By Nu’man Saeed
All praise is due to Allah. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, upon his family, and upon his Companions.
Throughout the entire history of the early and contemporary Khawarij, one will not find a single documented instance in which they conquered a land from disbelievers or polytheists, subsequently established Islam and Muslim authority there, or caused the local disbelieving population to embrace Islam. Not once did they liberate territory from the enemies of Islam and replace disbelief with faith.
Likewise, across their long and bloody history, there is no example of the Khawarij rising solely and sincerely to wage war against outright disbelievers or polytheists. This is despite the fact that, at various points in history, they possessed considerable strength, military capability, numerical advantage, and material resources. Yet the defining pattern of their existence has always been the same.
In every era and in every region, they turned their weapons against Muslims, specifically those Muslims who stood as an obstacle to the interests of disbelievers or who refused to submit to the Khawarij’s rigid and extremist doctrine of takfir. In killing, torturing, and eradicating Muslims, they showed neither restraint nor remorse.
In this article, we will first present a concise analytical comparison of the ideological, doctrinal, and strategic unity between the early Khawarij and their modern counterparts, highlighting their shared characteristics. Thereafter, drawing upon prophetic hadith and the writings of classical scholars, we will clarify a critical question. Why have Muslims always been the primary targets of the Khawarij? Why do they consistently prefer killing Muslims instead of disbelievers?
Points of Convergence Between the Early and Contemporary Khawarij
1. Power and Resources
Modern Khawarij movements, such as ISIS, possess power, weaponry, organizational capacity, and logistical means comparable to those once held by the early Khawarij. However, just like their predecessors, these resources are not directed against polytheists and disbelievers. Instead, they are overwhelmingly deployed against Muslims.
2. The Killing of Muslims
Contemporary Khawarij, like the early Khawarij before them, rely on distorted interpretations, self-serving reasoning, and deviant theological justifications to excommunicate anyone who rejects their views or opposes their agenda. Based on this warped methodology, they deny the Islam of fellow Muslims and declare their blood lawful. Just as the early Khawarij shed Muslim blood while leaving disbelievers unharmed, modern Khawarij likewise target Muslim societies and even established Islamic governments.
3. A Weak and Selective Stance Toward Disbelievers
The early Khawarij inflicted little to no harm upon polytheists and disbelievers. The same pattern is evident among today’s Khawarij. While they may occasionally carry out limited actions against non-Muslims, such actions are rare, strategically hollow, and often tied to external agendas or temporary projects.
Their real and sustained focus remains internal conflict, destabilization, and the spread of fitan within Muslim societies.
4. A Preference for Discord and Fitnah
Like the early Khawarij, contemporary Khawarij thrive on division. They exploit disagreements among Muslims and emerge most aggressively during periods of instability and conflict. Fitnah, fragmentation, and internal strife are not unintended consequences of their actions. They are deliberate tools. To achieve their objectives, they do not hesitate to employ the most extreme forms of brutality.
5. Deviant Ideological Interpretations
Just as the early Khawarij abandoned sound scholarship, today’s Khawarij disregard the authentic understanding of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. Rather than submitting to the established principles of Islamic jurisprudence, they judge individuals and societies through an extremist lens shaped by false interpretations, corrupt reasoning, and personal whims.
Their rulings are not rooted in revelation, but in ideological obsession.
Having established these parallels, we now return to the central issue. Why do the Khawarij kill Muslims instead of disbelievers? Why do they consistently prioritize the shedding of Muslim blood?
Islamic scholars have explained that the Khawarij’s refusal to fight polytheists is itself among the clear signs of the prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). This is because the Prophet (PBUH) explicitly foretold their behavior. He said:
“يقتلون أهل الإسلام، و يدعون أهل الأوثان، يمرقون من الإسلام كما يمرق السهم من الرمية” (بخاري و مسلم)
“They will kill the people of Islam and leave the people of idol worship. They will pass out of Islam just as an arrow passes through the prey.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
In other words, the Khawarij are a people who will direct their violence toward Muslims while sparing idolaters, departing from Islam as swiftly and completely as an arrow exits its target.
