clearly these entitled to it, and appointed them eight classes of people, for He says, "The freewill offerings are for the poor and the needy, those who work to collect them, those whose hearts are to be reconciled and slaves and debtors, and those in the way of God, and travelers." (Qur'an: ix.60) They make themselves the ninth and take it all! Such are those who rule by what God has not sent down."113

About the Shi'ah party , Abu Hamzah said, "As for these factions (of 'Ali), they are a faction which has repudiated the Book of God to promulgate lies about Him. They have not left the people (of the community) because of their insight into religion (as we have), or their deep knowledge of the Qur'an; they punish crime in those who commit it, and commit it themselves when they get the chance. They have determined upon tumult and know not the way out of it. Crude in (their knowledge of) the Qur'an, following soothwayers; teaching people to hope for the resurrection of the dead, and expecting the return (of their Imams) to this world; entrusting their religion to a man who can not see them! God smite them! How perverse they are!"114

In this sermon Abu Hamzah also spoke about his party, the Ibadhis, their cause and their motives. Addressing his words to the people of Medina, Abu Hamzah said, "We call you to the Book of god, and to the Sunnah of His Prophet, and the equal sharing, and to justice for the subject peoples, and to putting the fifths of the booty in the places God ordained for them." Then he went on to describe his party, their aims and motives, and their reasons for revolt, "As for us, we have not taken up arms lightly or frivolously, for play or amusement, or for a change of government in which we hope to immerse ourselves, or for the revenge that was taken from us; but we did it when we saw the earth had grown wicked, and proofs of tyranny had appeared, and religious propagandists increased, but men did as they pleased, and laws were neglected, and the just were put to death, and speakers of truth treated violently and we heard a herald calling us to Truth and the straight Path, so we answered the summoner of God ..... and by His grace we became brethren .... "115

However, "It cannot be doubted," as Macdonald said, "that these men were the true representatives of the old Islam. They claimed for themselves the heirship to Abu Bakr and 'Umar, and their claim was just. Islam had been secularised; worldly ambition, fractricidal strife, luxury, and sin had destroyed the old bond of brotherhood. So they drew themselves apart and went their own way, a way which their descendants still follow in Oman, in East Africa, and in Algeria."116 It may be necessary to mention here that Professor Macdonald, when writing these words, had no clear distinction between Ibadhis and Kharijites, but it is clear that his description can be correct only if it was applied to Ibadhis.