What To Do About My Ibadi Roommates
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Question
I currently live in an apartment by myself, and was considering having two Omani brothers who are Ibadis move in with me. I would like to pray in Jamaah with any future room mates inshaAllah, and I was wondering if I could pray Salah with them, or even if there would be other things that could cause problems or a lack of compatibility. I know they have strange fatwas like not praying Jumuah b/c it's 'nafl', or combining Salaats when they feel like, or being averse to tasawwuf, collective supplication, etc.
However, they have great akhlaq and know Arabic (which I'd like to learn from them). Would it be allowed to pray with them? Would it be recommended to choose another roommate instead?
Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salam wa rahmatullah:
It is recommended you choose Sunni housemates. The Ibadiyya are a sect of the Khawarij and it is offensive to pray behind them unless one is praying behind the Imam of all Muslims - the Caliph- and he happens to be a Khariji. Otherwise, one is obliged to find a person of incorrupt religion as one's imam. Only then do the facts that they speak good Arabic and have high manners become meaningful. (These traits are found in some Arab Christians and Qadyanis yet one's Salat behind them would be invalid.)
Historical note:
The Ibadiyya are the most moderate - and only - formally surviving Khariji madhhab today, originating with Jabir ibn Zayd (d. 93) and Abd Allah ibn Ibad al-Maqa`isi al-Tamimi (d. 86). They consider without declaring it openly the Muslims who differ with them to be neither mumins nor mushriks but kuffr nima i.e. "thankless sinners" but not kuffar `aqda (actual apostates), whose lives are sacred and their regions within Dr al-Islam, and they allow intermarriage with and inheritance from and to them. They have a strong fiqh and respected Ulema, e.g. Muhammad Attfayyish, _Sharh al-Nil wa Shifa' al-`Alil_ (al-Matba`a al-Salafiyya). They are found mostly in Algeria and Western Sahara, Zanzibar, and, mostly, the Sultanate of Oman where they are the State madhhab.
Cf. Abu Zahra, Tarikh al-Madhahib al-Islamiyya (1:85, 2:54); al-Zirikli, al-Alam (4:61); and M. Abd al-Latif Farfur, Tarikh al-Fiqh al-Islami (p. 117).
Hajj Gibril
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GF Haddad
This answer was published by SunniPath and is preserved as written. Rulings can depend on circumstances; for your own situation, consult a qualified scholar.
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