Al-Allamah al-Qurtubi (May Allah have mercy on him), in his work al-Mufhim, comments on this hadith:
قوله :”يقتلون أهل الإسلام، ويدعون أهل الأوثان” هذا منه صلى الله عليه وسلم إخبار عن أمر غيب وقع على نحو ما أخبر عنه، فكان دليلا من أدلة نبوته صلى الله عليه وسلم … اهـ.
“His statement (PBUH), ‘They will kill the people of Islam and leave the people of idol worship,’ is an announcement of an unseen matter that occurred exactly as he foretold. This therefore stands as one of the evidences of his prophethood (PBUH)…”
Ibn Hajar (May Allah have mercy on him) states in Fath al-Bari:
هو مما أخبر به عليه السلام من المغيبات فوقع كما قال.
“This is among the matters of the unseen that the Prophet (PBUH) informed of, and it occurred exactly as he described.”
Ibn Hazm Al-Andalusi (May Allah have mercy on him), in his book Kitab al-fasl, writes:
“They held the belief of interrogating everyone they encountered who was not from their ranks. If such a person said, ‘I am a Muslim,’ they would kill him, while they considered it forbidden to kill those affiliated with Judaism, Christianity, or Magianism. Regarding this, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) testified that they would depart from the religion as an arrow passes through the prey, when he said: ‘They will kill the people of Islam and leave the people of idol worship.’ This is among the clear signs of his prophethood (PBUH), for he warned of it in advance, and it concerned particulars of the unseen. It occurred exactly as he said.”
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrates in Kitab al-Sunnah from Awn ibn Abdullah:
عن عون بن عبد الله، قال: بعثني عمر بن عبد العزيز إلى الخوارج أكلمهم، فقلت لهم: هل تدرون ما علامتكم في وليكم التي إذا لقيكم بها أمن بها عندكم وكان بها وليكم؟ وما علامتكم في عدوكم التي إذا لقيكم بها خاف بها عندكم وكان بها عدوكم؟
قالوا: ما ندري ما تقول!
قلت: فإن علامتكم عند وليكم التي إذا لقيكم بها أمن بها عندكم وكان بها وليكم أن يقول: أنا نصراني! أو يهودي! أو مجوسي! وعلامتكم عند عدوكم التي إذا لقيكم بها خاف بها عندكم وكان بها عدوكم أن يقول: أنا مسلم. اهـ
“‘Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz sent me to speak with the Khawarij. I said to them: Do you have a sign by which you recognize your ally, such that if someone meets you with it, you feel safe and consider him one of your own? And what is the sign of your enemy, such that if someone meets you with it, you fear him and regard him as an adversary?
They replied: We do not understand what you are saying.
I said: Your sign of an ally is that if someone says, ‘I am a Christian,’ or ‘I am a Jew,’ or ‘I am a Magian,’ you feel safe with him and consider him your ally. And your sign of an enemy is that if someone says, ‘I am a Muslim,’ you fear him and consider him your enemy.”
Al-Shatibi (May Allah have mercy on him) states in al-I’tisam:
أخذوا في قتال أهل الإسلام بتأويل فاسد، زعموا عليهم أنهم مجسمون وأنهم غير موحدين، وتركوا الانفراد بقتال أهل الكفر من النصارى والمجاورين لهم وغيرهم.
“They began fighting the people of Islam based on corrupt interpretations, accusing Muslims of anthropomorphism and denying their monotheism, while abandoning direct combat against the disbelievers, the Christians, and those living among them.”
Ibn Taymiyya (May Allah have mercy on him) writes in Majmu’ al-Fatawa:
“These Khawarij, who deviated from the religion, were most severely condemned by the Prophet (PBUH) for killing the people of Islam while sparing the people of idol worship.” He further notes: “They emerge at times of division and fragmentation among the people.”
