ABSTRACT
The Ibāḍī form is a distinct sect of Islam which nonetheless shares with the other major groups of Islam, the Sunnī and Shī ʿī branches, the same basic doctrines and practices. Ibāḍī Islam’s distinctions lie mainly in its doctrine of the necessity of overthrowing unjust rulers, if feasible, and in its definition of who is considered a Muslim. Ibāḍī Islam also preserves doctrines popular in the early Muʿtazilī theological school that have been discarded in Sunnī Islam, though preserved in some Shī ʿī sects, regarding God’s essence and attributes and the createdness of the Qurʾān. Ibāḍī Islam is a small sect found today only in Oman, in small pockets of Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, and among Omanis living in east Africa.
