Author: Al Batar
Khawarij (Part Four)
A Conversation Between Amir al-Mu’minin Haider Karar and Khawarij
Compassion and Proof of Amir al-Mu’minin, MAPH, Against Foreign Seditionists:
Indeed, the Sahaba, especially the rightly guided caliphs, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon them all, were compassionate and caring toward this Ummah until the last moment. Even for enemies and people of heresy and corruption, they showed sympathy and compassion. However, after the truth was presented to them for the sake of Allah Almighty and they rejected it, they became very angry. The truth is that they embodied the verse: اشداء على الكفار رحماء بينهم (“Stern against the infidels, merciful among themselves”) due to their disbelief, which represented a divergence between the predecessors and successors.
Hazrat Ali, MAPH, sent Hazrat Ibn Abbas after the Khawarij riots in the mosque, and despite their excommunication, he still spoke to those seditious people in a gentle manner. This was the method throughout history of the prophets, peace be upon them; even Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) initially spoke softly to Pharaoh, as mentioned in the blessed Surah Taha: فَقُولَا لَهُ قَوْلًا لَّيِّنًا لَّعَلَّهُ يَتَذَكَّرُ أَوْ يَخْشَىٰ (“Then speak to him a gentle word; perhaps he will remember or fear”).
However, after the declaration of the proof that will be mentioned later, the war of Nahrwan—the first historical war with the Khawarij—began, where they showed their intensity and crushed this evil people. The divine tradition states that after proofs are presented, there will be punishment, as Allah the Exalted said in the blessed Surah of Isra: وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبعَثَ رَسُولاً (“And we will not punish any person or nation unless we send a messenger”).
Let’s Talk About This Historical Conversation:
Amir al-Mu’minin’s movement to debate with the rest of the Khawarij and his policy in dealing with them after their return to Kufa and their subsequent movement and rebellion: After Ibn Abbas debated with the Khawarij and two thousands of them responded to his call, Amir al-Mu’minin Ali, MAPH, went to them and talked with them, resulting in their return to Kufa. However, this agreement did not last long, as the Khawarij realized from Ali’s words that he had returned to his opinion about arbitration and had repented of his mistake—according to them—and they spread this speculation among the people. Ash’ath bin Qays Kandi approached Amir al-Mu’minin and informed him that the people were saying he had returned from disbelief. Ali, MAPH, delivered a Friday sermon, praising Allah and addressing the Khawarij regarding their opposition to the people, which caused their division.
In another narration, it is stated that: a man cried out, لا حكم الا الله (“There is no ruling except Allah”), followed by others echoing his words as some people stood up from the corners of the mosque, chanting, “There is no judgment except Allah.” Hazrat Ali, MAPH, motioned for them to sit down and replied, “Yes! There is no judgment but Allah, a word of truth by which falsehood is meant.”
While on the Minbar, he kept silencing them with gestures, and a person who had plugged his ears got up and declared, لَئِن أَشرَكتَ لَيَحبَطَنَّ عَمَلُكَ وَلَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلخَٰسِرِينَ (“If you associate others with Allah, your deeds will surely be ruined, and you will certainly be among the losers”). Amir al-Mu’minin Ali, MAPH, responded with the verse: فَٱصبِر إِنَّ وَعدَ ٱللَّهِ حَقّ وَلَا يَستَخِفَّنَّكَ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُوقِنُونَ (“So wait, for Allah’s promise is true, and do not let those who do not believe make you anxious”).
Amir al-Mu’minin announced his fair and enlightened policy toward this extremist group, stating: “You are right in our eyes in three cases:
1. We will not prevent you from praying in this mosque.
2. We will not deprive you of the share you had a hand in.
3. We will not fight you as long as you do not fight us.”
Hazrat Ali, MAPH, considered these rights for them, as long as they did not fight against the caliph or oppose the Muslim Ummah. At the same time, as they had their own ideas within the framework of Islamic belief, he would not exclude them from Islam initially, and they had the right to disagree peacefully without leading to sectarianism or violence.
