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'Kharijites' (Arabic '' خوارج, literally "Those who Go Out"
[1]) is a general term embracing various Muslims who, while initially supporting the
caliphate of the fourth Caliph
Ali, later rejected him. They first emerged in the late 7th century AD, concentrated in today's southern Iraq, and are distinct from the
Sunnis and
Shiites.
Whereas the Shiites believed that the ''
imamate'' (leadership) was the sole right of the house of
Ali, the Kharijites insisted that any pious and able Muslim could be a leader of the Muslim community. And whereas the Sunnis believed that the imam's impiousness did not, by itself, justify sedition, the Kharijites insisted on the right to revolt against any ruler who deviated from the example of the Islamic prophet
Muhammad and the first two
Caliphs. From this, essentially political position, the Kharijites developed a variety of theological and legal doctrines that further set them apart from both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
Kharijites were also known historically as the ''Shurat'', meaning "those who have sold their souls to God", which, unlike the term "Kharijite", was one that many Kharijites used to describe themselves. The only surviving group, the
IbÄá¸Ä« of
Oman,
Zanzibar and
North Africa, reject the "Kharijite" apellation and refer to themselves as ''ahl al-'adl wal istiqama'' ("people of justice and straightforwardness").
Origin
The origin of Kharijism lies in the
first Islamic civil war: a struggle for political supremacy over the Muslim community in the years following the death of
Muhammad. The third
Caliph,
Uthman ibn Affan, was killed by mutineers in 656 AD, and a struggle for succession ensued between
Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and
MuÄwiyah, Governor of Damascus and cousin of Uthman. According to
John Esposito, they were the first radical dissent in Islam who combined "a rigorous puritanism and religious fundamentalism with an exclusivist egalitarianism".
[2]
In
658, AlÄ«'s forces met MuÄwiyah's at the
Battle of Siffin. Initially, the battle went against MuÄwiyah. At the edge of defeat MuÄwiyah directed his army to hoist Qur'Äns on their lances. This initiated discord among some of those who were in ˤAlÄ«'s army. MuÄwiyah wanted to put the between the two sides to arbitration in accordance with the
Quran. A group of ˤAlÄ«'s army mutinied, demanding that ˤAlÄ« agree to MuÄwiyah's proposal. As a result, ˤAlÄ« reluctantly presented his own representative for arbitration. The mutineers, however, put forward Abu Musa al-Ash'ari against AlÄ«'s wishes. MuÄwiyah put forward
Amr Ibn Al-As. Abu Musa al-Ash'ari was convinced by Amr to pronounce Alī's removal as caliph even though Ali's caliphate was not meant to be the issue of concern in the arbitration. The mutineers saw the turn of events as a fundamental betrayal of principle, especially since they had initiated it; a large group of them (traditionally believed to be 12,000, mainly from
Banu Hanifah and
Banu Tamim tribes)repudiated ˤAlÄ«. Citing the verse, "No rule but God's", an indication that a caliph is not a representative of God, this group turned on both ˤAlÄ« and MuˤÄwiya, opposing MuˤÄwiya's rebellion against whom they considered to be the rightful
caliph, and opposing ˤAlÄ«'s subjecting his legitimate authority to arbitration. They became known as Kharijites: Arabic plural khawÄrij, singular ''KhÄrijÄ«'', derived from the verb ''kharaja'' "come out, leave the fold''.
ˤAlī quickly divided his troops and ordered them to catch the dissenters before they reach major cities and disperse among the population. Ali's cousin,
Abdullah ibn Abbas, managed to persuade a number of Kharijites to return to ˤAlī. ˤAlī defeated the remaining rebels in the
Battle of Nahrawan in
658 but some Kharijites survived and, in
661, ultimately assassinated ˤAlÄ«. They are said to have organized simultaneous attempts against MuˤÄwiya and
ˤAmr as well, as the three men were in their view the main sources of strife within the Muslim community, but were only successful in assassinating Ali.
