The Diptych
Ibadi Islam and Shia Islam
Ibadi Islam stands as a Branch; Shia Islam stands as a Branch. This comparison renders under slot registry version 1.0, in the registry's fixed order. The Diptych displays; it does not score, rank, or adjudicate.
Coverage: Ibadi Islam has 5 sections documented and 2 partial; its evaluative coverage is pending. Shia Islam has 6 sections documented and 1 partial; its evaluative coverage is pending.
1. In its own words
The entity stated in its own words: its self-description, before any external description.
Ibadi Islam
Ibadi Islam descends from the Kharijite secession of the first Islamic century, moderated early into a tradition of elected imams, congregational discipline, and quiet endurance. It is neither Sunni nor Shia, and it survives as the majority tradition of Oman with communities in North and East Africa.
Source: The Musnad of al-Rabi ibn Habib.
Confidence: high
Shia Islam
Shia Islam began as the party of Ali and became a family of traditions ordered by the Imamate: the line of divinely guided Imams through whom the Prophet's authority continued. Its Twelver, Ismaili, and Zaidi branches divided over the succession within that line.
Source: The Nahj al-Balagha, attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib.
Confidence: high
2. Scale and spread
How large the entity is and where it is found: adherents, bodies, and geography, with sources.
Ibadi Islam
Ibadi Islam counts a few million adherents. Oman is its demographic and scholarly center, where Ibadis form a large share of the population, with older communities in Algeria's M'zab valley, Libya's Nafusa mountains, Tunisia's Djerba, and Zanzibar.
Source: Valerie J. Hoffman, The Essentials of Ibadi Islam (Syracuse University Press, 2012).
Confidence: high
Shia Islam
Shia Islam counts roughly 150 to 200 million adherents, about ten to thirteen percent of all Muslims. Shia form majorities in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan, with large communities in Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan.
The range inside, as documented:
- Sufism: The mystical path of Islam: remembrance of God, the master-disciple chain, and the orders that carry it, crossing the Sunni and Shia branches alike.
Source: Pew Research Center, 'Mapping the Global Muslim Population' (2009).
Confidence: high
3. Historical timeline
The entity's timeline: the events of its history, drawn from the History of Worldviews timelines.
Ibadi Islam
- The muslim timeline
- Birth of Muhammad
- First revelation
- Hijra to Medina
- Battle of Badr
- Conquest of Mecca
- Death of Muhammad
Source: Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah
Confidence: high
Shia Islam
- The muslim timeline
- Birth of Muhammad
- First revelation
- Hijra to Medina
- Battle of Badr
- Conquest of Mecca
- Death of Muhammad
Source: Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah
Confidence: high
4. Sources of authority
What the entity treats as authoritative: its scriptures, creeds, councils, and reference works.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
5. Ultimate reality
What the entity holds to be ultimately real.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
6. The human person
What the entity holds a human person to be: nature, dignity, and destiny.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
7. Problem and solution
The entity's account of what is wrong and how it is set right.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
8. Ethics and hard cases
The entity's moral teaching and how it meets the hard cases.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
9. Practice and devotion
How the entity is practiced: worship, prayer, devotion, and the calendar.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
10. Community and governance
How the entity is organized: its bodies, offices, and the directory of its communities.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
11. Art and material culture
The entity's art and material culture, drawn from the Religious Art section.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
12. Science and technology posture
The entity's posture toward science and technology.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
13. Internal diversity
The range inside the entity: its branches, schools, and movements, each in its own terms.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Coverage record created at intake; content not yet documented.
14. Contributions
What the entity has contributed, stated with sources.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
15. Internal critique
The critique raised from within the entity's own tradition, in its strongest form, with its reply.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
16. External critique and reply
The critique raised from outside, in its strongest form, with the strongest available reply.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
Evaluative coverage is scheduled; this slot populates through sourced, reviewed records.
17. Contested history
The points of the entity's history that are contested, and by whom.