Hazrat Ali, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, sought to clarify the proof and the truth for them and for others seduced by their opinions and the appearance of their actions. He commanded that the reciters of the Qur’an should go to him, allowing only those who had memorized the Qur’an to approach. As a result, his house filled with reciters of the Qur’an. He began to strike the great Mushaf with his hand, exclaiming, “O Mushaf, speak for the people.” The people replied, “O Amir al-Mu’minin, what do you want from it? It is only ink and paper, and we speak about what we understand.” He said, “These friends of yours have put the Book of Allah to conclude matters between me and them and have abandoned it.”
Allah Almighty says in His book regarding husband and wife: وَإِن خِفتُم شِقَاقَ بَينِهِمَا فَٱبعَثُواْ حَكَما مِّن أَهلِهِۦ وَحَكَما مِّن أَهلِهَآ إِن يُرِيدَآ إِصلَٰحا يُوَفِّقِ ٱللَّهُ بَينَهُمَآ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا خَبِيرا (“And if you fear separation between them (husband and wife), appoint a judge from his family and a judge from her family. If they desire reconciliation, Allah will cause it between them.”)
Thus, the blood and sanctity of the Ummah of Muhammad are greater and more important than the relationship between husband and wife. They became angry with me due to my correspondence with Muawiya and my writing: Ali Ibn Abi Talib (without the title of Amir al-Mu’minin). We were in Hudaybiyah with the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, since he made peace with his people, Quraysh, and Suhail bin Umar came to us. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, wrote: “In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful.” He said, “I am writing: Basmak Allah: ‘O Lord, in Your name.’” The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, commanded, “Write.” I also wrote; then he said, “Write! This is what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, made peace upon.” He said, “If I had known you were the Messenger of Allah, I would not have opposed you.” Then he wrote: “This is what Muhammad ibn Abdullah made peace with the Quraysh based on.” Allah says in His book: لَّقَد كَانَ لَكُم فِي رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسوَةٌ حَسَنَة لِّمَن كَانَ يَرجُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَٱليَومَ ٱلأٓخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيراً (“Surely, following the Messenger of Allah is a good example for those who hope in Allah and the Last Day”).
When the Khawarij became certain that Amir al-Mu’minin had decided to send Abu Musa al-Ash’ari as a judge, they asked him to refrain from doing so. Hazrat Ali did not accept this and told them that it was disloyalty and a violation of the covenant. We had made covenants between ourselves, and Allah Almighty says: وأوفوا بعهد الله إذا عهدتم ولا تنقضوا الأيمن بعد توكيدها وقد جعلتم الله عليكم كفيلا (“And when you made a covenant with Allah, keep your covenant, and do not break your oaths after establishing them, while you have made Allah your guarantor”).
Therefore, the Khawarij decided to separate from Amir al-Mu’minin Ali, MAPH, and they appointed an Amir for themselves. They gathered at the house of Abdullah bin Wahb Rasbi, where he delivered an eloquent sermon, urging them to refrain from this world and seek the Hereafter and Paradise. He encouraged them to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil. Then he said, “Brothers, let us leave this region where the people are cruel, and go to the suburbs and surrounding mountainous areas that are not affected by this cruelty.” Harqus bin Zuhair then stood and, after praising Allah, said, “The goods and profits of this world are small, and the time to escape from it is near. Therefore, don’t let its beauty and brilliance deter you from seeking rights and rejecting oppression.” إن الله مع الذين اتقوا والذين هم محسنون (“Verily, Allah is with those who are cautious and those who do good”).
Hamza bin Sinan Asadi remarked, “O people, votes are what you have, and rights are what you proclaim; appoint someone as your commander, for you must have elders, bayonets, and a flag to raise and follow.” They sought leadership from Zayd bin Hasan Ta’i—one of their leaders—but he declined. They then offered it to Harqus bin Zuhair, who also refused, and then to Hamzah bin Sinan, who also declined. Finally, they offered it to Shareih bin Abi Ufi Abasi, who accepted, declaring, “I swear, I did not accept this to gain worldly power, nor will I relinquish it to flee from death.”
They also gathered at the house of Zayd Bin Hisn Ta’i Sanbisi, where he encouraged them to enjoin good and forbid evil and recited verses from the Qur’an, including the verse: يَٰدَاوُۥدُ إِنَّا جَعَلنَٰكَ خَلِيفَة فِي ٱلأَرضِ فَٱحكُم بَينَ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلحَقِّ وَلَا تَتَّبِعِ ٱلهَوَىٰ فَيُضِلَّكَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَضِلُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ لَهُم عَذَاب شَدِيدُ بِمَا نَسُواْ يَومَ ٱلحِسَابِ (“O David, We made you the caliph in the land; so judge between the people with the truth, and do not follow your desires lest it leads you away from the path of Allah, for indeed, those who go astray from the path of Allah will have a severe punishment for having forgotten the Day of Reckoning”).
He stated: وَمَن لَّم يَحكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلكَٰفِرُونَ (“And those who do not judge according to what Allah has revealed; they are the disbelievers”). And he added: وَمَن لَّم يَحكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ (“And those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed; they are the wrongdoers”). In the next verse, he said: وَمَن لَّم يَحكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلفَٰسِقُونَ (“And those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed; they are the disobedient”).
He concluded, “I testify against the people of our dawah and the people of our Qibla, that they have followed their whims and abandoned the ruling of the Book, committing wrong in both speech and action; thus, Jihad against them is mandatory for the believers.” A man among them, Abdullah bin Shajra Salmi, cried out, inspiring them to rise against the people, exclaiming, “Strike their faces and foreheads with swords until Allah, the Merciful, is obeyed. If you succeed, and Allah is obeyed as you desire, the reward for the obedient will reach you; if you fail, what is better than attaining Allah’s satisfaction and Paradise?”
Ibn Kathir, after mentioning what Satan incited in them, remarked: “These people are among the strangest of Adam’s children; how pure and beautiful is Allah, who created His creations as He willed, diverse, as He sent His great destiny in advance.” One of the ancients has beautifully described the Khawarij in the following saying of Allah: قُل هَل نُنَبِّئُكُم بِٱلأَخسَرِينَ أَعمَٰلًا (١٠٣) ٱلَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعيُهُم فِي ٱلحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنيا وَهُم يَحسَبُونَ أَنَّهُم يُحسِنُونَ صُنعًا (١٠٤) أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ بَِٔايَٰتِ رَبِّهِم وَلِقَآئِهِۦ فَحَبِطَت أَعمَٰلُهُم فَلَا نُقِيمُ لَهُم يَومَ ٱلقِيَٰمَةِ وَزنًا (١٠٥) (“Say, should we inform you of the most harmful people? They are those whose efforts in the life of this world have been wasted while they think they are doing good. Those are the ones who denied the revelations of their Lord and their meeting with Him; thus, their deeds were ruined, and on the Day of Resurrection, we will not weigh them”).
The meaning is that they are those ignorant individuals, misguided and miserable in both their speech and actions, having agreed to withdraw from the Muslims. They resolved to migrate to Mada’in to seize control and settle there, aiming to seek allies. They intended to send their co-religionists and like-minded individuals to Basra and other regions, urging them to gather there and unite against the people. Zayd bin Hasan Ta’i cautioned them that they could not go to Mada’in, as an army would oppose them. Instead, he advised them to gather by the Jokhi river bridge and to leave Kufa individually to avoid detection.
Consequently, they composed a general letter to all their co-religionists and fellow Muslims in Basra and other areas, instructing them to gather by that river to unite against the people. They then left secretly and individually, so none noticed their departure. They parted ways with their families, believing their relatives to be ignorant and lacking understanding of the matter that pleased the Lord of the heavens and the earth. However, they failed to recognize that this action was one of the most destructive sins and a grievous error, temptations adorned for them by Iblis—the one expelled from the heavens, who harbored enmity against our father Adam and his descendants.
As some of their children and brothers reached out to them, blaming their actions, some resisted while others fled their families to rejoin the Khawarij. On the Day of Judgment, they became the ultimate losers. Meanwhile, those from Basra and other places that they had summoned arrived, and they all gathered at Nahrwan, growing powerful and formidable.
