Kharijites
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The Kharijites,
After Mu'awiya's establishment of the
The Kharijites believed that any Muslim, irrespective of his descent or ethnicity, qualified for the role of
What is known about Kharijite history and doctrines derives from non-Kharijite authors of the ninth and tenth centuries, and is hostile toward the sect. The absence of the Kharijite version of their history has made unearthing their true motives difficult. Traditional Muslim historical sources and mainstream Muslims have viewed the Kharijites as religious extremists who left the Muslim community. Many modern Muslim extremist groups have been compared to the Kharijites for their radical ideology and militancy. On the other hand, some modern Arab historians have stressed the egalitarian and proto-democratic tendencies of the Kharijites. Modern, academic historians are generally divided in attributing the Kharijite phenomenon to purely religious motivations, economic factors, or a Bedouin (nomadic Arab) challenge to the establishment of an organized state, with some rejecting the traditional account of the movement having started at Siffin.
Etymology
The term al-Khariji was used as an
Primary and classical sources
Almost no primary Kharijite sources survive, except for works by authors from the sole surviving Kharijite sect of Ibadiyya, and excerpts in non-Kharijite works.[5] As the latter are the main sources of information and date to later periods, the Kharijite material has suffered alterations and distortions during transmission, collection, and classification.[6]
Non-Kharijite sources fall mainly into two categories: histories and heresiographical works—the so-called firaq (sects) literature.[5] The histories were written significantly later than the actual events, and many of the theological and political disputes among the early Muslims had been settled by then. As representatives of the emerging orthodoxy,[7] the Sunni as well as Shi'a authors[8] of these works looked upon the original events through the lens of this orthodox viewpoint.[7] The bulk of information regarding the Kharijites, however, comes from the second category.[9] These sources are outright polemical, as the authors tend to portray their own sect as the true representative of original Islam and are consequently hostile to the Kharijites.[5][10] Although the authors in both categories used earlier Kharijite as well as non-Kharijite sources, which are no longer extant, their rendering of the events has been heavily altered by literary topoi.[6][c]
Based on a hadith (saying or tradition attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad) prophesying the emergence of 73 sects in Islam, of which one would be saved (al-firqa al-najiya) and the rest doomed as deviant, the heresiographers were mainly concerned with classifying what they considered to be deviant sects and their heretical doctrines.[13] Consequently, views of certain sects were altered to fit into classification schemes, and sometimes fictitious sects were invented.[6][14] Moreover, the reports are often confused and contradictory, rendering a reconstruction of 'what actually happened' and the true motives of the Kharijites, which is free of later interpolations, especially difficult.[15] According to the historians Hannah-Lena Hagemann and Peter Verkinderen, the sources sometimes used the Kharijites as a literary tool to address other issues, which were otherwise unrelated to the Kharijites, such as "the status of Ali, the dangers of communal strife, or the legal aspects of rebellion".[16] The Ibadi sources, on the other hand, are hagiographical and are concerned with preserving the group identity. Toward this purpose, stories are sometimes created, or real events altered, in order to romanticize and valorize early Kharijite revolts and their leaders as the anchors of the group identity.[17] These too are hostile to other Kharijite groups.[18] The sources, whether Ibadi, historiographical, or heresiographical, do not necessarily report events as they actually happened. They rather show how their respective authors viewed, and wanted their readers to view, these events.[6][19]
The sources in the historiographical category include the
Origin
The Kharijites were the first sect to arise within Islam.[24] They originated during the First Fitna, the struggle for political leadership over the Muslim community (umma), following the assassination in 656 of the third caliph Uthman (r. 644–656).[25]
The later years of Uthman's reign were marked by growing discontent from multiple groups within the Muslim community. His favoritism and enrichment of his Umayyad relatives was disdained by the Muslim elite in Medina.[i] The early Muslim settlers of the garrison towns of Kufa and Fustat, in the conquered regions of Iraq and Egypt, felt their status threatened by several factors during this period. These were Uthman's interference in provincial affairs,[j] overcrowding of the garrison towns by a continuous tribal influx from Arabia, diminishing revenue from the conquests, and the growing influence of the pre-Islamic tribal nobility.[29] Opposition by the Iraqi early-comers, who became known as the qurra (which probably means 'the Qur'an reciters'), and the Egyptians turned into open rebellion in 656. Encouraged by the disaffected Medinese elite, the rebels marched on Medina, killing Uthman in June 656.[28] His murder sparked the civil war.[30]
