The name of a certain Salamah b. Sa'd al-Hadrami is connected with Basrah to North Africa to propagate the teaching of his school. No specific date is reported of the mission or the arrival of Salamah in North Africa. However, the report of reliable Ibadhi authorities that Salamah came to Qairawan together with 'Ikrimah, the client of Ibn 'Abbas,85 indicates that the mission took place before the years 105-107H., the dates given for the death of 'Ikrimah.86 Ibadhi scholars regarded the role of Salamah b. Sa'd in the Maghrib as comparable with that of 'Abdullah b. Ibadh in the Mashriq.87 They connected the expansion of the Ibadhi school with his visit to North Africa, which resulted in the mission of the students known afterwards as the bearers of learning,' (Hamalat al-'ilm), to Basrah to study Ibadhi teaching under the second Imam of the Ibadhi school, Abu 'Ubaidah Muslim b. Abi Karimah.

The fact which should not be forgotten is that when Salamah b. Sa'd came to North Africa, large Ibadhi communities had already existed in some areas of central North Africa, namely the western part of Libya. It is possible that the Ibadhi views gained followers first among the Arab settlers who came in tribal groups for the conquest of North Africa, and then settled in the new land. They found support among the native tribes of Nufusah, Hawwarah, Lawwatah, Zahanah and Zanatah who saw in the Ibadhi views the true representation of the religion of Islam which does not subject them to any tyrannical rule, and gives the justification for their struggle for self-rule within the new religion in equal terms with the Arabs. It is also believed that the local people found in Ibadhi teachings the religious incentive to oppose the tyrannical rule of both the Umayyads and the 'Abbasids. It is also clear that the most important role in the early Ibadhi struggle in North Africa was played by Arabs who were of Hadrami and Yemeni origins.

It appears that the missions of Salamah b. Sa'd was aimed at choosing local personalities to be sent to Basrah for training so that they could assume the burden of Ibadhi leadership in North Africa. Such a move would make local people regard the Ibadhi teachings as something of theirs, and bring full Berber support for the Ibadhi cause.

One of the main ambitions of Salamah b. Sa'd was to see a manifest Ibadhi Imamate in North Africa. Imam 'Abd al-Rahman b. Rustam is quoted as saying, "I wish that this affair (i.e. the Ibadhi Imamate) manifests itself even for one day from dawn to night, then I would not mind if my head is cut off."88 There is a possible indication in these words that the Ibadhi community in North Africa had existed before the arrival of Salamah b. Sa'd but was still in the stage of secrecy, (kitman), and no attempt had at that time been made to establish the open Ibadhi Imamate.

The first attempt by Ibadhis to establish their Imamate in North Africa began