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The objective of this paper is to shed the light to the series of manuscripts of the treatise al-Mutashabih fi al-Qur’an ( Ambiguous [ayat] in the Qur’an ) by Abu Tahir al-Turaythithi, Mu'tazilte scholar of Baghdad. The problem discussed is the exaggeration of the Qur’an which was the point of sharp theological debates. We know comparatively well the Mu'tazilte works produced in Basra while the work by Abu Tahir al-Turaythithi reflects comprehensively the school of Baghdad. The journey of the treatise through the Muslim world as presented by its manuscripts started from Central Asia, they appeared in Yemen and Oman and finally in one of the European libraries.

This volume contains twenty-three texts, most of which were written between the end of the 2nd/8th century and the end of the 3rd/9th century. The majority of them reflect the early stages of the development of the First Ibadi Imamate in 132/750 – established when the Omanis fully seceded from the central state in Baghdad until the Imamate was collapsed by the Abbasids in 280/893. The source value of these Ibadi texts for researchers and scholars specialised in Islamic studies far outweighs any importance they might attach to sectarian history per se. 1 The Epistle of Mūsā b. Abī Jābir سيرة موسى بن أبي جابر 2 Letter of Abū Mawdūd to Imam Ghassān b. ʿAbdallāh نصيحة أبي مودود للإمام غسّان بن عبد الله 3 Epistle of Abū Mawdūd Ḥabīb b. Ḥafṣ al-Hilālī to Imam Ghassān b. ʿAbdallāh سيرة أبي مودود حبيب بن حفص الهلالي إلى الإمام غسان بن عبد الله 4 Epistle of Munīr b. al-Nayyīr al-Riyāmī al-Jaʿlānī to Imam Ghassān b. ʿAbdallāh سيرة المنير بن النيّر الريامي الجعلاني إلى الإمام غسان بن عبدالله 5 Epistle of Abū Sufyān Maḥbūb b. al-Raḥīl to Imam al-Muhannāʾ b. Jayfar about Hārūn b. al-Yamān سيرة أبي سفيان محبوب بن الرحيل إلى الإمام المهناء بن جيفر بشأن هارون بن اليمان 6 Epistle of Abū Sufyān Maḥbūb b. al-Raḥīl to the People of Ḥaḍramawt about Hārūn b. al-Yamān سيرة أبي سفيان محبوب بن الرحيل إلى أهل حضرموت بشأن هارون بن اليمان 7 Epistle of Hārūn b. al-Yamān to Imam al-Muhannāʾ b. Jayfar about Abū Sufyān Maḥbūb b. al-Raḥīl سيرة هارون بن اليمان إلى الإمام المهناء بشأن أبي سفيان محبوب بن الرحيل 8 Letter from Hāshim b. Ghaylān al-Humaymī to Imam ʿAbd al-Malik b. Ḥumayd جواب مِن هاشم بن غيلان إلى الإمام عبد الملك بن حُمَيْد\سيرة 9 Epistle of Abū ʿAlī [Mūsā b. ʿAlī] to the shurāt سيرة لأبي علي للشراة 10 Letter from Hāshim b. Ghaylān al-Humaymī to Imam ʿAbd al-Malik b. Ḥumayd سيرة هاشم بن غيلان إلى الإمام عبد الملك بن حُمَيد 11 Letter from Mūsā b. ʿAlī to Imam ʿAbd al-Malik b. Ḥumayd سيرة موسى بن علي إلى الإمام عبد الملك بن حُمَيد 12 Letter from Mūsā b. ʿAlī [b. ʿAzra], Hāshim b. Ghaylān and the People of Izkī to Imam ʿAbd al-Malik b. Ḥumayd موسى بن عليّ و هاشم بن غيلان وأهل إزكي إلى الإمام عبد الملك بن حُمَيْد سيرة 13 Letter from Hāshim b. Ghaylān, Muḥammad b. Mūsā, al-Azhar b. ʿAlī, al-ʿAbbās b. al-Azhar, Mūsā b. Muḥammad and Saʿīd b. Jaʿfar to Imam ʿAbd al-Malik b. Ḥumayd سيرة من هاشم بن غيلان ومحمّد بن موسى والأزهر بن علي والعبّاس بن الأزهر ومحمّد ابني عليّ وسعيد بن جعفر إلى الإمام عبد الملك بن حُمَيد 14 Epistle of Imam al-Muhannāʾ b. Jayfar to Maʿādh b. Ḥarb سيرة الإمام المهناء بن جيفر إلى معاذ بن حرب 15 Letter from Imam al-Ṣalt b. Mālik and Muḥammad b. Maḥbūb to Aḥmad b. Sulaymān, the Imam of Ḥaḍramawt جواب من الإمام الصلت بن مالك ومحمّد بن محبوب إلى أحمد بن سليمان إمام\سيرة حضرموت 16 Epistle of Muḥammad b. Maḥbūb to the People of the Maghreb (North Africa) سيرة محمد بن محبوب لأهل المغرب 17 Epistle of Imam al-Ṣalt b. Mālik سيرة الإمام الصلت بن مالك 18 Epistle of Muḥammad b. Maḥbūb [b. al-Raḥīl] to Abū Ziyād Khalaf b. ʿAzra سيرة محمّد بن محبوب إلى أبي زياد خلف بن عزرة 19 Letter from Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad b. Maḥbūb to Imam al-Ṣalt b. Mālik Regarding the People in Prison الصلت بن مالك في أهل السجن[الإمام]جواب مِن أبي عبدالله محمّد بن محبوب إلى 20 Epistle of Shaykh ʿAzzān b. al-Ṣaqr سيرة أبي معاوية عزّان بن الصقر 21 Epistle of Imam [Abū l-Yaqẓān] Muḥammad b. Aflaḥ رسالة الإمام محمد بن أفلح 22 Epistle of Abū l-Muʾthir al-Ṣalt b. Khamīs al-Kharūṣī سيرة أبي المؤثر الصلت بن خميس 23 Epistle of Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Basyāwī Regarding Monotheism and the Imamate سيرة الشيخ أبي الحسن البسيوي

Le gros de la recherche orientaliste consacrée à la littérature théologique islamique a négligé les idées théologiques Ibāḍī à portée cosmologique, ce qui a conduit à une compréhension incomplète de la théologie islamique et à un manque considérable dans la recherche occidentale. L'omission de ce mouvement important de l'Islam est compréhensible étant donné que les textes Ibāḍī ne sont accessibles, publiés, diffusés et traduits que de façon très partielle. Cette étude vise donc à combler certaines de ces lacunes dans la recherche sur la première théologie islamique. Les objectifs de cet article sont de: 1) caractériser la littérature Ibāḍī classique portant sur la théorie atomiste de la substance et de l'accident; 2) examiner les textes d'auteurs Ibāḍī du iiie/ixe siècle dialoguant et discutant avec d'autres écoles théologiques islamiques, à savoir les Muʿtazilites pré-Bahshamiyya (Abū Hāshim al-Jubbāʾī, d. 321/933) et les Ashʿarites (Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī, d. 324/936), en lien avec la théorie atomiste de la substance et de l'accident; 3) passer en revue le grand nombre d'opinions soutenues parmi les premiers théologiens Ibāḍī, et examiner les sources et les thèmes spécifiques susceptibles d'avoir influencé cette école de pensée diversifiée. Cet article cherche aussi à identifier des traits communs dans l'approche Ibāḍī durant la période de formation de la théologie islamique, et à explorer les voies grâce auxquelles ces premiers théologiens ont pu avoir accès à des thèmes cosmologiques antérieurs à l'Islam.

The Aqw?l Qat?da (the Sayings/teachings of Qat?da) is a collection of writings on fiqh (jurisprudence) and ?ad?th (traditions) narrated by Qat?da b. Di'ama al-Sadusi (c.60-117/680-735) that has frequently attracted the interest of present-day scholars. In addition to these writings, the discovery of a number of previously unknown texts on Ib??? jurisprudence and early legal opinions in the Maghrib region by a non-Ib??? scholar from Ba?ra now raises important questions about early Ib??? history and the proper methods of recording information during Islam’s formative period during the first half of the 2nd /8th century. Although these texts have not yet been published, they are the subject of intense debate amongst modern scholars. Although the Aqw?l Qat?da was never incorporated into the legal literature of the Ib??iyyah in Oman, manuscripts of the Aqw?l Qat?da have repeatedly attracted particular interest among modern scholars as it raises questions concerning the early development of the Ib??? Ba?ran community. It is a unique document because it attests to the existence of a scholarly link between Sunn?s and Ib???s during the early development of Islamic law. The fact that the legal responses and traditions of Qat?da are part of an Ib??? collection, in which the traditions of J?bir bin Zayd (one of the founders of Ibadism) have been transmitted through ‘Amr b. Harim and ‘Amr b. D?n?r, proves that Ib??? lawyers of the first generations considered Qat?da to be a faithful upholder of J?bir's doctrine. This present study on the text is based on two recently discovered manuscripts. One of these is in the D?r al-Kutub al-Mi?riyyah in Cairo, while the other is in the al-B?r?niyyah Library (al-Khiz?nah al-B?r?niyyha) on the Tunisian island of Djerba. We shall look at both of them in detail. The texts display three important features, which will be the subject of analysis: 1) fiqh opinions commonly held during the early Islamic period in Ba?ra; 2) early approaches to the collection of Islamic religious traditions including ?ad?th of the Prophet and legal opinions of the early community 3) the development of Islamic jurisprudence during the first two centuries of the Islamic era.

The last fifty years mark a period of great change in the role of religious leadership and education in the Sultanate of Oman. The country moved from bifurcated leadership between an Imam and a Sultan to a single political authority. These decades also witnessed the modernisation of the state. These factors combined to reshape the place of religion and religious education in society. Whereas previously religious leaders had relative autonomy and more direct political influence, now they were brought under the auspices of the government with their focus circumscribed to religious matters. The structures and foci of religious education were then reshaped so that tradition provided a platform for progress and the more zealous ideologies emerging in the region could be held at bay. This has permitted Oman to modernise and engage with a global society in an amicable, non-sectarian, manner.

‘Abd Allāh b. Yazīd al-Fazārī (2nd/8th century) was one of the leading early Islamic theologians. His works are still among the most reliable and accessible to scholars and this text is a significant new addition to al Fazari’s texts that were previously published (IHC. 104/IHC. 182). This present study is based on a discussion of al-Fazārī’s teachings with the title Kitāb fī al-Tawḥīd, which is a commentary on his lost work by an anonymous North African Ibadi theologian and is unique because it is among the few known works which describe the doctrine of the early Ibadis. The addition of this text to al -Fazārī’s previously discovered writings provides us with further information about the early Ibadis’ theological views; more importantly, however, it also enables us to trace the development of the terminology they used and understand how and why it changed, as well as the intellectual aspects of the Islamic theological debates during the 2nd/8th century. This study successfully establishes that the opinions of this Ibadi school of theology have remained the same from one generation to the next - among the eastern Ibadis in Oman, Yemen and Hadhramawt as well as the western Ibadis in North Africa. It refutes previous speculation which maintained that al Fazārī’s views were on the decline in Ibadi circles from the middle of the 5th/11th century, since the evidence shows that the precise opposite was the case. In fact, this study shows that his theological teachings were still being followed in the 20th century by the Ibadis in Oman and North Africa.

The politico-economic involvement of Omani families in the Gulf region in the period of Makramid rule in Oman (385–442/995–1050) deserves further study. My research into this family has highlighted the political involvement of Oman in the interaction between the Gulf and Iran in this period. It also revealed another dimension, i.e. shipping through the Gulf and the use by Omani families of the old trade routes, starting from Soḥār, to Sīrāf and thence to al-Ābilah, and ending in Baṣrah. The trade network linking all these cities was mostly operated by the ships owned by Omani families and run by their employees. Although the Makramids dominated this trade, it should be noted that other Omani families were also involved in it. The weakness of Makramid rule was mainly due to the family's concentration on economic activities and its reluctance to become involved in military action. Consequently, they remained under Buyid authority throughout their rule in the coastal region of Oman. Yet we cannot deny that Mihiyār's praise of the Makramids for protecting and defending Oman referred to genuine actions on their part and was not simply empty compliments. Makramid rule defended coastal Oman effectively and extended into other parts of the country, especially under Abū ʾl-Qāsim and his son Abū ʾl-Jaysh. I conclude this paper with a table of the Makramid dynasty.

A study on the relationship between religion and the state in Oman, on the development of this relationship and its influence on political and social life in the region. An attempt to establish a connection between the historical texts (the Siyar, epistles) and to evaluate them as witnesses for explaining certain historical events.

The Nabhānī State first appeared in Oman in the 6th/12th century and lasted till the 11th/17th century. During this period the fall of Baghdad, which occurred in 656/1258, led to a number of radical political and cultural changes in the Gulf region, and the aim of the present study is to re-evaluate the conclusions of the (2002) study against a wider background. In doing so it will firstly re-evaluate the original and modern sources dealing with that period. Secondly, it will take a broader look at the political and regional situation at that time and its impact on the course of Oman’s historical development – in other words, it will consider Omani history within a regional context. Thirdly, it will look for the roots of that state and relate it more accurately to Oman’s historical chronology and regional context.

This paper examines the period from the 12th to the 17th centuries when Oman was ruled by the Nabhānī dynasty. Though the origin and history of this state remain largly obscure, some facts may be deduced from the historical records of Oman. Recent researchers have claimed that Omani historians have paid more attention to the influence of religion on Omani historical writing than to other important aspects of this dynasty's history. However, it should be noted that Omani chronicles hardly predate the 17th century, so even major events before that remain largely unrecorded, and Omani historians cannot be blamed for the consequent lack of documentation. This paper presents a new hypothesis on the origin of the Nabhānī dynasty, based on a re-examiniation of the various available sources such as fiqh, poetry and histories, and points out some of the pitfalls which await the unwary researcher in this field.