Part 5
Ghiyath-ud-Din Ghori
The seeds of division sown by the Khawarij, their crimes, and their unrelenting hostility toward the Ummah all stem from their corrupted ideology and deviant creed. Their distorted understanding of Islam has brought upon them the collective rejection of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah and of the wider Muslim community, whose outrage has grown with every act of transgression. History bears witness that this movement has never hesitated to spill Muslim blood; indeed, its hands are stained with injustices even darker than those of the open enemies of Islam.
A defining feature of the group is its obsession with takfir, the reckless act of excommunicating fellow Muslims. They begin by turning minor disagreements into ideological battles, then accuse others of disbelief, sowing suspicion and confusion within the ranks of the believers. In this way, they erode the harmony of the Ummah and weaken the spiritual bonds that unite Muslims.
Across the centuries, the Khawarij have repeatedly torn at the fabric of Muslim unity. Their divisive conduct arises from narrow-mindedness, poor judgment, and ignorance of the delicate balance between benefit and harm. For this reason, they have long been regarded among the most misguided of sects in Islamic history.
Lacking insight, they fail to foresee the consequences of their actions or to weigh moral priorities. Their interpretation of the sacred texts is shallow and distorted, stripped of wisdom and detached from reality. In doing so, they have unwittingly served the enemies of Islam more faithfully than its friends. In our own era, the resurgence of this deviant current under the banner of ISIS has brought satisfaction to the very powers hostile to Islam, such as the United States, Israel, and their allies, who have found in the group a convenient instrument for their destructive agendas.
Modern history shows that the adversaries of Islam have dealt some of their most devastating blows to the Ummah through this very faction. After the American invasion of Iraq, the infamous Abu Ghraib prison became a laboratory of both physical torment and psychological manipulation. Amid the cruelty of its cells, prisoners’ minds were reshaped and radicalized under the ideology of takfir, turning them into pawns for the designs of foreign powers.
When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi assumed leadership of ISIS in 2013, he betrayed the true spirit of jihad by excommunicating the very Mujahideen who had fought courageously for years against unbelievers and occupiers, men whose sacrifices had been honored by the entire Islamic Ummah. He branded them apostates and declared war against them, diverting the struggle from defending Islam to attacking its own defenders.
The emergence of ISIS, the modern heirs of the Khawarij, has once again plunged the Ummah into pain and disunity. The Mujahideen, who once stood at the frontlines of resistance, have endured the gravest losses, particularly in Iraq and Syria, at the hands of those who, while claiming the name of Islam, became its most ruthless foes.