Afterward, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali became caliph with the help of the people of Medina and the rebels. He was soon challenged by Muhammad's widow,
Harura
As Ali marched back to his capital at Kufa, widespread resentment toward the arbitration developed in his army. As many as 12,000 dissenters[l] seceded from the army and set up camp in Harura, a place near Kufa. They thus became known as the Harurites.[39] They held that Uthman had deserved his death because of his nepotism and not ruling according to the Qur'an, and that Ali was the legitimate caliph, while Mu'awiya was a rebel.[40] They believed that the Qur'an clearly stated that as a rebel Mu'awiya was not entitled to arbitration, but rather should be fought until he repented, pointing to the Qur'anic verse:[40]
And if two groups of believers fight each other, then make peace between them. But if one of them transgresses against the other, then fight against the transgressing group until they ˹are willing to˺ submit to the rule of Allah. If they do so, then make peace between both ˹groups˺ in all fairness and act justly. Surely Allah loves those who uphold justice.
They held that in agreeing to arbitration, Ali committed the grave sin of rejecting God's judgment (
Ali visited the Harura camp and attempted to regain the dissidents' support, arguing that it was they who had forced him to accept the arbitration proposal despite his reservations. They acknowledged that they had sinned but insisted that they repented and asked him to do the same, which Ali then did in general and ambiguous terms. The troops at Harura subsequently restored their allegiance to Ali and returned to Kufa, on the condition that the war against Mu'awiya be resumed within six months.[43]
Nahrawan
Ali refused to denounce the arbitration proceedings, which continued despite the reconciliation with the troops at Harura. In March 658, Ali sent a delegation, led by Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, to carry out the talks.[35] The troops opposed to the arbitration thereafter condemned Ali's rule and elected the pious Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi as their caliph. In order to evade detection, they moved out of Kufa in small groups and went to a place called Nahrawan on the east bank of the Tigris. Some five hundred of their Basran comrades were informed and joined them in Nahrawan, numbering reportedly up to 4,000 men.[44][45] They declared Ali and his followers as unbelievers, and are held to have killed several people who did not share their views.[44][46]
In the meantime, the arbitrators declared that Uthman had been killed unjustly by the rebels. They could not agree on any other substantive matters and the process collapsed. Ali denounced the conduct of Abu Musa and Mu'awiya's lead arbitrator
Later history
Under Mu'awiya
The accession of Mu'awiya, the original enemy of the Kharijites, to the caliphate in August 661 provided the new impetus for Kharijite rebellion. Those Kharijites at Nahrawan who had been unwilling to fight Ali and had left the battlefield, rebelled against Mu'awiya. Under the leadership of Farwa ibn Nawfal al-Ashja'i of the
Kufan Kharijism died out around 663,
Second Fitna
After the death of Mu'awiya in 680, civil war ensued over leadership of the Muslim community. The people of the Hejaz (where Mecca and Medina are located) rebelled against Mu'awiya's son and successor, Yazid. The Mecca-based Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, a son of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, was the most prominent Hejazi opponent of Yazid.[68] When Yazid sent an army to suppress the rebellion in 683 and Mecca was besieged, Kharijites from Basra reinforced Ibn al-Zubayr.[65] After Yazid's death in November, Ibn al-Zubayr proclaimed himself caliph and publicly condemned Uthman's murder. Both acts prompted the Kharijites to abandon his cause.[69] The majority, including Nafi ibn al-Azraq and Najda ibn Amir al-Hanafi, went to Basra, while the remainder left for the Yamama, in central Arabia, under the leadership of Abu Talut Salim ibn Matar. In the meantime, Ibn Ziyad was expelled by tribal chiefs in Basra, where inter-tribal strife ensued. Ibn al-Azraq and other militant Kharijites took over the city, killed the deputy left by Ibn Ziyad and freed 140 Kharijites from prison.[70][71] Soon afterwards, the Basrans recognized Ibn al-Zubayr, who appointed Umar ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Ma'mar as the city's governor. Umar drove out Ibn al-Azraq's men from Basra and they escaped to Ahwaz.[72][73]
Azariqa
From Ahwaz, Ibn al-Azraq raided Basra's suburbs. His followers are called
Najdat
During his time in Ahwaz, Najda broke with Ibn al-Azraq over the latter's extremist ideology.
