The Kharijites first appeared in the
days of the Prophet (ﷺ) and their ideas gained
momentum during the caliphate of Uthman until they emerged as a full-fledged and
organized group during the caliphate of our master Ali. God Most High alluded
to the Kharijites in the Qura’n and there are many Hadith reports that explain
their signs, beliefs, doctrines and practices. In general, the Kharijites
committed acts of terrorism and carried out atrocities in the name of Islam. Due
to their extreme and specious religious arguments, they would declare it
permissible to shed the blood of the Muslims.
Many disruptions erupted in the Ummah
after the passing of the Prophet (ﷺ) including false claims to prophet-hood, apostasy, refusal to
pay Zakat and rejection of some basic teachings of the Islam. Those who
embraced the beliefs of the Kharijites promoted their wrapped understanding,
exploited these disruptions and began organizing themselves. Those who actively
hatched the conspiracy against Uthman, and ultimately killed him in the final
days of his rule, were composed of the people who held the extremist beliefs of
Kharijites. The most prominent of them was name Abd Allah b. Saba. This was the
first time an extremist and terrorist group challenged the authority of the
Islamic state.
Practically, the Kharijites surfaced
in the caliphate of the fourth caliph Ali. However, the Prophet (ﷺ) had given them the title Kharijites well before that, saying: “They
shall exit from the religion just as an arrow exits from a hunted game.” When
we look critically at the history of the Kharijites, we see that they came out
as a violent movement in Ali’s name. They were against dialogue and peaceful
settlement of the disputes and raised the slogan la hukma illa li-llah-i arguing,
تُحَکَّموُنَ فِی اَمْرِ اللہ الرَّجَالَ؟ لَا حُکْمَ الَّا
للہِ!
“Do you seek judgment from men in
that which is God’s command? There is no judgment but for God.”
The Kharijites initiated an armed rebellion against Ali and
based themselves in Harura, located on the Iraqi border. They accused him of
polytheism and blameworthy innovations and declared him a disbeliever and
rebelled against him. They formed a group at Harura, appointed one of them as
caliph, and, setting up a state within a state, they challenged the writ of the
government. They established a new Caliphate, under a new leader and rebelled against
the Caliphate of Ali. They would meticulously perform tahajjud, five
obligatory prayers, and fast and do all acts of worship most rigidly, declaring
themselves the only staunch Muslims. They believed that the one who committed a
major sin was disbeliever, that is, telling a lie is an act of disbelief. The Kharijites
firmly believed that the perpetrator of a mortal sin straight away turned one
into a disbeliever. This was the first ever group of extremists and terrorists
who kick-started radicalism and militancy, and launched armed aggression
against Muslims. That is how the Umma called them by the title ‘Kharijites’ –
those who zoomed out of faith. The Companions led by the Caliph Ali took up
arms and fought against them. These were Khairjites in a historical
perspective.
