The killing of the two righteous caliphs was the direct consequence of the khawarij outwardly criticizing and publishing their faults, which created resentment in the hearts of the people (Green p146). The khawarij felt that rebelling against rulers and overthrowing them was a religious duty since they considered these rulers as unjust and going against their ideology (Green p29). This conviction that Ali was in opposition to their beliefs and thus an unjust ruler who committed kufr led them to assassinate him (Green p26). Based on this logic, they said that Ali committed kufr because he did not judge by the book of Allah but instead used arbitrators in the dispute with Mu’awiyah. They claim that sins take the Muslims out of Islam and land them in hellfire forever (Ibn-Abdil-Izz p272).
Over time, the khawarij divided into subsects each having their own sets of beliefs, some more extreme than others such as the Azraqis, Ibadis and Sufris (Philips p31).Īs I cited above, the khawarij are well known for declaring Muslims as disbelievers due to major sins (Ibn-Abdil-Izz p266). After Ibn Saba’s plot was discovered, he fled from Iraq and started preaching the divinity of Ali, a belief that was accepted by the Shia (Philips p37 footnote 73). Ibn Saba and his followers joined the army of Ali, may Allah be pleased with him and caused further bloodshed. His effort resulted in the assassination of Caliph ‘Uthman, May Allah be pleased with him. This mentality of rebellion picked up pace again during the caliphate of ‘Uthman, led by a man by the name of Ibn Saba. This feeling of self-righteousness was shared by the other chiefs of Najd such as Dhul Khuwaisarah’s people who later rebelled against Abu Bakr’s caliphate under the leaderships of Sajaah and Musailama (Philips p21). The first of them, Dhul Khuwaisarah Al Tamimi, dared to call the Prophet ﷺ unjust because he did not agree with how some wealth was being distributed. Imam Al Nawawi mentioned in Rawdat Ut Talibeen that “The Khaarijites are a group of heretics who believe that a person who commits a major sin is an unbeliever and will thus be punished in Hellfire for all eternity…” (Aal-Haamid p60). In Islamic terminology, khawarij refers to the seceders, those Muslims who leave mainstream Islam, declare other Muslims as apostates and rebel against the rulers (Al-Shahrastaanee pp98-114). The word ‘Khawarij’ is the plural word of “khariji” and it comes from the Arabic root word ‘Kharaja’ which means ‘to leave’ or ‘to exit’ (Green 18, 1.2.1). Kharijism is the sect that the khawarij belong to. In this paper, I will examine the creed and principles of the early khawarij, how they influenced modern day extremist groups and why they have deviated from traditional mainstream Islam.
Naturally, any misconception has roots somewhere and when it comes to modern day terrorism associated with Islam, it is an ideological group historically known as Kharijism that has caused much of the confusion among the Muslims and Non-Muslims alike. One such misconception is on the issue of terrorism. INFLUENCE OF THE EARLY KHAWARIJ IDEOLOGY ON MODERN “ISLAMIC” EXTREMISTSĭespite the twenty first century being an era of information and communication, it is very unfortunate that there still exist many misconceptions regarding Islam. Peace and Blessings upon the last Messenger ﷺ In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful
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