Moderate Kharijites and their fragmentation
According to the heresiographers' accounts, the original Kharijites split into four principal groups (usul al-Khawarij; the mother sects of all the later Kharijites sects), during the Second Fitna. A moderate group, headed by
Modern historians consider Ibn Saffar to be a legendary figure,[93][94][95][96] and assert that the Sufriyya and Ibadiyya sects did not exist during the seventh century. The heresiographers, whose aim was to categorize the divergent beliefs of the Kharijites, most likely invented the Sufriyya to accommodate those groups who did not fit neatly anywhere else.[6][97][98] As such, there was only one moderate Kharijite current, which might have been called "Sufri". According to the historian Keith Lewinstein, the term probably originated with the pious early Kharijites because of their pale-yellow appearance (sufra) caused by excessive worship.[99] The moderates condemned the militancy of the Azariqa and Najdat, but otherwise lacked a set of concrete doctrines. Jabir and Abu Ubayda may have been prominent figures in the moderate movement.[92] The moderates further split into the true Sufriyya and Ibadiyya only during the eighth century, with the main difference being tribal affiliations rather than doctrinal differences.[97][6]
During the Second Fitna, the moderates remained inactive. However, in the mid-690s they also started militant activities in response to persecution by Hajjaj.[94] The first of their revolts was led in 695 by Ibn Musarrih, and ended in defeat and Ibn Musarrih's death.[94] Afterward, this Kharijite group became a major threat to Kufa and its suburbs under Shabib.[100] With a small army of a few hundred warriors, Shabib defeated several thousands-strong Umayyad armies in 695–696, looted Kufa's treasury and occupied al-Mada'in.[101] From his base in al-Mada'in, Shabib moved to capture Kufa. Hajjaj had already requested Syrian troops from Abd al-Malik, who sent a 4,000-strong army which defeated Shabib outside Kufa. Shabib drowned in a river during his flight,[102] his band was destroyed, but the Kharijites continued to maintain a presence in the Jazira.[103]
Sufriyya
Distinct Sufriyya and Ibadiyya sects are attested from the early eighth century in North Africa and Oman. The two differed in association with different tribal groups and competed for popular support.
By the mid-8th century, the quietist Kharijites appeared in North Africa. They were mostly of
Ibadiyya
In the early eighth century, a proto-Ibadi movement emerged from the Basran moderates.[92] Missionaries were sent to propagate the doctrine in different parts of the empire including Oman, Yemen, Hadramawt, Khurasan, and North Africa. During the final years of the Umayyad Caliphate, the Ibadi propaganda movement caused several revolts in the periphery of the empire, though the leaders in Basra adopted the policy of kitman (also called taqiyya); concealing beliefs so as to avoid persecution.[90]
In 745, Abd Allah ibn Yahya al-Kindi established the first Ibadi state in Hadramawt, and captured Yemen in 746. His lieutenant, Abu Hamza Mukhtar ibn Aws al-Azdi, later conquered Mecca and Medina. The Umayyads defeated and killed Abu Hamza and Ibn Yahya in 748 and the first Ibadi state collapsed.[110][111] An Ibadi state was established in Oman in 750 after the fall of Abu Yahya, but fell to the Abbasids in 752. It was followed by the establishment of another Ibadi state in 793,[110] which survived for a century until the Abbasid recapture of Oman in 893. Abbasid influence in Oman was mostly nominal, and Ibadi imams continued to wield considerable power.[112] Around a century later, Ibadi leader al-Khalil ibn Shathan al-Kharusi (r. 1016–1029) reasserted control over the central Oman, whereas his successor Rashid ibn Sa'id al-Yahmadi (r. 1029–1053) drove the then Abbasid patrons Buyids out of the coastal region, thereby restoring the Ibadi control of Oman. Internal splits led to fall of the third Ibadi imamate in the late 12th century.[92] Ibadi imamates were reestablished in subsequent centuries.[113] Ibadis form the majority of the Omani population to date.[114]
