Comparing the Ibadi and Sunni Law in Basra: The case of the zakat on cattle

This paper intends to analyze the origins of Ibâḍî law in Baṣra and its relationship with Sunnî tradition during the Early centuries of Islam. Some important questions will be examined, for example whether or not the Ibâḍî fiqh developed independently from the Sunnî legal tradition, what role the early Ibâḍî authorities played, or whether the role given to Jâbir b. Zayd in the formation of Ibâḍî fiqh should be accepted. My paper will focus on the case of the zakât on cattle. In the manuscript called Aqwâl Qatâda b. Di‘âma, we find a tradition which states that the zakât is due on cattle when a niṣâb (minimum quantity) of five animals is held, and the same for camels. This is the first account preserved in a Ibâḍî source on niṣâb al-baqar (the minimum quantity for cattle). According to the teachings of the Prophet to Mu‘âdh b. Jabal, Sunnî schools used to fix the niṣâb amount at 30 heads of cattle, and the Shi‘î followed the same rule. My intention is to explain these discrepancies between Sunnî and Shi‘î school, from one hand, and the Ibâḍî legal tradition.