Abdul Wahid
Part 4
Killing Muslims, Fighting Against Them and Sparing Non-Muslims
Among the clear signs of the Khawarij in the authentic hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are their harsh treatment of Muslims, their fighting against them, and their shedding of Muslim blood. This is one of the dangerous aspects of their thinking, because they turned intellectual disagreements and different interpretations of religion into enmity and violence against Muslims.
The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said about them:
“يَقْتُلُونَ أَهْلَ الْإِسْلَامِ، وَيَدَعُونَ أَهْلَ الْأَوْثَانِ”
“They kill Muslims and spare the idolaters.”
[Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7432]
This hadith shows that one of their foundational deviations was treating Muslims as their main enemies, while a Muslim’s life is held sacred in Sharia.
Allah (SWT) says:
﴿وَمَن يَقْتُلْ مُؤْمِنًا مُّتَعَمِّدًا فَجَزَاؤُهُ جَهَنَّمُ خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا﴾ [An-Nisa 93]
“And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, wherein he will abide eternally, and Allah has become angry with him and has cursed him and has prepared for him a great punishment.”
If we look at the history of the Khawarij in our own time, it’s clear that they have been hostile to Muslims since they first appeared and are still at war with them. They use all their power and resources to eliminate the finest people of the Muslim ummah.
A clear example of the Khawarij’s enmity toward Muslims is their war against and opposition to the Islamic Emirate (IEA): a system whose enemies, from the beginning until today, have been the kuffar, the Jews, the Christians and all the taghuts of the world. Through the bravery and sacrifices of its men, this system rubbed the noses of the invaders and the Pharaohs in the dust, and it achieved victory and success with the help and support of Allah (SWT). Today, though, they have answered the call of Islam’s old enemies and are now confronting this very Islamic system.
In short, the Sharia texts on this subject show that Islam doesn’t permit anyone to violate the sanctity of Muslim life because of intellectual or religious differences. Even in times of severe disagreement, people’s lives must be protected and their rights respected, and shedding a Muslim’s blood on the basis of a personal understanding alone can never be counted lawful.
For this reason, one of the important lessons of the hadiths about the Khawarij is that religious extremism, when it is accompanied by takfir and violence, can plunge Muslim society into the flames of internal division and bloodshed. The right path is to return to the Holy Quran and the blessed Sunnah in line with the understanding and knowledge of the righteous Salaf, to keep justice in mind, to preserve the sanctity of human life, and to seek guidance from the people of knowledge on complex matters.
It’s our responsibility to work in this area and to inform the young people of the Muslim ummah about the false beliefs and ideas of this misguided sect.