Beliefs and practices
Kharijite theology was a form of radical
extremism, preaching uncompromising observance of the teachings of the
Qur'an in defiance of corrupt authorities. They preached absolute equality of the faithful, in opposition to the aristocracy of the
Quraysh which had grown more pronounced under the
Umayyad Caliphate. They spread their views by violent conflict, which they considered to be a righteous
jihad (struggle) and the
sixth pillar of Islam.
They believed that anybody who commits a grave sin is no longer a Muslim and is subject to excommunication, warfare and death unless the person repented. They believed that the leader of the Muslim community can be any good Muslim, even a slave, provided that he had the community support, in contrast to the dominant opinion among Muslims at the time that the ruler should be a member of Muhammad's tribe, the
Quraysh. Having a strong emphasis on the need to depose unjust rulers and believing that the current leaders of the Muslim community were guilty of grave sins, they withdrew themselves from the rest of the Muslim community, started camping together and waged war against their perceived enemies. They believed that they are the people of God fighting against the people of evil.
[3]
Azraqī
Main articles: Azraqi (religion)
The most extreme were the ''Azraqīs'' or ''Azariqah'', founded in Persia in
685 by . These pronounced ''
Takfir'' on all other Muslims, considering them to be ''
Kuffar'' ('unbelievers') who could be killed with impunity.
[4][5] Their distinctive practices included:
★ A test of sincerity (إمتØان '' "examination") required of each new recruit, in which the neophyte was required to cut the throat of a captive enemy.
★ Religious murder (إستعراض '' "demonstration"), not only of men, but also of their wives and children (the killing of non-combatants is disallowed in Islam)
They regarded the territory occupied by other Muslims as part of
Dar al-Kufr,the territory of unbelief where it was permitted to attack both people and goods - but also a territory from which one must exile oneself, as Muhammad had exiled himself from Mecca to escape the unbelievers there.
Sufrī
Main articles: Sufri
Less brutal was the
Sufri sect, founded by ZiyÄd ibnu l-Asfar in an environment hostile to Kharijism. These condemned political murder, adhered the practice of
taqiyya, and rejected the massacre of the unbelievers' children. They considered
Sura 12 to be not truly part of the
Qur'an.
Najdat
Main articles: Najdat
The Najdat were the followers of
Najdah ibn 'Amir, of
Bani Hanifa, who estabished a Kharijite state in
al-Yamamah (east-central Arabia). Like the Sufris, Najdah had split from the Azraqi movement over the issues of the killing of the enemy's women and children and over the status of those who refuse to join in battle, as the Azraqis believed that whoever stayed behind had become an unbeliever.
IbÄdÄ«
Main articles: Ibadi
A third sect, the
IbÄdÄ«s, developed further than the others. Founded by ˤAbdullÄh ibn-IbÄd, they maintained attitudes of political intransigence and moral rigor. They were, however, more flexible in their dealings with other Muslims - for example, they would not attack without first extending an invitation to join.
Harūrīyya
Main articles: Harūriyya
The branch founded by Habib ibn-Yazīd al-Harūrī held that it was permissible to entrust the imamate to a woman if she was able to carry out the required duties. The founder's wife,
GhazÄla al-HarÅ«riyya, commanded troops; in this she followed the example of Juwayriyya, daughter of
Abu Sufyan, at the
battle of Yarmuk. In one battle, she put the famous Umayyad general HajjÄj ibn-YÅ«suf to flight.
History
Reenactors showing military Kharijites
The high point of the Kharijites' influence was in the years 690-730 around
Basra in south Iraq, which was always a center of Sunni theology. Kharijite ideology was a popular creed for rebels against the officially
Sunni Caliphate, inspiring breakaway states and rebellions (like Maysara's) throughout the
Maghrib and sometimes elsewhere.
