FROM THE MOMENT missionaries brought Ibāḍīsm to North Africa, it began to diverge from the body of Islam and evolve its own tradition. One can sense from references by Arab geographers, often brief, and historians. that the Berber population was associated with Ibāḍīsm only in general terms. That Ibāḍī Islam took hold, however, is certain, and this chapter examines. major reason for its appeal to the Berbers, namely the Ibāḍī interpretation of authority. Amid the tide of Islam, what stood out for them as Ibāḍī? And why did it attract large numbers of Berbers? The answers to these questions are complex and are the subject of this book as. whole. But we will begin here by proposing that the key factor was the Imām and the Ibāḍī definition of the Imām's authority.

In the second half of the seventh century AD, the office and role of caliph, imām, and amīr al-mumīnm was still undeveloped. It was during this formative period that the Ibāḍīya emerged. For its part, the Ibāḍī concept of authority evolved separately from that of the Umayyad. Authority, Ibāḍīs believed, was founded on knowledge, ‘ilm, and was exercised through consultation and consensus within the community where both Imām and umma had obligations of piety and moral rectitude.

Like other Islamic institutions later regarded as sacrosanct, fully established, and unquestioned since their origins. the development of the Imāmate was. complex evolution involving questions of authority and its legitimacy, and who should govern and on what basis. It was disagreement over these issues that led to the fracturing of the Islamic umma, the community, and the emergence of sects, one of which was the Ibāḍī.