Ibadi missionary activity met with considerable success in North Africa.[114] In 757, Ibadis seized Tripoli and captured Kairouan the next year. Driven out by an Abbasid army in 761, Ibadi leaders founded a state, which became known as the Rustamid dynasty, in Tahart. It was overthrown in 909 by the Fatimids. Ibadi communities continue to exist today in the Nafusa Mountains in northwestern Libya, Djerba island in Tunisia and the M'zab valley in Algeria.[115] In East Africa they are found in Zanzibar.[114] Ibadi missionary activity also reached Persia, India, Egypt, Sudan, Spain and Sicily, although Ibadi communities in these regions disappeared over time.[116] The total numbers of the Ibadis in Oman and Africa are estimated to be around 2.5 million and 200,000 respectively.[117]
Beliefs and practices
The Kharijites did not have a uniform and coherent set of doctrines. Different sects and individuals held different views. Based on these divergences, heresiographers have listed more than a dozen minor Kharijite sects, in addition to the four main sects discussed above.[118][o]
Governance
In addition to their insistence on rule according to the Qur'an,
Almost all Kharijite groups considered the position of a leader (imam) to be necessary. Many Kharijite leaders adopted the title of amir al-mu'minin, which was usually reserved for caliphs.[125] An exception are the Najdat, who, as a means of survival, abandoned the requirement of war against non-Kharijites after their defeat in 692, and rejected that the imamate was an obligatory institution.[126][127] The historian Patricia Crone has described the Najdat's philosophy as an early form of anarchism.[128]
Other doctrines
The Kharijites also asserted that faith without accompanying deeds is useless, and that anyone who commits a major sin is an unbeliever (
The Azariqa and Najdat held that since the Umayyad rulers, and all non-Kharijites in general, were unbelievers, it was unlawful to continue living under their rule (dar al-kufr), for that was in itself an act of unbelief. It was thus obligatory to emigrate, in emulation of Muhammad's
The Kharijites espoused that all Muslims were equals, regardless of ethnicity and advocated for equal status of the
Some sects of the Kharijites rejected the
Some of the Kharijites rejected the punishment of
Poetry
Many Kharijites were well-versed in traditional Arabic eloquence and poetry, which the
Some poems encouraged militant activism.[151] Imran ibn Hittan, whom the Arabist Michael Cooperson calls the greatest Kharijite poet,[152] sang after Abu Bilal's death: "Abū Bilāl has increased my disdain for this life; and strengthened my love for the khurūj [rebellion]".[153] The poet Abu'l-Wazi al-Rasibi addressed Ibn al-Azraq, before the latter became activist, with the lines:[151]
Your tongue does no harm to the enemy
you will only gain salvation from distress by means of your two hands.[151]
The government was often labelled as tyrannical and obedience to it was criticized. The Kharijite poet Isa ibn Fatik al-Khatti thus sang:[151]
You obeyed the orders of the stubborn tyrant
but no obedience is due to oppressors.[151]
Many poems were written to eulogize fallen Kharijite activists, and thus represent the romanticized version of actual historical events.[154] The Muhakkima are thus valorized and remembered at many places. The poet Aziz ibn al-Akhnas al-Ta'i eulogized them in the following lines:[46]
I complain to God that from every tribe
of people, battle has annihilated the best.[46]
Similarly, Ali's assassin Ibn Muljam was exalted by the poet Ibn Abi Mayyas al-Muradi in the following:[155]
You upon whom be blessings, we have struck Ḥaydar ['the lion'; a nickname for Ali]
Abū Ḥasan [Ali] with a blow to the head and he was split apart.[155]
Kharijite poetry has survived mainly in the non-Kharijite sources,[156][157] and hence may have been subject to alteration by its transmitters. Nevertheless, the historian Fred Donner believes that Kharijite poetry may have suffered a lesser and "different kind" of interpolation than the historical accounts about the Kharijites.[158] According to Hagemann, poetry is seemingly "the only genuinely Khārijite material" in existence.[159] A modern compilation of Kharijite poetry was published by Ihsan Abbas in 1974.[160][158][5]
Tribal affiliations
Most Kharijite leaders in the Umayyad period were Arabs. Of these, the
