his public activities was about his part in the defense of Mecca against the 'Umayyad leader, Hussein b. Numair al-Sakuni, the successor of Muslim b. Uqbah, (63 H/682 A.D.)9. He also was among the leaders of the Muhakkimah party who tried to win 'Abdullah b. al-Zubair to their side and offered him their full support if he agreed to their views and dissociated himself from 'Uthman Jalhah, and his own father al-Zubair b. al-Awwam, but 'Abdullah b. al-Zubair refused to agree to their views and they left him, some of them returning to Basrah among whom was 'Abdullah bin Ibadh10. It appears that the attitude of Ibn al-Zubair made them give up all hope of an outstanding leadership. A number of leading personalities emerged and sought the leadership of the movement through military action. First of these was Abu Rashid Nafii' b. al-Azraq who took an extreme line in his revolt and withdrew with his followers from the Muslim community on the basis that their land was a land of war and they were all polytheists.11 At this stage 'Abdullah b. Ibadh appeared as a leading figure who opposed the attitude of Nafii' and other Khariji leaders and refuted them openly12. Non-Ibadh sources suggest that this was how the Ibadhi school started, and accredited its foundation to 'Abdullah b. Ibadh who was according to most of those sources, the head, (ra's), of the Ibadhi school.13

The information given in Ibadhi sources shows that 'Abdullah b. Ibadh played a secondary part in the foundation and the leadership of the Ibadhi movement compared with its first Imam and founder Jabir b. Zaid. It is reported that Ibn Ibadh in all his activities was acting according to orders from Jabir b. Zaid14. It is also stated that Ibn Ibadh was the most prominent theologian of the time of Jabir b. Zaid, and that he was the one who refuted openly the view of opponent groups of Qadarites Mu'tazilites, Muji'ites, Shi'ites, and extreme Kharijites15. It is believed that Ibn Ibadh propagated openly the views of his school, despite the fact that the activities of the Ibadhi School were carried out in secrecy at that time, because he enjoyed the protection of his tribe. Another reason was that the Ibadhi movement after the revolt of Nafii' b. al-'Azraq was obliged to make its views about the Azraqites known to the public to keep the support of ordinary Muslims, and to the authorities to avoid their persecution. Jabir b. Zaid who was the Imam of the Ibadhi movement at that time directed the activities of Ibn Ibadh. The school took the name of Ibn Ibadh, because he used to openly propagate its views and was known to non-Ibadhi groups for refuting their views as also because of his clear and firm attitude against the extreme Kharijites. Another reason which made the Ibadhi school bear his name could be his political activities and his contacts with the 'Umayyad Caliph 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan with whom he exchanged correspondence16. The Ibadhis did not use at first the name Ibadhis, instead they used the terms 'the Muslims' al-Muslimun, and 'community of the Muslims', Jama'at al-Muslimin,