Part 1
Saeed
Part One: The Khawarij
The Historical Background to the Rise of the Khawarij
No deviation arises without cause or reason; every deviation has causes that prepare the ground for it. The Khawarij are no exception to this rule: they emerged out of the heart of a war. To understand how a group of the companions of Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib (RA) drew their swords on the very man beside whom they’d been fighting until then, we must go back to the year 36 AH, to the Battle of Siffin, when both sides agreed to accept peace and arbitration.
From the caliphate of Hazrat Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (RA) to the first year of the caliphate of Hazrat Uthman (RA), Muslims were united, and there were no disputes or disagreements among them. In the last years of Hazrat Uthman’s (RA) caliphate, though, events occurred that led to the loss of Muslim unity and to division among them.
A group of fitna and corruption rose up and martyred Hazrat Uthman (RA). After this event, Muslims scattered. Next, at the Battle of Siffin, Muslims stood against one another, but in the end, after consultation and counsel, both sides accepted peace. To carry out the peace agreement, they appointed two men as arbitrators, but the Khawarij rose up against Hazrat Ali (RA) and broke away from him. They separated from the Muslims and went to an area called “Harura.”
Amir al-Mu’minin Hazrat Ali (RA) at first didn’t fight them. Instead he said: It is our duty to give them their share of the fay’ wealth and not to stop them from entering the mosques, so long as they don’t treat Muslim blood and property as lawful and permissible. But they killed Abdullah ibn Khabbab and attacked Muslims’ livestock.
Hazrat Ali (RA) said: This is the very group the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) spoke about when he said: “One of you will consider your own prayer, fasting and recitation of the Noble Quran very little compared with their prayer, fasting and recitation. They recite the Quran, but it doesn’t go beyond their throats. They pass out of the religion as an arrow passes through the game. Among them is a man whose hand is short and deformed, with a protruding lump of flesh on it and a few hairs on it.”
Another narration states: “They kill Muslims and spare the idolaters.” Hazrat Ali (RA) addressed the people and explained to them what he had heard from the Messenger of Allah (PBUH). He said: These are the very people; they’ve shed people’s blood and attacked their livestock. For this reason he fought them. After a lengthy search that nearly proved fruitless, he found among the killed the mark of the man the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) had mentioned, and he thanked Allah (SWT).
The first cause of the Khawarij’s innovation was their misinterpretation of the Holy Quran. They had no intention of opposing the Holy Quran, but they derived from it a meaning the Quran does not support. As a result, they arrived at the idea that takfir of a person who commits a major sin is obligatory. Their argument was that a believer is one who is righteous and pious, so whoever lacks these traits is a disbeliever and will be in hell forever.
Afterward they said that Hazrat Uthman and Hazrat Ali (RA), and also everyone who loves and befriends them, aren’t believers, because they ruled contrary to Allah’s command.
In this way, their innovation (bid’ah) rested on two foundational premises:
First: Anyone who opposes the Holy Quran by a wrong act or view is a disbeliever.
Second: Hazrat Uthman and Hazrat Ali (RA) and those who love them are disbelievers.
For this reason, Muslims must not be declared disbelievers for committing sins and mistakes, because the first innovation in Islam was the innovation of takfir, on the basis of which Muslims were called disbelievers and shedding their blood and plundering their property were considered lawful.
Numerous hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) have been narrated condemning the Khawarij and ordering war against them. Imam Ahmad (rh) says: this narration about the Khawarij has been reported with ten chains. Imam Muslim (rh) included this narration in his book, and Imam Bukhari (rh) narrated part of it. The Khawarij, even though they intended to follow the Holy Quran, were still condemned and rebuked. So what should we say about those whose innovation conflicts with the Holy Quran and turns away from it?
If we sum up the historical background to the rise of the Khawarij in one sentence, we can say that they appeared as a result of a political crisis but became a deviant group because of a creedal departure. The political crisis was the Battle of Siffin, and the doctrinal deviation was the belief that “arbitration” is disbelief and that anyone who commits a major sin becomes a disbeliever. This belief arose among people who were worshippers but lacked deep understanding of fiqh and the religion.
Hazrat Ali (RA) dealt with them with patience and gentleness, presented them with arguments and sent envoys to debate them, but they stood firm in their ignorance.
