Abu al-Sha'tha Jabir ibn Zayd al-Yahmadi al-Azdi () was an Islamic scholar, theologian and one of the founding figures of the

Ibadi Ibadism (, ) is a school of Islam concentrated in Oman established from within the Kharijites. The followers of the Ibadi sect are known as the Ibadis or, as they call themselves, The People of Truth and Integrity (). Ibadism emerged around 6 ...

Donald Hawley Sir Donald Hawley (22 May 1921 – 31 January 2008) was a British colonial lawyer, diplomat and writer. Career Donald Frederick Hawley was educated at Radley College. At the outbreak of World War II, about to go to university, he volunteered f ...

, ''Oman'', pg. 199. Jubilee edition.

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

: Stacey International, 1995. the third major denomination of Islam. He was from the

Tabi‘un The tābiʿūn (, also accusative or genitive tābiʿīn , singular ''tābiʿ'' ), "followers" or "successors", are the generation of Muslims who followed the Companions of the Prophet, companions (''ṣaḥāba'') of the Islamic prophet Muhammad ...

, or second generation of Islam, and took leadership of the denomination after the death of Abd-Allah ibn Ibadh.Valerie Jon Hoffman, ''The Essentials of Ibadi Islam'', pg. 12. Syracuse:

Syracuse University Press Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Domestic distribution for the press is currently provided by the University of North ...

, 2012. Donald Hawley, ''Oman'', pg. 200.

Life

Ibn Zayd was born in the village of Firaq, near modern-day Nizwa in

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. As a tabi'i from the second generation of Muslims, he was a student of Prophet Muhammad's widow

Aisha Aisha bint Abi Bakr () was a seventh century Arab commander, politician, Muhaddith, muhadditha and the third and youngest wife of the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. Aisha had an important role in early Islamic h ...

and cousin Abd Allah ibn Abbas.

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf had friendly relations with Ibn Zayd personally, as the former viewed the Ibadi denomination as a more moderate branch of the

Khawarij The Kharijites (, singular ) were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the conflict with his challenge ...

that could be used as a bulwark against the more extreme adherents. This ended after Ibn Zayd ordered the execution of one of al-Hajjaj's spies, which led many Ibadis to be either imprisoned or exiled to Oman. After the death of Ibn Ibad, Ibn Zayd led the Ibadis to Oman where the aḥādīth ṣaḥīḥat al-isnād he narrated from different companions of Muhammad formed the corpus of the Ibadi interpretation of Islamic law.

Legacy

Ibn Zayd is well respected by both his denomination as well as adherents of

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

, holding roughly the same level of prestige as the Sunnis' own

Hasan of Basra Abi Sa'id al-Hasan ibn Yasar al-Basri, often referred to as al-Hasan al-Basri, was an ancient Muslim preacher, ascetic, theologian, exegete, scholar, and judge. Born in Medina in 642,Mourad, Suleiman A., “al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī”, in: ''Encyc ...

. He is the most commonly cited transmitter in Jami'ul Sahih, one of the two hadith collections of the Ibadis.Jonathan E. Brockopp, ''The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad'', pg. 92.

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 2010.

Citations

Omani Ibadi Muslims 8th-century jurists 8th-century people from the Umayyad Caliphate 8th-century Omani people 8th-century Arab people {{Theologian-stub