18. What each says about the other
What each of the two entities says about the other. This slot renders only when both directions stand populated and reviewed.
Ibadi Islam
Not yet documented
This slot renders only when both directions stand populated and reviewed.
Shia Islam
Not yet documented
This slot renders only when both directions stand populated and reviewed.
19. What this comparison cannot settle
This comparison sets two self-descriptions side by side; it does not decide between them. A tradition is a living range of positions, and each panel renders the range this site has documented, which is not the whole of the tradition. Where a cell is marked not yet documented, the gap belongs to this site's documentation, not to the tradition. Questions of truth between the panels turn on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, what authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. The instrument does not score, rank, or adjudicate.
Sections this comparison cannot yet speak to, because the documentation is incomplete: Sources of authority, Ultimate reality, The human person, Problem and solution, Ethics and hard cases, Practice and devotion, Community and governance, Art and material culture, Science and technology posture, Internal diversity, Contributions, Internal critique, External critique and reply, What each says about the other.
On the questions where these two panels disagree, the outcome turns on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, which authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. This instrument settles none of those.
20. Sources
Ibadi Islam
- The Musnad of al-Rabi ibn Habib.
- Valerie J. Hoffman, The Essentials of Ibadi Islam (2012).
Shia Islam
- The Nahj al-Balagha, attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib.
- S. H. M. Jafri, The Origins and Early Development of Shia Islam (1979).
Citations resolve to the site's References register as that rebuild lands; exports of this comparison stand under the tools above.
| Section | Ibadi Islam | Shia Islam |
|---|---|---|
| In its own words | populated: Ibadi Islam descends from the Kharijite secession of the first Islamic century, moderated early into a tradition of elected imams, congregational discipline, and quiet endurance. It is neither Sunni nor Shia, and it survives as the majority tradition of Oman with communities in North and East Africa. | populated: Shia Islam began as the party of Ali and became a family of traditions ordered by the Imamate: the line of divinely guided Imams through whom the Prophet's authority continued. Its Twelver, Ismaili, and Zaidi branches divided over the succession within that line. |
| Scale and spread | populated: Ibadi Islam counts a few million adherents. Oman is its demographic and scholarly center, where Ibadis form a large share of the population, with older communities in Algeria's M'zab valley, Libya's Nafusa mountains, Tunisia's Djerba, and Zanzibar. | populated: Shia Islam counts roughly 150 to 200 million adherents, about ten to thirteen percent of all Muslims. Shia form majorities in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan, with large communities in Lebanon, Yemen, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. |
| Historical timeline | populated | populated |
| Sources of authority | not documented | not documented |
| Ultimate reality | not documented | not documented |
| The human person | not documented | not documented |
| Problem and solution | not documented | not documented |
| Ethics and hard cases | not documented | not documented |
| Practice and devotion | not documented | not documented |
| Community and governance | partial | not documented |
| Art and material culture | not documented | not documented |
| Science and technology posture | not documented | not documented |
| Internal diversity | not documented | populated |
| Contributions | not documented | not documented |
| Internal critique | not documented | not documented |
| External critique and reply | not documented | not documented |
| Contested history | partial | partial |
| What each says about the other | not documented | not documented |
| What this comparison cannot settle | populated: This comparison sets two self-descriptions side by side; it does not decide between them. A tradition is a living range of positions, and each panel renders the range this site has documented, which is not the whole of the tradition. Where a cell is marked not yet documented, the gap belongs to this site's documentation, not to the tradition. Questions of truth between the panels turn on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, what authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. The instrument does not score, rank, or adjudicate. | populated: This comparison sets two self-descriptions side by side; it does not decide between them. A tradition is a living range of positions, and each panel renders the range this site has documented, which is not the whole of the tradition. Where a cell is marked not yet documented, the gap belongs to this site's documentation, not to the tradition. Questions of truth between the panels turn on premises the reader brings: what counts as evidence, what authority is recognized, and what a human life is for. The instrument does not score, rank, or adjudicate. |
| Sources | populated | populated |