A Reading in the Applied Ibāḍī Fiqh of International Relations: The Directive of Imām al-Ṣalt (d. 275/888) to His Army Concerning Socotra

Abstract

The directive of the Omani Ibāḍī Imām al-á¹¢alt ibn Khamīs al-Kharūṣī, read out to his army upon their deployment to the island of Socotra, is a document of 3rd/9th century Islamic international law. The local Christian community, being under covenant (dhimmah) with the Muslims, had broken their treaty by rebelling against Muslim rule and killing the Imām´s governor. This article analyzes the available historical sources and the directive as contained in Tuḥfat al-aʿyān bi-ṣīrat ahl ʿUmān, by the 13th/19th-century Omani scholar Imām al-Sālimī. It covers questions of authorship, details surrounding the campaign, and Islamic rules on international relations according to the Ibāḍī school. It provides insight into military organization and administration in al-á¹¢alt´s imamate and allows an assessment of Muslim-Christian and international relations as well as those between followers of Ibāḍism and other schools. Al-á¹¢alt´s legacy sets high ethical standards for warfare and anticipates a number of deliberations commonly considered as modern.