Kharijites
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Kharijites (Arabic Khawārij خوارج, literally "Those who Go Out" [1]) is a general term embracing a variety of Islamic sects which, while initially accepting the caliphate of Ali, later rejected him. They first emerged in the late 7th century AD, concentrated in today's southern Iraq, and are distinct from the Sunnis and Shiites.
The only surviving group, the Ibāḍī of Oman, