Ibadism emerged around 60 years after the Islamic prophet Muhammad's death in 632 AD[4] as a moderate school of the Khawarij movement,[5][6] although contemporary Ibadis may object to being classified as Kharijites.

These groups initially supported Ali during the First Fitna but turned away after rejecting arbitration at the Battle of Siffin in 657 CE.

A learned and pious man from the al-Azd tribe—the same tribe as 'Abdullah b. Wahb al-Rasibi, the last elected leader of the Muhakkimah—Jabir focused on intellectual activities.

His scholarly approach allowed him to propagate and preserve Islamic teachings without arousing the suspicion of the Umayyad authorities.

His position as a prominent mufti in Basrah provided him with cover and enabled him to form widespread connections with influential individuals across the Islamic world.

One significant division was led by Ibn al-'Azraq, who introduced doctrines that were rejected by leaders such as Jabir b. Zaid and Abdullah b. Ibadh, who upheld the original principles of the Muhakkima, according to Ibadhi tradition.

When Basra overthrew Umayyad rule in support of Ibn al-Zubayr in late 683 or early 684 CE, the Kharijite prisoners were freed.

He argued that the Basrans were not polytheists but guilty only of "ingratitude" (kufr ni'ma), a lesser offense that allowed true Muslims to live among them.

Missionaries spread this doctrine across the Caliphate, including to Oman, Yemen, Hadramawt, Khurasan, and North Africa.

Despite their efforts, the Ibadi leaders in Basra practiced kitman (concealment of beliefs) to avoid persecution after the Umayyads retook control of the city under Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 691 CE.

[19] Ibn Zayd's criticisms of the narrations of Muhammad's companions formed the corpus of the Ibadi interpretation of Islamic law.

[24][25] Problems back in their heartland of Islamic Syria led the Umayyads to sign a peace accord with the Ibadis, who were allowed to retain a community in Shibam.

Ibadi communities continue to exist in the Nafusa Mountains in northwestern Libya, the island of Djerba in Tunisia, and in the M'zab in Algeria.

[30] By the year 900, Ibadism had spread to Sindh, Khorosan, the Hadhramaut, Dhofar, the Imamate of Oman, Muscat, the Nafusa Mountains, and Qeshm, Hormozgan; by 1200, the sect was present in al-Andalus, Sicily, M'zab and the western part of the Sahel as well.

[19] In the 14th century, historian Ibn Khaldun made reference to vestiges of Ibadi influence in Hadhramaut, though the sect no longer exists in the region today.

(This differs from the Shia belief that ideally and eventually they will be ruled by the Mahdi, who will be descended from Prophet Muhammad's Household (Ahl al-Bayt)—Muhammad having been a member of the Quraysh tribe.

[33] Contemporary Ibadis uphold four "states of the religion" (masālik ad-dīn), which are four different types of imams each appropriate to certain contexts.

[34][page needed] The imām al-kitmān "Imam of secrecy" is a learned scholar who "rules" in political quietism, practicing taqiyya to avoid persecution, in times when the Ibadi community cannot reveal itself openly.

[32][38] An example is the early Basran Kharijite leader Abu Bilal Mirdas, who was later held by the Ibadiyya to be a prototype of the "Imam of exchange".

If such is your concern, go back and finish up your needs and wishes for this life, pay your debts, purchase yourself, take leave of your family and tell them that you will never return to them.

Crude in (their knowledge of) the Qur'an, following soothsayers; teaching people to hope for the resurrection of the dead, and expecting the return (of their Imams) to this world; entrusting their religion to a man who can not see them!

"[43] The notions of walayah "affiliation" and bara'a "disassociation" are central to the theology of Ibadi relations with non-Ibadi people.

Only righteous Ibadis are considered worthy of friendship and association, whereas sinners and non-Ibadi Muslims are subject to dissociation, sometimes to the point of ostracism.

[51] Like the Muʿtazila and unlike the modern Sunni, the Ibadis believe that: But unlike the Mu'tazila, Ibadis follow the Ash'ari position of occasionalism, which holds that all events are caused directly by God and that what appear to be laws of causation, such as that a fire produces smoke, is only because God chooses to create fire, and then to create smoke.

[61] Ibadis believe that the stage of the imām al-kitmān corresponds to Muhammad's life in Mecca before the Hijrah, when no independent Muslim community existed that could enforce Islamic laws.

The third book includes hadith transmitted by the eighth-century Kharijite scholar al-Rabi' bin Habib Al-Farahidi as preserved in the Jami Sahih collection, generally also from Jabir ibn Zayd.

[63]: 239 Unlike traditional Sunni Islam but like the modern Salafist movement, Ibadis do not have Sufi orders[65] and reject the veneration of saints.

[71] The dating of early writings such as kutub al-rudud and siras (letters) written by Ibadis has led some analysts such as Salim al-Harithi to claim Ibadism as the oldest sect within Islam.

[70] The term Wahbi is chiefly derived as an eponymous intimation to the teachings of Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi.

The most common epithet Wahbi Ibadi clerics enjoined their adherents to apply to themselves is the term ahl al-istiqama meaning those on the straight path.