open; they have never been locked at any stage for qualified persons.

Regarding disagreement on opinions resulting from personal judgement in cases related to Furu' Ibadhis maintained that only one opinion can be right, but Muslims are allowed to adopt other opinions if they believe them to be right though, in fact, they are not, as long as they have done their utmost to formulate the correct opinion.102

This principle was later opposed by two Ibadhi scholars who founded groups of their own; Naffath b. Nasr, founder of Al-Naffathiyah, and Ahmad b. Hussain, founder of al-Husainiyyah.103 Their view was that only the right opinion was to be followed, and those who followed by other opinions were sinners.104 This view of Naffath and Ibn al-Hussain was refuted by the rest of the Ibadhi scholars on the basis that disagreement on opinions concerning cases of Furu' took place among the companions and they held it lawful for everyone to keep to his own opinion regardless of whether it was the correct opinion or not, and they, i.e. the Companions, did not condemn each other for it.105

Analogical reasoning (qiyas) also took its place as a recognized method among Ibadhi authorities for deriving legal opinions as early as the second half of the second century H. It was largely practised by the students of Abu Ubaidah, especially 'Abdullah b. Abd al-Aziz and Abu al-Mu'arrij. Although al-Rabi' b. Habib and his party opposed qiyas and were known for their strict adherence to 'athar,106 the method of analogical reasoning was later recognized by all Ibadhis and was largely exercised.

Al-Warijlani mentioned that the Ibadhi scholars were familiar with all kinds of qiyas, including 'Istihsan (preference) which was practised by Ibadhi authorities in a number of cases. The importance of ra'y and qiyas in the Ibadhi school was pointed out by al-Warijlani in al-'Adl wa al-insaf.108 It was a recognized principle among Ibadhis that the Sunnah judges over Qur'an, and ra'y judges over Sunnah. The application of this principle appeared in the rules and law as laid down by Ibadhi authorities for the stage of secrecy (maslak al-kitman) of their community.109

On grounds of analogical reasoning Ibadhis regarded the stage of secrecy of their movement as identical with the corresponding stage of the Prophet's life and the Muslim community during the Meccan period. Therefore, they suspended all legal punishments (hudud) and confined their execution to the authority of the Imam of the 'manifest state'.110

Friday services were also suspended in places other than the 'seven capitals' (al-'amsar al-sub'ah).111 There is a disagreement of opinion regarding jihad: some scholars allowed it and others prohibited it.112