رسالة د. كهلان الخروصي

… To conclude this section about the significance of the work of >th~r al-Rab‚` b. ™ab‚b، it is plausible to state that this work provides strong grounds for what Zimmermann and Crone describe when they say that 'the Ib~‡‚s constitute less then 1 per cent of the total number of Muslims today، but، unlike many other tiny sectarian groups dotted about the landscape of the Middle East، they have a rich literary heritage stretching back to the formative centuries of Islam'.⁽¹⁾

… This work of al-Rab‚` b. ™ab‚b is، in sum، a typological reflection of Ib~‡‚sm at its earliest existence. It is true that most of the material in the work is fiqh، which as shown above provides good grounds for further studies، yet with all its traces of important historical events، its samples of Ib~‡‚ founding political organisation، authorities involved، dogmatic perceptions and many other aspects in it، are witnesses of the general significance of this work.