The Rabi'a were associated with the early Jaziran Kharijites (whom the sources label as Sufriyya), and the eighth-century Sufriyya,[6][162] though the Hanifa subtribe of the Rabi'a were mainly represented in the Azariqa and the Najdat.[161] The Tamim were also represented among the early Jaziran Kharijites, as well as the Azariqa. The southerners, especially the Kinda and Azd, were drawn to the Ibadiyya in the eighth century.[6][162] Nonetheless, it was individuals, rather than whole tribes, who joined the Kharijite ranks, the majority being younger or otherwise of obscure origins. Few, if any, of the ashraf (tribal nobility) were among them.[163] The historian Khalid Yahya Blankinship considers the Rabi'a affinity to Kharijism as rooted in their lower military and social status. They were considered by the Umayyad administration as being poor military leaders, and otherwise backward. Their relatively late conversion to Islam also resulted in them finding only low-ranking military roles, as the higher positions had already been filled by men from other tribes.[164] As such, Blankinship views Kharijism as a political protest cloaked in religious zeal, and considers the Kharijites as no more than rebels.[165] Watt has suggested that the northern Arabs, having had no experience of central administration and government, were more susceptible to Kharijism as opposed to the southerners. The culture and collective thinking of the latter was influenced by the ancient kingdoms of South Arabia, where kings were seen as charismatic leaders with superhuman qualities. As a result, they were drawn more to Shi'ism than to Kharijism.[166]
Legacy
Historical analysis
According to Rudolf Ernst Brünnow (1858–1917), the first academic historian to systematically study the Kharijites,[167] the qurra supported the arbitration proposal because, as pious believers in the Qur'an, they felt obliged to respond to the call of making the Qur'an the arbitrator. The people who objected to the treaty were Bedouin Arabs, and hence separate from the qurra who had settled in Kufa and Basra following the wars of conquest. They had devoted themselves to the cause of Islam and perceived the arbitration by two people as an acute religious injustice, which drove them into secession and later into open rebellion.[168]
The orientalist Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) criticized Brünnow's hypothesis because all Basrans and Kufans of that time were Bedouin, and since Brünnow regards these Bedouin as pious anyway, it distinguishes them little from the qurra. Hence, the same group of people first favored and then rejected the arbitration. They initially accepted arbitration of the Qur'an, but some later realized and acknowledged this was a mistake, repented, and demanded the same from Ali. In Wellhausen's view, the Kharijites thus emanated from the qurra.[169] He argues that the Kharijite dogmatism was based on enforcement of the rule of God on Earth—an otherwise Islamic principle, taken too far by the Kharijites:[170] "By tightening onto the principles of Islam, they are taken beyond Islam itself".[171] They gave precedence to it over the integrity of the community as it was openly opposing God's commands in their view. Wellhausen rejects the notion of the Kharijites as anarchists, for they strove to build their own pious communities. But their goals were impractical and hostile to culture.[170]
According to Donner, the qurra might have been motivated by fears that the arbitration could result in them being held accountable for their involvement in Uthman's murder.[172] Analyzing early Kharijite poetry, Donner has further suggested that the Kharijites were pious believers who often expressed their piety in militant activism.[173] Their religious worldview was based on Qur'anic values, and they may have been the "real true believers" and "authentic representatives of the earliest community" of Muslims, instead of a divergent sect as presented by the sources.[150] Their militancy may have been caused by the expectation of the imminent end of the world, for the level of violence in their revolts and their extreme longing for martyrdom cannot be explained solely on the basis of belief in the afterlife. In Donner's view, it rather implies a level of urgency.[174][175]
Several modern historians also reject the traditional view that Kharijism originated at Siffin as a militant protest to the arbitration, without having any prior causes.[176][177] According to Crone, the story of the dispute over the arbitration is inadequate, and perhaps there was more to the dispute between Ali and the Kharijites than reported in the sources.[178] G. R. Hawting has suggested that the use of the la hukma slogan by the Kharijites to denounce the arbitration is a later reworking by the Muslim sources. In his view, the Kharijites originally espoused the slogan, amid the religious disputes among the Muslims over the scriptural authority, in order to reject the authority of the sunna and the oral law in favor of the Qur'an.[179]
