Unfortunately in the Islamic history, groups have
arisen from time to time advocating
radically new and divergent ways of thinking
about the religion. One of the most radical
and violent of these groups emerged during
the political mayhem of ‘Ali’s(r.a)caliphate,
which lasted from 656 to 661. Known as the
Kharijis, they emerged from a radical
political position and went on to develop
particularly extreme beliefs that put them at
odds with most Muslims. While they never
became a major political or religious force
in the Muslim world, they had major impact
on their own times and their ideology has
been replicated numerous times by other
fringe groups throughout the past 1400
years.
Background
In June of 656 CE (35 After Hijra), the caliph
of the Muslim Empire, ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan (r.a)
was assassinated. The killers were a group
of discontented Muslim Egyptian soldiers,
who took issue with a ruling ‘Uthman made
in a case between them and the governor of
Egypt. Unlike the previous two caliphs, Abu
Bakr and ‘Umar (r.a), who left behind at least
some guidance as to how to pick a new
caliph (Abu Bakr (r.a) simply appointed ‘Umar
while ‘Umar appointed a council of six to
choose one of their own), ‘Uthman(r.a) had not
left behind a framework to choose a new
caliph.
The assassins, who now held effective
control in the capital, Medina, wanted ‘Ali(r.a) to
be the new caliph. ‘Ali (r.a)naturally resisted
such an appointment by murderers.
Accepting the nomination could be
construed by others as his implicit approval
of the rebels’ actions, which couldn’t be
further from the truth considering that he
sent his own sons to defend ‘Uthman(r.a) when
the rebels barricaded him in his house. But
when some of the leading members of
Medina’s community told ‘Ali(r.a) that he was
the Muslim nation’s best chance at peace
and normalcy, especially considering his
status as the Prophet’s p.b.u.h cousin and son-in-
law, he reluctantly took on the title of fourth
caliph of the Muslim Empire.He did, however, have some immediate
opposition. Mu’awiya, the governor of Syria,
was a cousin of ‘Uthman. He was ready to
pledge allegiance to the new caliph so long
as ‘Ali tried and punished the rebellious
Egyptian soldiers who killed ‘Uthman(r.a). ‘Ali(r.a),
however, did not believe doing so was in
the interests of the Muslim nation. He
certainly did not approve of the soldier’s
actions, but punishing them could bring
about an even bigger revolt, leading to more
bloodshed and trials for the young Muslim
Empire, which ‘Ali (r.a)was keen to avoid.
Without Mu’awiya’s support, however, ‘Ali
was left without one of the largest and most
prosperous provinces of the empire.
Mu’awiya was intensely popular in Syria. He
had been the governor there since the
caliphate of ‘Umar, and did a good job of
prudently managing the relations between
the region’s native Christian population and
the newly introduced Arab Muslims. ‘Ali, in
turn, had strong support in Iraq, particularly
in the city of Kufa, where his supporters
were incensed at Mu’awiya’s refusal to
pledge allegiance.
In order to avoid an eventual civil war
between Mu’awiya’s Syrian supporters and
Ali’s(r.a) Iraqi ones, the two men agreed to an
arbitration. They figured allowing a third
party to mediate the dispute and find a
solution, and potentially a new caliph, would
be a peaceful end to a perilous political
divide.
But ‘Ali (r.a)encountered an unforeseen problem
with his arbitration. Some of his supporters
were so convinced that he was right in his
choice not to pursue justice for ‘Uthman’s
murderers, that they were enraged at his
choice to go to arbitration. To them, ‘Ali(r.a)
had committed a major sin by agreeing to
deal with Mu’awiya. They seceded from
‘Ali’s camp and became known as the
Kharijis (also known as the Khawarj or
Kharijites), meaning “those who left”.
Khariji Ideas
The development of Khariji ideas is an
interesting lesson in how political ideas can
lead to new divergent ideas of Islam (a
similar political to religious process would
form Shi’ism in later years). The Khariji
political position that ‘Ali(r.a) made a mistake
morphed into a belief that any and all
people who commit sins are unfit to rule.
This alone was a particularly extreme idea,
but it didn’t end there.
Eventually, the Kharijis argued that sins
themselves were a form of kufr (disbelief in
God). They argued that if you commit a sin,
you are in effect a disbeliever in God and
thus could be fought and killed, even if you
were a Companion of the Prophet p.b.u.hor a
caliph. Furthermore, if you disagreed with
their belief that sins are disbelief, you are
by default a disbeliever and could be fought
and killed.
Khariji beliefs did not have much basis in
actual Islamic theology. Takfir (declaring
people disbelievers) is in fact a very specific
and rare thing in mainstream Muslim belief,
with the majority opinion, as stated in the
‘Aqida of Imam al-Tahawi , being that the
only thing that invalidates someone’s status
as a Muslim is openly declaring that they do
not believe that there is no God but Allah
and that Muhammad ﷺ is His messenger.
Thus most of the Kharijis were not educated
people well versed in the Qur’an and the
sayings of the Prophet. The majority were
desert Bedouin raiders who made up for
their lack of understanding of Islam with a
strong zeal for Khariji beliefs, no matter
how intellectually shallow they were.
Khariji ideas never took hold with the
general population. Besides being a
distortion of the Prophet’s teachings, Khariji
beliefs were simply too extreme for most
people to be on board with. But that didn’t
stop the small group of Kharijis from having
a major impact on the Muslim world.
In line with their beliefs, Kharijis attempted
to assassinate all the political leaders who
took part in the arbitration that led to their
establishment. They failed in their attempts
to kill Mu’awiya and ‘Amr ibn al-‘As, who
supported Mu’awiya and ruled Egypt in his
name. But in 661 they succeeded in killing
the caliph, ‘Ali, in Kufa. The assassination of
the Prophet’s cousin and son in law brought
about the end of the Rashidun era of the
caliphate and the beginning of the Umayyad
Caliphate, led by Mu’awiya.
The Kharijis continued to be a nuisance for
the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates for
centuries. They never came to hold major
cities in their numerous rebellions, but
would use their familiarity with the deserts
to roam throughout the Muslim world,
harassing and terrorizing populations that
did not accept their beliefs. In North Africa,
they managed to get some support for their
cause from groups of indigenous Berbers by
playing off of the tensions between them
and the ruling Arabs.
Eventually, the Khariji movement would die
out slowly, a victim of its own extremism
that prevented it from ever being accepted
by most Muslims. One strand of them
managed to moderate to some extent and
developed into the Ibadi sect, which today
forms the majority of Oman’s(r.a)population.
But while the Khariji movement itself did not
last, their concept of takfir of sinners has
been resurrected from time to time by
numerous extremist groups, even being
echoed by some modern political
movements.
Bibliography:
Ibn Khaldūn. The Muqaddimah, An
Introduction To History. Bollingen, 1969.
230.

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It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.