Khawārij - A Historical Perspective

The word, Khārijī, is taken from the root word Kharaja which means ‘to go out’ or ‘depart’ (Cowan, p. 231). Thus, Khārijī (pl. Khawārij), is a term used to indicate a person who has rebelled. From a theological perspective, those who openly rebel against the rightful leader of the Muslims in any period of time are termed as Khawārij. (As-Shahrastaani, p. 129). Historically, the Khawārij are one of the earliest sects that emerged out of Islam. Initially, they sprouted out of the mainstream Islam due to a political rancour but gradually took a complete theological stance, the mainstay of which was their dictum, “judgement belongs to no one but Allah” derived out of their misinterpretation of a Qur’anic verse. The Khawārij have been responsible for many political turbulences, uncounted murders and vehement conspiracies throughout the Muslim history.

The seed of the Khārijī thought was sown during the time of the Prophet ﷺ when a person by the name of Dhul Khuwaysarah al Tamīmī approached him ﷺ when he ﷺ was distributing wealth among the companions and said, “O Messenger of Allah, be fair” (al-Bukhārī, Hadith 3601) and in another narration, “Messenger of Allah, fear Allah.” (Muslim, Hadith 1064b). Ibn al Jawzī (2019) remarks that his sickness was the preference of his own opinion over the opinion of the Prophet ﷺ (the leader of the Muslims), a pivotal trait of the sect which was to emerge afterwards. According to many scholars including ibn Taymiyyah (2011), the sapling of this seed sprouted during the caliphate of ‘Uthmān (Allah be pleased with him) in the form of discord and rebellion which led to his “tyrannical killing” (As-Sallabi, p. 343).

The prominence of this sect arose right after the battle of Siffīn (37 AH) that took place between Mu’āwiyah and ‘Alī (Allah be pleased with them). When Mu’āwiyah’s side called for arbitration, some of the men including al Ash’ath ibn Qays al Tamīmī, Mas’ar ibn Fadakī al Tamīmī and Zaid ibn Husayn al Tā’ī from ‘Alī’s side compelled him to cease the fight and order Mālik al Ashtār back from the frontline, failing which he would have to face the consequences as faced by ‘Uthmān. However, after knowing that the arbitration was not as per their wishes, they dissented shouting, “The judgement belongs to no one but Allah” and came to be known as Muhakkimah (As-Shahrastaani, pp. 129-130). When ‘Alī left the battlefield towards Kufah, the people who did not agree with the arbitration asked ‘Alī to attack the Syrian army to which he refused. Consequently, a large portion (numbers ranging up to 14000) of these rebellions parted from the group and organized themselves under the leadership of ‘Abdullah ibn al Kawa and Shabath ibn Rab’i al Harūrah, thus taking the name Harūrī. Hearing about the insurrection, ‘Abdullah ibn al ‘abbās (Allah be pleased with him) was sent to conciliate the rebellion who, after deliberation, became successful in returning thousands of them. However, majority still remained wedged to their prejudices. After this, ‘Alī (Allah be pleased with him) himself went to pacify the rest of the Khawārij and successfully invited them to join back his ranks (Najeebabadi, 2000, pp. 478-480). However, due to their continuous disagreements and extreme outlooks, they broke away from ‘Alī once again. Under the leadership of ‘Abdullah ibn Wahb al Rāsibī, the Khawārij planned to assemble everyone who complied to the ideology at a place called al Naharwān wherein they continued to exercise their religious fanaticism. An example of such extremism is their brutal murder of ‘Abdullah ibn Khabbāb, the son of a famous companion of the Prophet ﷺ, and his pregnant slave women. As a result, ‘Alī and his troops engaged with the Khawārij at al Naharwān in 38 AH leading to their near-annihilation. It has been reported that less than ten of them survived by escaping the battle (Najeebabadi, 2000, p. 490). However, the battle at al Naharwān did not culminate the Khawārij altogether. It was just a matter of several years when the fuel of retaliation kindled in the hearts of the three Khawārij conspirators, ‘Abdul Rahmān Ibn Muljam, al Burk ibn ‘Abdullah and Amr ibn Bakr, who conspired at Makkah to assassinate ‘Alī, Mu’āwiyah and ‘Amr ibn al ‘ās (Allah be pleased with them) respectively (Ibn al-Jawzi, p. 282). Two of the three escaped the tripartite-assassination attempt while ‘Ali fell at the hands of Ibn al Muljam.

The Khawārij continued their reign of terror through skirmishes, guerrilla warfare and dispersed battles throughout the Muslim history. During the time of the ‘Abdullah ibn al Zubayr, the Khawārij sub-sect, known by the name Azārikah, organized themselves under the leadership of Nāfi’ ibn al Azraq and gained control of many territories in Ahwaz, Iran and were engaged in constant battle with the army of al Zubayr for 19 years (As-Shahrastaani, p. 133). They were finally defeated at the hands of the governor of Khorasan, Muhallab ibn abi Sufrah, in 65 AH and fled to Kerman and Isfahan (Najeebabadi, 2001, p. 106). After ‘Abdullah al Zubayr’s martyrdom, ‘Abdul Malik ibn Marwān appointed Hajjāj ibn Yūsuf as the governor of Hijaz. At this time, the Khawārij movements began to surface again. Finally, in 77 AH, the Khawārij forces were overcome in a battle at Garzon. Hajjāj also managed to kill the Khawārij who ran away from the battle at Tabaristan (Najeebabadi, 2001, pp. 159-160). “To date, this sect has no followers and it is considered to have disappeared” (Azariqa, 2021).

Another sub-sect known as Najdāt emerged from the Khawārij and were the followers of Najdah ibn ‘āmir al Hanafī, who theologically dissented from al Azraq (As-Shahrastaani, pp. 135-137) and occupied Yamamah, Bahrain, Hadhramaut and Yemen. Najdah was later killed by his own followers due to a theological difference and was succeeded by Abū Fudayk, who along with his followers was defeated by the Umayyad forces in Bahrain (Kharijites, 2021). Afterwards, a comparatively moderate sub-sect by the name of Ibādhiyah arose during the time of Marwān ibn Muhammad (Marwān II) under the leadership of ‘Abdullah ibn Ibādh who maintained moderation in all his proclamations (As-Shahrastaani, p. 146). However, the gradual decline of the relation between the government and the Ibādhiyah lead to their exile to Oman. Later on, one of the Ibādhiyah, ‘Abū Ubaydah Muslim ibn Abū Karīmah, sent missionaries to Oman, Yemen, Hadhramaut, Khurasan and North Africa for spreading the Ibādhī doctrine (Kharijites, 2021). This sub-sect of the Khawārij continues till date in majority of Oman, North Africa, Tunisia and Tanzania (Philips). The Khawārij also participated in the battle of Zab river along with Abbasids, Shiite and Iraqi forces which led to the end to the Umayyad caliphate (Najeebabadi, 2001, p. 247). During the time of Abbasid caliph, Harun Rashid, a Khārijī leader by the name of Hamzah ibn Atrak caused a lot of chaos in Khorasan.

Concluding, it is observed that the Khawārij were among the first sects which arose and parted ways from the mainstream Islam. Despite many negotiations initially from the righteous Caliph ‘Ali (Allah be pleased with him), they rejected to return back. The Khawārij continued their reign of terror throughout the Islamic history, the incidents of which are too many to count. No matter how much the current day Khawārij descendants of the Ibādhiyah sect try to “soften the image”, history remains a testimony to the contrary (Kharijites, 2021).

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