When the two factions separated due to dissatisfaction, Amir al-Mu’minin wrote a letter to the Khawarij amassed at Nahrwan, asking them to return to their original state and join him in fighting against the people of Syria. However, they refused, insisting he must first testify against his disbelief and repent. Ali (MAPH) did not accept this demand either.
It is mentioned in a narration that they wrote to Ali: “You did not become angry for the sake of your Lord; rather, you were angry just for yourself. So if you testify against your disbelief and accept repentance, we will consider what happened between us; otherwise, we will completely separate from you. Allah does not like traitors.” Upon reading their letter, Ali (RA) was disappointed with them and resolved to depart with the people to confront the people of Sham.
The Khawarij’s claim that Ali had become an infidel and demanded a repentance is not substantiated by these narrations, though they align with the Khawarij’s belief in takfir against Ali and Uthman and their tests of the people through this.
Indeed! How similar is the past to the present! The contemporary Kharijites also speak about the truth and scripture as they did before; however, according to the words of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, it does not settle in their hearts—that is, they fail to comprehend the error, interpretation, and meaning of the texts, extracting false meanings and subsequently attacking Muslims and righteous individuals, just as they did in the past. They have gone so far in their piety that it led them to excess, much like the Khawarij who excommunicate Muslims and even the best among the Ummah, deeming it permissible to kill them.
The Khawarij of the past and present do not recognize the importance of maintaining governmental stability, the economy, or the cohesion of the Islamic community. The absence of division among its proponents is crucial for any system. Sheikh Abd al-Aziz Tarifi beautifully categorizes that “the people of Irjā’ do not measure according to the goodness of the world; even if all of religion is disintegrated, the Khawarij only weigh the goodness of religion, disregarding its consequences.”
This ignorance leads them to not differentiate between preserving religious principles and their branches while neglecting the fundamental requirements to ensure the establishment of that religion itself. They mistakenly interpret texts based on their incomplete understanding, diverging from the clear interpretations upheld by the scholars and companions. None among the Companions, even the least knowledgeable, has supported them in their interpretations. The misinterpretation through opinion, lacking Sharia evidence, caused their downfall. They acknowledged their error due to excessive piety and reliance on personal opinion, abandoning the scholars and the trust of the Ummah, ultimately leading to their punishment and loss in both this world and the Hereafter.
May Allah Almighty protect us from striving without knowledge, from excess in piety, and from being misled by ambiguous ideas, and may He guide us to the scholars of our Ummah and their subjects.
These events in the history of the emergence of the Khawarij teach us several important lessons: 1. It exposes the great ignorance of the Khawarij, as some accepted the Sharia while others disregarded it entirely, failing to comprehend the texts or apply jurisprudence and its principles properly.
2. It illustrates the intense enthusiasm of those unwilling to retract their errors, even after discussions reveal the truth. Some of them advised against engaging with Ali (MAPH) and his supporters due to his patience and benevolence towards them, hoping for their guidance.
3. It demonstrates how the Khawarij, in their assemblies, rejected dialogue and debate, insisting their opponents either accept their beliefs or engage in conflict. This reflects their whims, ignorance, and lack of convincing arguments, a clear sign of corruption and contradiction in their actions.
4. Their beliefs, thoughts, and methodologies signify abnormality within the Islamic community; they isolated themselves to avoid scrutiny, as noted by Ibn Kathir.
5. They regarded the blood of Muslims who opposed them as permissible and deemed their property as halal.
References:
1. Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah: 15/312,313.
2. Narrations of Abu Mikhnaf in the History of Tabari, p. 452.
3. Al-Umm by Al-Shafi’i: 136/4, History of Tabari: 688/5.
4. For the nodal function, Hamid Abdel Majid, p. 47.
5. Musnad Ahmad, 656/2, Ahmad Shakir.
6. The Beginning and the End, 312/7, History of Tiberius 689/5.
7. The Beginning and the End 313/7.
8. Genealogy of Ashraf 63/2.
9. The Caliphate of Ali bin Abi Talib, Abdul Hamid, p. 319.
10. Al-Maghribiya, p. 261.
11. Al-Khawarij, Prof. Dr. Suleiman bin Saleh Al-Ghosn, pp. 28, 29.
