'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.' [‎391] (552/612)

appendix b, 301
which obtained for him the cognomen of el-MuMnna\ sometimes
that of el-Burlcdy, or the Veiled. His doctrine, according to
D'Herbelot, was, that " after God had commanded the angels
to worship the first man, Adam, 1 He assumed a human form and
figure; that afler Adam's death, He appeared in the form of
several of the prophets and other personages elected by Him to
that end, until He took that of Abu-Muslim, the prince of Kho-
rassan, [el-Mukanna" 's former superior,] who believed in ei-Tand-
suhhiyyah, or Metempsychosis ; and that after the death of that
prince the Divinity passed from him and descended into his
person." 1
These peculiar tenets, I need scarcely say, are utterly repug
nant to those professed by the Ibadhiyah, and there is not the
least evidence to prove that they ever found their way in 'Oman.
Mr. Palgrave was most probably led astray by the resemblance
between the two names, el-MulayyidMn or el-Mubayyidhah and
el-Tbadhiyah : the former means the Whites, the title given to
the followers of el-Mukanna', who adopted white garments to
distinguish themselves from the Musawwidah, or Blacks, who
obeyed the Abbaside Khalifahs, whose chosen colour was black ;
the latter, as I have already shown, is derived from the leader of
the sect in Oman, 'Abdallah-bin-Ibadh, who flourished thirty
years at least before el-Mukanna'. It is open to question, more
over, whether the word Ihddh proceeds from the same root
(bddha, to surpass in whiteness), as Mubayyidhun ; it more pro
bably comes from dbadha or dhidha, to tie or strengthen the leg
of a camel. Ibddh, a derivative noun from that root, means a
nerve, or a certain vein in the hind leg of a horse. If any fur
ther proof were required to rebut the notion of the Ibadhiyah
being " Whites," or " White Boys," it is forthcoming in the fact
that the Ibadhiyah of 'Oman do not afiect white garments.
I shall now proceed to give some further account of the pecu
liar religious tenets of the Ibadhiyah from an original source,
for which I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Frederick Avrton.
The following extract is the more valuable as being the only in-
1 Eurdn, Surat-el-A'arfif (vii.) 10.
- Bibliothfque Orientale, snb voce llahom.