The historians M. A. Shaban and Martin Hinds consider socioeconomic factors the root of Kharijite rebellions.[180] Rejecting the notion that the qurra were the Qur'an readers, Shaban holds that they were villagers who had gained status in Iraq during the caliphate of Umar for their loyalty to the state during the Wars of Apostasy that followed Muhammad's death, and were thus awarded the trusteeship of the fertile lands of Iraq. They were dissatisfied with the economic policies of Uthman[j] and saw Ali's caliphate as a means of restoring their status. When he agreed to talks with Mu'awiya they felt their status threatened and consequently rebelled. According to Shaban, the main role in forcing Ali to accept the arbitration was not played by the qurra but by the tribal chiefs, as the latter group had benefited from the policies of Uthman. They were not enthusiastic supporters of Ali, and considered the prospect of continued war as contrary to their interests.[181] In Shaban's thesis, the Kharijite rebellions after Siffin also had economic origins.[180] In Hinds's view, the status of the qurra was based on Umar's principle of sabiqa (early conversion to Islam) and their participation in the early conquests. They hoped that Ali would continue Umar's system and accordingly backed him. They supported the arbitration because they assumed it would bring an end to the war, with Ali retaining the caliphate and returning to Medina, leaving the administration of Iraq in the hands of the local population, including themselves. They denounced the arbitration upon realizing that Ali was not recognized as caliph in the document, and that the arbiters could use their own judgment in addition to the Qur'anic principles.[182][180]
In the view of Watt, it was neither religious grounds, nor economic factors that gave rise to the Kharijites.[183] His view is that Kharijism was the nomadic response to the newly established organized state. The nomads, accustomed to the independent lifestyle of the desert, suddenly found their freedoms curtailed by the powerful bureaucracy of a "vast administrative machine".[184] The rebellion at Siffin was thus an expression of this rejection of state control.[185] From then on, they strove to recreate the pre-Islamic tribal structure and Bedouin lifestyle, on a religious basis.[186] The historian Hugh N. Kennedy describes the Kharijites as ultra-pious people who were dissatisfied with perceived laxity in religion on the part of other people and the state, and felt that the religion was being exploited for personal gains. They thus came to reject both the traditional tribal society and the urban lifestyle that the state had forced upon the people by relocating them to the garrison towns. The movement was an attempt to find a third way: an independent, egalitarian, nomadic society based on unadulterated religion.[187] The Islamicist Chase F. Robinson describes the Jaziran Kharijites as disgruntled army commanders with tribal followings, who adopted Kharijism to provide a religious cover to their banditry.[188]
Hagemann and Verkinderen differentiate between intellectual and militant Kharijism. In their view, the former was concerned with the rule of God and rejection of corrupt government. The latter was not always a protest of the former as the sources assert; in many cases it had variety of causes such as increased taxation, state control of resources, and discrimination against the mawali. They explain the diversity of views by other historians as stemming from the historians' focus on one particular group of Kharijites with the assumption that it represented the Kharijite movement in general.[189]
In the long term, the activism of the militant Kharijites and their consistent suppression by the government resulted in their disappearance. No militant Kharijite sect survived beyond the 12th century. The quietists' more nuanced and practical approach, in which they preferred taqiyya over hijra, engaged in organized and sustainable military campaigns and institution-building, as opposed to aggressive pursuit of martyrdom, all contributed to their survival.[6]
Contribution to Muslim theology
According to Della Vida, despite its popular outlook, the Kharijite movement was not devoid of intellectualism.
