Book: Early Islamic Law in Basra in the 2nd/8th Century

It is a unique document because it attests to the existence of a scholarly link between Sunnīs and Ibāḍīs during the early development of Islamic law.

The manuscript of the   has repeatedly attracted particular interest among modern scholars, as it raises questions concerning the early development of the Ibāḍī Basran community and the emergence of Islamic jurisprudence in Iraq. It is a unique document because it attests to the existence of a scholarly link between Sunnīs and Ibāḍīs during the early development of Islamic law. The fact that the legal responsa and traditions of Qatāda b. Diʿāma al-Sadūsī (60/680-117/735) are part of an Ibāḍī collection, in which the traditions of Ibāḍī Imam Jābir b. Zayd (d. 93/ 711) have been transmitted through ʿAmr b. Harim and ʿAmr b. Dīnār, proves that the Ibāḍī lawyers of the first generations considered Qatāda to be a faithful upholder of Jābir’s doctrine. Given the lack of material available for Jābir, instructions must have been given to collect whatever was transmitted through Qatāda. Qatāda’s legal responsa must have corresponded to those of the first Ibāḍī authorities, which explains why the collator of the Aqwāl Qatāda (probably Abū Ghānim al-Khurāsānī) included them in an Ibāḍī manuscript. The present volume sheds light on the relationship between the Aqwāl Qatāda and Ibāḍī authorities such as al-Rabī, Abū Ubayda, and Jābir.

About the Author

Abdulrahman al-Salimi (Ph.D. Durham 2001) is the editor in chief of the Omani journal al-Tafahom. As an editor, author and co-author he has written and published books and articles on Omani studies and early Islamic theology. He is the author of Ibadism in East Mesopotamia. Early Islamic Iran, Central Asia and India (Beirut: German Oriental Institute, 2016), and co-editor of Early Ibāḍī Theology (Leiden: Brill, 2014) and Ibāḍī Texts from the 2nd/8th Century (Leiden: Brill, 2017).

Bibliographic Information

Title: Early Islamic Law in Basra in the 2nd/8th Century: Aqwāl Qatāda b. Diʿāma al-Sadūsī

Author: Abdulrahman al-Salimi

Publisher: BRILL

 Language: English and Arabic

Length: 350 pages

ISBN: 9789004339477

Pub. Date: November, 2017