or, more commonly, Karibiyya is the name of a subsect of the Kaysāniyya [ q.v.] derived from its otherwise unknown leader Abū, more rarely Ibn Karib (or Kurayb, Karnab) al-Ḍarīr. The heresiographical sources are agreed that Abū Karib denied the death of Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya, the Imām and Mahdī of the Kaysāniyya. It is thus evident that he was active immediately after the death of Ibn al-Ḥanafiyya in 81/700 and probably played a major rôle in promoting Messianic ideas about him among the Kaysāniyya. The sources disagr…

, as a theological term meaning immunity from error and sin, is attributed by Sunnīs to the prophets and by S̲h̲īʿīs also to the imāms. In early Islam moral failures and errors of Muḥammad were freely mentioned, although there was an inconsistent tendency to minimize the shorteomings of the Prophet and in particular to deny that he had ever participated in the worship of idols. The term and the concept of ʿiṣma do not occur in the Ḳurʾān or in canonical Sunnī Ḥadīt̲h̲ . They were first used by the Imāmī S̲h̲īʿa, who at least since the first half of the 2n…

, the imāmate in the meaning of “supreme leadership” of the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet. The present article will deal with the theological and judicial theory. For the institutional development see k̲h̲ilāfa . Early development. The establishment of Abū Bakr after the death of Muḥammad as K̲h̲alīfat Rasūl Allāh , “Vicar of the Messenger of God”, affirmed the continued unity of the Muslim community under a single leader. It favoured a preferential right to the imāmate for the early Meccan, Ḳurays̲h̲ite Com…

, Zaydī kalām theologian from al-Raḳḳa, active in the second ¶ half of the 2nd/8th century. Little is known about his life. He is said to have pledged allegiance to the ʿAlid pretender Yaḥyā b. ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥasan and participated in debates with His̲h̲ām b. al-Ḥakam [ q.v.], Ḍirār b. ʿAmr [ q.v.], and the Ibāḍī ʿAbd Allāh b. Yazīd in the circle of the Barmakid Yaḥyā b. K̲h̲ālid. In legendary reports he is accused of having poisoned the ʿAlid Idrīs b. ʿAbd Allāh in the Mag̲h̲rib at the instigation of the caliph Hārūn al-Ras̲h̲īd or of Yaḥyā b. …