Author: Albattar
Nehruvan war, the battle between the right group and the evil foreign people
The cause and motivation of the war:
When trustworthy and learned people like Abdullah bin Abbas, may God be pleased with him, and other members of the Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, would go to the Khawarij one after another and make arguments for them out of compassion, despite the fact that the argument was clear and understandable, due to their extreme nature, Based on ijtihad and extreme piety, they were not satisfied and people like Dhul-Khuwaisrah disrespected the status of these elders and even their noble ancestor, the Holy Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.
All these, in addition to their predatory nature, caused bloodshed and excommunication of Muslims. That is the blood of the son of the companion of the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, and the murder of his innocent wife and children! It also caused them to leave the Muslim congregation and appoint a separate imam for themselves.
Cruelty, failure to adhere to the covenant and ignoring the Imam, were institutionalized in the nature of this people, as described by Saad bin Abi Waqqas, a great companion: “They are people who deviated from the truth, so God made their hearts further away.” 1
Hazrat Musab said that I asked my father about this verse;
«قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُم بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا» [Kahf: 103]; (Say: Shall we inform you of the most harmful [persons] by action?) Are they Haruyyah? He said: No, they are the People of the Book, Jews and Christians, but the Jews lied (denied) to Muhammad and the Christians disbelieved in Paradise and said: There is no food or drink in it. But Haruriyyah:
«ألَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهْدَ اللَّهِ مِن بَعْدِ مِيثَاقِهِ وَيَقْطَعُونَ مَا أَمَرَ اللَّهُ بِهِ أَن يُوصَلَ وَيُفْسِدُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ أُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ» [Baqarah: 27]
(Those who break the covenant they have already made with God [through nature, reason and prophets], and what God has commanded not to be broken [such as mercy, kindness, respect for human rights, etc.] They break it, and they commit corruption and destruction on earth, these are undoubtedly the losers. [And Saad calls them transgressors.] who, after separating the line, abandoning the congregation and breaking the pact, left for themselves the only way of reformation ” Al-Saif Akhir Al-Hail” (the last sword of defeat).
The reason for the Nahravan War:
The conditions that Hazrat Ali, may God be pleased with him, had set with the Khawarij were that they should not shed blood, not to frighten anyone, and not to block anyone’s way. When they committed these violations, he declared war against them, and considering that the Kharijites excommunicated their opponents and considered their blood and wealth permissible, they began to shed forbidden blood in Islam; there are many narrations about their prohibited and haram actions. Among these authentic narrations is that: an eyewitness – who himself was from the Khawarij and then left them – narrated and said: I was with the companions of Naharvan, then I found their work distasteful, but this was because of fear and not being killed by them; While I was with a group of them, we came to a village and there was a river between us and the village, and suddenly a man came out of the village in a state of fear, while he was taking off his robe, they said to him: Have we scared you?
He said: Yes.
They said: No, there is no fear for you.
I said: By God, they know him and I don’t know him.
They said: Are you the son of Khabab, a companion of the Messenger of God?
He said: Yes.
They said: Do you have a hadith from your father that you can tell us?
He said: I heard him say: He had heard from the Prophet about a fitna that he said (One who sits in it, is better than standing, and standing in it, is better than walking, and walking in it, is better than striving. If you are at that time of war, then be a slain servant of God.)
They took him and his wife. One of them stepped on a fallen fruit from a palm tree and picked it up and put it in his mouth. One of them said: This is the fruit of an unbeliever, how do you make it halal? He dropped it from his mouth.
Then they came to a pig, one of them gently hit the pig with his sword and another said: What do you use to make this pig halal for an infidel Dhimmi person?
Abdullah bin Khabab said: Do you want me to guide you to something that is more forbidden to you than this?
They said: Yes.
He said: It is me.
They brought him to the riverside and cut his neck with a sword. The narrator says: I saw that his blood flowed on the water and it was like a shoelace on the water, which the water carried away, so that it was hidden from their sight.
Then they asked for the woman who was pregnant and tore open her stomach and took out what was in it. Ravi says: I was not more hateful and worse to be with any people than to be with them, until finally I ran away from them in a secluded place.
This barbaric act of theirs created a commotion among the people and the level of their fear and terror became clear when they split open the belly of that woman and cut off Abdullah’s head like a sheep’s head. They did not limit themselves to these things. They threatened to kill people, to the extent that some of them, themselves said that their action was inappropriate: (Woe to you, we did not separate from Ali for these things.)
Despite the obscene acts committed by the Khawarij, Hazrat Ali did not start war with them, but sent a messenger to them to surrender the murderers to him in order to enforce the Hadd. But they answered stubbornly and arrogantly: “We are all murderers”.
Therefore, Hazrat Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, moved towards them in the month of Muharram 38 AH with the army he had prepared to fight the people of Syria and camped on the west bank of the Nahrwan river, and the Khawarij were also on the east bank facing the city of Nahrwan.
Instigation and persuasion of the army by Hazrat Ali
Hazrat Ali, may God be pleased with him, realized that this group was the same people whom the Prophet had described as leaving the religion. Therefore, he said to the people: “we ordered to fight the al-Marqeen, and those are the al-Marqoon.”
The army had camped in front of the Khawarij and the Nahrwan river was between them. Hazrat Ali ordered his troops not to start the fight first, unless the Khawarij cross the western side of the river. Ali sent Hazrat Bara bin Azib to them and he asked them to return for three days, but they refused.
Messengers of Hazrat Ali went to them one after another until they killed the messengers and crossed the river. When the Khawarij reached this point and all hopes of peace and preventing bloodshed were cut off, and with stubbornness and arrogance, they refused to return to the truth, insisted on war, Hazrat Ali organized the army and prepared it for war.
From the reason of Nahrvan’s war against this cruel people, we find out that this people meditates a lot on religious issues and adheres to the mustahab; But they do not keep themselves away from the main thing, which they should avoid, which is the sanctity of the Muslim blood and expelling them from the religion through the unjust takfir based on their similarities and sick hearts, and they put themselves among the people of Zigh. Nevertheless, Hazrat Ali, may God be pleased with him, started the way of interaction with them; but they did not stick to their covenant from ancient times until now.
And also, it is in their evil nature that they lead Muslims astray with them in times of differences and draw their swords against Muslims, especially the good ones of this Ummah; Because these are: «ختم الله علی قلوبهم»”the end of Allah upon their hearts”; [Baqarah: 5]. If they are told: Do not corrupt. They consider themselves reformers» «وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُم لَا تُفسِدُواْ فِي ٱلأَرضِ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّمَا نَحنُ مُصلِحُونَ [Baqarah: 6]; (When it is said to them: Do not cause corruption and ruin in the land. They say: We are nothing more than reformers.)
And because of their ijtihad in the parallels, they reached the rank of “Kelab Ahl al-Anar” and caused heresies such as:
Takfir in the issue of arbitration in specific issues; (Of course, in general, the lack of rulings regarding God’s descent or negligence, is a great blasphemy, which has its own separate details)
Killing Muslims;
Killing non-combatants, women and minors;
Also gathering in front of their self-made imam;
Not allowing other Muslims to live in the land of Islam and calling the land of Islam Dar al Harb and…
Again, the negotiations of the Companions, may Allah bless them and grant them peace, whose examples are mentioned many times in the Qur’an, did not work, and these wicked people started wars and sedition.