In the eighth and ninth centuries, Kharijite, especially Ibadi, theologians contributed to the debates concerning the problems of divine unity versus multiplicity of divine attributes, and predestination versus free will.[191] Concerning divine attributes, they agreed with the Mu'tazila in that the attributes of essence (attributes that God must have; e.g. knowledge and power) are different from the attributes of act (those that exist outside of him; such as creation and speech),[192] but held that divine will was an attribute of essence. As such God wills from eternity, which means that everything is predetermined. Consequently, they rejected the doctrine of human free will. According to Wilferd Madelung, they were likely the first group to hold the view of the divine will being an attribute of essence, which was eventually adopted by the Sunni theologians. The Kharijite theologians also rejected anthropomorphist theology, and agreed with the Mu'tazila on the created nature of the Qur'an.[191]
The Kharijites were the first group to declare other Muslims kuffar, a designation previously reserved for non-Muslims. The influence of this led to the transformation of the concept of kufr in later Sunni theology; in addition to unbelief, kufr acquired the meaning of heterodoxy and heresy.[193] In the view of Watt, the Kharijite insistence on the rule according to the Qur'an prevented the early Muslim empire from turning into a purely secular Arab state. The rest of the Muslims eventually adopted this view that all political and social life of the Muslims should be based on the divine law (Sharia) derived from the Qur'an, although they added to its sources the sunna of Muhammad.[194]
Traditional Muslim view
The Kharijites drew condemnation by traditional Muslim historians and heresiographers of subsequent centuries.[195] In order to make clearer the distinction between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, the mainstream sources attempted to portray the Kharijites as a monolithic, identifiable group, with the characteristics and practices of the most radical sect, the Azariqa, being presented as representative of the whole.[196] The term Khawarij, which originally meant those who went out of Kufa to gather at Nahrawan during the time of Ali, was subsequently understood as 'outsiders'—those who went out of the fold of the Muslim community—rebels, and brutal extremists.[3][8][197]
The non-Kharijite Muslims attribute several hadiths to Muhammad, prophesying the emergence of the Kharijites.[198] After the Battle of Hunayn in 630, a man named Dhu'l-Khuwaysira is reported to have accused Muhammad of unjustly distributing the spoils. Umar reportedly asked for Muhammad's permission to kill the man, but the latter declined, saying:[171]
Let him go, there will be people from him who will pray and fast so eagerly that your prayer and fasting will seem comparatively small to you; they plunge so deeply into the religion that they come out on the other side, like a sharp arrow through a target on which no trace of blood and flesh remains.[171]
A similar hadith attributed to Muhammad is:[198]
There will emerge from [Iraq] a people who will recite the Qur'an but it will not go beyond their throats, and they will stray from Islam as an arrow strays from the animal.[198]
Other hadiths with themes of "arrow through the target" or "the Qur'an not going beyond throats" are reported. Although the hadiths do not name the Kharijites or any particular Kharijite individual, they are generally viewed by non-Kharijite Muslims as references to the Kharijites. Some hadiths of this type encouraged other Muslims to eliminate the Kharijites.[199]
Modern times
In the modern era, many Muslim theologians and clerics have compared the beliefs and actions of modern
Although most modern Arab historians have been critical of the Kharijites, some have presented a more favorable view. The latter group argue that the Kharijites rebelled against economic injustice and had valid grievances. They compare the Kharijite ideals of ethnic and gender equality with the modern equivalents of these values and consider them representatives of proto-democratic thought in early Islam.[209] Modern Ibadi scholars have attempted to soften the image of the Kharijites, in order to reconcile their differences with rest of the Muslims. They assert that mainstream Muslim accounts of the Kharijite history are distorted and present the early Kharijites unfairly, as they were simply protesting against injustice.[210][211] At the same time, Ibadis also protest against being labelled as a Kharijite sect. They associate the term with the Azariqa, Najdat, and the Sufriyya, whom they condemn; the Muhakkima, on the other hand, they hold in high regard.[210] One modern Ibadi author claims that the Muhakkima did not rebel against Ali but only had a difference of opinion with him. It was not Ali who fought them at Nahrawan, but the Kufan nobleman al-Ash'ath ibn Qays.[211]
Notes
- Arabic: خارجي, romanized: khārijī
- Arabic: الشراة, romanized: al-Shurāt
- ^ Many reports of the Kharijite revolts, for example, follow a distinct pattern: the gathering of the Kharijites; appointment of a leader who reluctantly accepts the appointment after having flatly refused at first; a moving sermon by the leader emphasizing the desire to fight for God; and finally the revolt.[11] Others include extreme piety, desire for holy war and martyrdom, and extreme violence.[12]
- ^ Al-Baladhuri is somewhat sympathetic towards the Kharijites as he is more concerned with depicting the Umayyads as tyrants, whose tyranny he contrasts with Kharijite piety. Al-Tabari, in contrast, focuses on condemnation of militant Kharijites.[20]
- ^ Kitab Maqalat al-Islamiyyin wa Ikhtilaf al-Musallin.