The
Azraqī revolted against the Caliphate in 685 after separating from the
IbÄdÄ« near Basra and departing for
Fars. They were suppressed by
Abd al-Malik's armies, under the command of Amir al-Hajjaj; their leader was killed, and by 699 they had vanished. Another revolt occurred in
695; Sunni traditions underline the massacre of Muslims at a mosque in
Kufa as an example of Kharijite fury and brutality. Agitations such as these fatally weakened the Ummayad caliphate and paved the way for its overthrow by the
Abbasids.
During this period, the Najdat, led by Najdah ibn 'Amir, established a state in
al-Yamamah, in central Arabia, and annexed the eastern Arabian region of
Bahrayn, including
al-Qatif. Najdah also moved westwards and captured the city of
Taif, south of
Mecca, and was only dissuaded from taking Mecca and
Medina by
Abdullah ibn Umar, the son of the second Muslim
caliph,
Umar ibn al-Khattab, who was particularly revered by the Kharijites. Najdah was assassinated by some of his followers in
692, and the Najdat movement quickly disintegrated thereafter.
From the beginning of the Arab conquest of the
Maghreb, the Kharijites sent representatives to join the local
Berber population. The Berbers, used to a communal system of government and opposed to Arab domination, found in Kharijism an ideological framework for rebellion. In the last years of the Umayyad dynasty, the western part of the Islamic empire escaped from the central authority; Spain came under the rule of the Umayyad emirs of Cordoba, while several independent states were founded in the Maghrib.
A
Sufrī community from southern
Tunisia captured
Kairouan in
755, at the price of fearful
massacres. The
IbÄdÄ« of Jebel
Nafusa, outraged by the excesses of their rival sect, took the city and wiped out its
Sufrī population. They proclaimed an imamate c.
757, founding a state which would cover parts of
Tripolitania and
Ifriqiya before it was conquered by
Abbasid armies in
761. Among the leaders of this state was
Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rustam, a Persian convert who would later found the
Rustamid dynasty at
Tahert.
Around the same time, a Sufri kingdom was founded in
Tlemcen (western Algeria). Berber
Sufrī from the tribe of Meknasa established the
Midrarid state at
Sijilmassa on the eastern slope of the
Atlas Mountains in
Morocco. Abū Qurra, a
Sufrī of the Ifren tribe of Tlemcen, reconquered Ifriqiya from the Arabs in
771.
The region stabilized in
778, when ibn Rustam made a peace treaty with the Abbasid governor of Kairouan, and remained so until the arrival of the
Fatimids in
909.
Modern times
The
Ibadis have survived into the present day, though they now reject the designation "Kharijite". They form a significant part of the population of
Oman (where they first settled in 686), and there are smaller concentrations of them in the
Mzab of
Algeria,
Jerba in
Tunisia, Jebel
Nafusa in
Libya, and
Zanzibar.
In modern times, Muslim scholars and governments have called terrorist groups which emphasize the practice of
Takfir and justify the killing of innocent people as the new Kharijites; notable examples of groups described as such include the
Groupe Islamique Armée of
Algeria and the
Takfir wal-Hijra group of
Egypt.
References
1. "Schisms and Heterodoxy among the Muslims", hosted on irfi.org
2. Esposito, Islam the straight path, p. 43-45
3. Esposito, Islam the straight path, p. 43
4. http://secure.britannica.com/eb/article-9054160?hook=182121#182121.hook
5. http://www.islamfact.com/books-htm/ibadi/13.htm
Further reading
★ J J Saunders, A History of Medieval Islam, Routledge (UK),
1 October 1972 ISBN 0-415-05914-3
External links
★
Salafi Publications. Refutations by the leading Sunni scholars against the Khawarij rebels, past and present. Under heading "Deviated Sects".
★
Ibadhi Islam site
★
The Kharijites and Their Impact on Contemporary Islam
★
Who are the Khawaarij?
★
Hermeneutics of Takfir
★
Political Thought in Islam by Sir Muhammad Iqbal
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