'History of the imâms and seyyids of 'Omân by Salîl-ibn-Razîk, from A.D. 661-1856; translated from the original Arabic, and edited with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870, by George Percy Badger, F.R.G.S., late chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay.' [‎389] (550/612)

APPENDIX B.
389
ments contained in the foregoing extracts are based on miscon
ception. It is tolerably clear, in the first place, that he identifies
the Ibadhiyah with the Karamitah. That is an error; the for
mer, as we have seen from the native authorities quoted at the
commencement of this article, had a common origin with the
Khawanj, who rose up in the reign of 'Aly, a.u. 35-40= a.d 655-
660, and became a distinct sect in 'Oman, under the leadership
ol 'Abdallah bin-Ibadh, et-Temimy, during the Khalifate of Mar-
wan. a h. 12M82= a.d. 744-749. The Karamitah, on the other
hand, were unknown until upwards of a century later. 1
The respective creeds of the Karamitah and the Khawarij
ditiered in toto : the latter were regarded as heretical chiefly for
denying the doctrine of the Succession to the Imamate as held
by their opponents the Sunnis and the Shia'ahs, and for their
peculiar notions about sin ; the Karamitah (see note, p. 27) vir
tually abrogated the precepts of the Kuran by turning them into
allegory. "Ihe real object of this sect," writes Baron de Sacy,
" was to lead men to atheism and immorality, and to teach them
to contemn even those first eternal principles of order and of
justice which are engraven on the heart of man by the author of
his being, and, still more, every idea of a revelation or of a
Divine authority." 2 Further, the Isma'iliyyah and the el-Bati-
niyyah, with whom Mr. Palgrave also associates the Ibadhiyah,
had nothing in common with the latter sect: they were, in fact,
Karamitah, under different names. The learned author just
quoted says : " Karmates is not the primitive name of the sect so
styled. The real name of these sectaries is Ismaelis or Ismaeliens.
ihey had already existed for some time when they were called
Karmates, a name under which they became subsequently famous.
Perhaps the designation should only be regarded as indicating a
particular branch of the Ismaelis." 3 In like manner, the term
1 " Cependant la secte des Schiis se repandait de plus en plus, jusqu'tk.
ce que Ton vit naitre celle des Karmates dont I'auteur fut Hamdan, fils
d'Aschath, surnomme A'arma^..!! commen^a a etre question des Kar
mates en Tan [ a.h .] 264; ce fut dans le territoire de Basra que parut ce
personage, et sa secte se repandit d'abord dans I'lrak." De Sacy's
Exposd de la Religion des Druzes, vol. i. p. xx.
2 Idem, p. xxxiv.
^ Idem, vol. i. p. Ixiii-iv. In his subsequent pages the author gives an
account ot the Lmia'il whom he considers as the originator ox the sect.