ʿIbādiy(y)a

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ʿIbādiy(y)a, ʿIbadites, or ʿAbādites. The only continuing branch of the Kharijites, who are found particularly in Oman, and in N. and E. Africa. Their (probable) founder, ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿIbād (1st cent. AH) took a far more moderate line, not regarding non-Kharijites as mushrikūn (shirk), and therefore rejecting political assassination as a weapon. Marriage with non-ʿIbādites was also allowed. It influenced other Muslim movements, of which the most enduring has been the Wahhābīs.

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