of the extensive works of the author of the book under review, in which she resumes her previous research devoted to Ibädism in Oman and Zanzibar in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During repeated research stays in Oman over a decade Hoffman collected the material for the present volume, which, as she phrases it in the introduction, "is an attempt to introduce Ibädi Islamic theology to students and scholars of Islam, mainly through annotated translations of two basic Ibädi theological texts, in order to address the general unavailability of Ibädi texts to all but the most specialized scholars of Islam" (p. 4). The relative lack of interest in Ibädi theology may be partly because Ibädi religious literature is often obscure and difficult to understand. In fact, the oldest Ibädi theological literature is mainly fragmentary intra-community correspondence: letters (generally termed sira, pi. siyar) from imams and ulema with advice and/or explanations to the members about controversial religious and political issues. Moreover, according to European works from the last century, of which the older ones rely on only a few Ibädi sources, the distinctive nature of Ibädism seems to consist chiefly of a quietist political doctrine and of a religious puritanism.
However, Ibädism presents a more complex reality. First of all, its sectarian nature is not so obvious. According to tradition, the Ibädi movement derives its name from cAbd Alläh Ibn Ibäd, who broke from Khäriji extremists in circa 65 A.H. (684/5) over the attitude to be adopted toward other Muslims. The Ibädis have been wrongly identified with the Khärijls by both Western scholars and non-Ibädi Muslim authors-Ibädis are instead very distant from them in political as well as religious matters. The connection between the two stems from the fact that most of the dissident Khärijis were from the Tamim tribe to which Ibn Ibäd also belonged. Moreover, proto-Ibädis were part of the Muhakkima movement of the early Khärijis, sharing with them the principle that...