- ^ Al-farq bayn al-firaq.
- ^ Kitab al-Fasl fi'l-Milal wa'l-Ahwa wa'l-Nihal.
- ^ Kitab al-Milal wa'l-Nihal.
- ^ He appointed his kinsmen to all important governorships and made monetary and land grants to his close relatives.[26]
- ^ a b He demanded that the surplus revenue from the provinces be sent to Medina. He also asserted that the conquered agricultural lands in Iraq, which the second caliph Umar had declared state assets from whose revenue the fighters were paid, were state property which he, as the Caliph, could use at his discretion.[27][28]
- ^ The arbitration document did not state clearly what issue was to be settled. It is also unclear what the term al-sunna al-adila (lit. 'the just practice') meant. It may have meant the generally accepted practice of conduct, or the practice of Muhammad. A later spurious version of the document revised the term to meaning the sunna of Muhammad. The Kharijites opposed this because it implied the Qur'an was not a sufficient basis to make the judgment.[37]
- ^ This figure is from al-Baghdadi. Al-Mubarrad reports 2,000, whereas al-Qalhati 10,000.[38]
- ^ The traveler is said to have been Abd Allah, a son of Muhammad's companion Khabbab. The story, in multiple variants, is found in almost every source dealing with the early Kharijites. In the most famous version, Ibn Khabbab encounters a group of Kharijites. In response to their questions, he narrates a hadith of Muhammad prophesying the emergence of fitna (literally trial or seduction, but historically civil war) and instructing the believers to be among the 'killed' rather than the 'killers'. Outraged, the Kharijites take him captive. One of them spits out a date, that he had found on the way, when objected by others that he had picked it without the permission of the owner. Later, he finds and pays the owner of a pig he had just killed without permission. Ibn Khabbab erroneously concludes that a people with such scruples would not kill him. He is slaughtered on top of the pig carcass; his pregnant slave girl is also killed and her womb ripped open. Historians Adam Gaiser and Hannah-Lena Hagemann hold that the story, due to its prevalence in the sources, likely has a kernel of truth, but has been heavily modified for variety of purposes and the details are unreliable. It contrasts the extreme piety of the Kharijites with extreme violence perpetrated by them to stress the hollowness of their religiosity, emphasize dangers associated with religious extremism, and justify Ali's attack on them at Nahrawan. Certain versions of the story have anachronous references to isti'rad, whereas overall structure is similar to an incident of a later date. It also mimics the actions characteristic of the later Azariqa group. What can be said with some degree of certainty is that Ibn Khabbab was killed by some of the Kharijites, for unknown reasons, and that the rest refused to hand these over to Ali at Nahrawan.[50][51]
- ^ An isolated revolt of the surviving followers of Mustawrid occurred in 678 and was easily put down.[62]
- ^ Of these minor sects, the Hamziyya, likely a splinter of the Ajarida, held out against the Abbasids for some thirty years. Under the leadership of Hamza ibn Adarak, a local Kharijite, they rebelled c. 797 in Sistan, which had seen Kharijite activity since Umayyad times, and frequently raided towns in Khurasan. The Abbasids were unable to defeat them and the revolt ended only when Hamza died in 828. Kharijite activity in Sistan, Khurasan and other parts of Persia persisted until the end of the ninth century.[74]
- ^ All rulers were drawn exclusively from the Quraysh during the entire period of the Kharijites' existence.[121]
- ^ Followers of Abu Bayhas, who is said to have criticized the Azariqa for going too far, by legitimizing murder of non-Kharijite Muslims and their families, and the Ibadiyya for not going far enough, as they did not consider other Muslims as unbelievers. It is almost certain that this sect too developed later and not during the second civil war as the sources assert.[94]
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