Research Article

Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries

Volume: 16 Number: 2 December 31, 2025
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Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries

Abstract

Seafaring and trade across the Indian Ocean have played a pivotal role for Oman and its scholars. Islamic law compendia are reflective of and an important source on the material culture of their times. They discuss all aspects of human life, questions of personal status and trade and international relations. Despite the exposure of Oman and its scholars to the sea and related legal cases, maritime law in the Ibāḍī fiqh encyclopedias is a neglected field of research. This study aspires to close a gap in the literature. It focuses on the earliest extant Omanī fiqh encyclopedias and other relevant material of the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th centuries, mainly the Kitāb Jāmiʿ Abī l-Ḥawwārī (alive in 272/885), Kitāb Jāmiʿ al-Faḍl ibn al-Ḥawwārī (d. 278/891) and Jāmi’ Ibn Jaʿfar al-Izkawī (alive in 277/892), with references to later sources, primarily the Kitāb Bayān al-sharʿ of Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Kindī (d. 508/1115), the Muṣannaf of Abū Bakr al-Kindī (d.557/1162), and others. This research analyses the available material to identify the earliest possible source material and authorities of dicta on Ibāḍī maritime law while referencing later material for clarification. Case studies on different questions, such as hiring ships and vessels for transportation, contract work, shipwreck and jettison, taxation, and persons missing at sea, are analyzed with respect to the sea as spatial factor that may (or may not) impact Islamic legal rule.

Keywords

Supporting Institution

Sultan Qaboos University

Project Number

Maritime Law in the Ibadi Fiqh Encyclopedias (IG/EDU/ISPR/22/01), funded by the College of Education, Sultan Qaboos University

Ethical Statement

None

Thanks

None

References

  1. Abu l-Ḥawwārī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥawwārī al-Qarrī. Jāmiʿ Abī l-Ḥawwārī. 5 volumes. Muscat: Wizārat al-Turāth wa-l-Thaqāfah, 1985.
  2. Abū l-Wafāʾ, Aḥmad. Aḥkām al-qānūn al-dawlī wa-l-ʿalāqāt al-dawliyyah fī l-fiqh al-ʿIbāḍī. Muscat: Wizārat al-Awqāf wa-l-Shuʾūn al-Dīniyyah, 2013.
  3. Anand, Ram Prakash. “Maritime Practice in South-East Asia until 1600 A.D. and the Modern Law of the Sea”. The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 30/2 (1981), 440-454.
  4. al-ʿAwtabī, Abū l-Mundhir Salamah ibn Muslim. Kitāb al-Ḍiyāʾ. ed. Sulaymān ibn Ibrāhīm Bābzīz al-Warjalānī. Muscat: Wizārat al-Awqāf wa-l-Shuʾūn al-Dīniyyah, 2015.
  5. al-Bādī, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥumayd. Dhikr masāʾil mimmā suʾila ʿanhu al-Rabīʿ ibn Ḥabīb. Muscat: College of Sharīa Studies, Undergraduate Thesis, 2019.
  6. Bishr ibn Ghānim, Abū Ghānim al-Khurāsānī. al-Mudawwanah al-kubrá. ed. Muṣṭafá ibn Ṣāliḥ Bājū. Muscat: Wizārat al-Turāth wa-l-Thaqāfah, 2007.
  7. Bishr ibn Ghānim, Abū Ghānim al-Khurāsānī. Mudawwanat Abī Ghānim al-Khurāsānī mulḥaq bi-hā kitāb Ibn Ibāḍ wa-Kitāb al-ribāʾ. ed. Yaḥyá ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nabhānī - Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-ʿAsākir. Muscat: Maktabat al-Jīl al-Wāʿid, 2006.
  8. Bouzenita, Anke Iman - al-Sawafi, Saeed. “ʿUmān wa-l-qarṣanah al-baḥriyyah: Dirāsah fī l-turāth al-fiqhī al-ʿUmānī” . Tajdīd 24/47 (2021), 189-214.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Islamic Law

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 31, 2025

Submission Date

August 16, 2025

Acceptance Date

December 17, 2025

Published in Issue

Year 2025 Volume: 16 Number: 2

APA
Bouzenıta, A. İ. (2025). Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries. Ilahiyat Studies, 16(2), 167-200. https://doi.org/10.12730/is.1767102
AMA
1.Bouzenıta Aİ. Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries. IS. 2025;16(2):167-200. doi:10.12730/is.1767102
Chicago
Bouzenıta, Anke İman. 2025. “Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd 8th-9th Centuries”. Ilahiyat Studies 16 (2): 167-200. https://doi.org/10.12730/is.1767102.
EndNote
Bouzenıta Aİ (December 1, 2025) Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries. Ilahiyat Studies 16 2 167–200.
IEEE
[1]A. İ. Bouzenıta, “Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries”, IS, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 167–200, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.12730/is.1767102.
ISNAD
Bouzenıta, Anke İman. “Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd 8th-9th Centuries”. Ilahiyat Studies 16/2 (December 1, 2025): 167-200. https://doi.org/10.12730/is.1767102.
JAMA
1.Bouzenıta Aİ. Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries. IS. 2025;16:167–200.
MLA
Bouzenıta, Anke İman. “Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd 8th-9th Centuries”. Ilahiyat Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, Dec. 2025, pp. 167-00, doi:10.12730/is.1767102.
Vancouver
1.Anke İman Bouzenıta. Ibāḍī Maritime Law in the Indian Ocean: Transport, Trade and Taxes in the 2nd-3rd/8th-9th Centuries. IS. 2025 Dec. 1;16(2):167-200. doi:10.12730/is.1767102
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