[Oman-L] study on Ibadhism

[Valerie J. Hoffman]

I have done some study on Ibadhism and have published a number of
articles on the subject. I have also completed a book manuscript
entitled "The Essentials of Ibadi Islam," which will be published, in
sha' Allah, by Syracuse University Press. My book is on Ibadi theology,
not law, but I am unaware of any differences between Ibadi and Sunni
funerary rites. Regarding eschatology, however, there are some
significant differences, which the Grand Mufti of Oman, Shaykh Ahmad ibn
Hamad al-Khalili, defends in his book, "Al-Haqq al-Damigh." The main
differences are the following:

(1) Ibadis do not take as literally true some of the images pertaining
to Judgment Day, like the Bridge over hellfire and the weighing of deeds
in a scale (they say that deeds are "accidents," in the philosophical
sense, not bodies, and cannot be weighed in a literal sense). Rather,
they see these as metaphors.

(2) Ibadis do not believe that the Prophet will intercede for sinning
Muslims, whereas Sunni hadiths say that by virtue of the Prophet's
intercession, anyone who believes in one God and in the prophethood of
Muhammad will enter paradise, even if he had committed theft or adultery.

(3) Ibadis do not believe that it will be possible for believers to see
God in the afterlife, as Sunnis say will occur.

Valerie Hoffman
Associate Professor
Program for the Study of Religion
University of Illinois
3080 Foreign Languages Building
707 S. Mathews Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
USA