Early Ibadi engagements with the Murji'a reflect a profound awareness, and probably actual encounters with, Murji'a in the early Islamic world. This paper investigates the image of Murji'ism that appears in later, 6th/12th century Ibadi writings, a time when Murji'ism had ceased to exist and its main ideas had filtered into the Sunni consensus. This paper will show that later Ibadi authors, just as their Sunni counterparts, struggled to present Murji'ism as a separate firqa. Moreover, medieval Ibadi writings on the Murji'a betray a deep awareness of contemporary Sunni heresiography on the Murji'a.
Religious Studies/Theology