Middle East Information Resource
Religions/Belief Systems - Ibadis
The Ibadis are an Unorthodox Islamic sect (Ibadiyya), which grew out of the Khawarij (Kharyite) sect in the seventh century. The Khawarij rebelled against evolving Islamic laws and practices of governance and succession, in both their Sunni and Shi’i constructions.
The sect was suppressed, but the Ibadiyya descendants gradually formed a separate sect once again in the Arabian Peninsula and North-West Africa. They survived in greatest numbers in Oman, where they form the majority of the population and their doctrine is the state religion. In the 1950’s, their Imam rebelled against the Sultan, and was suppressed. Small groups of Ibadiyya also exist in Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, and other countries in the region.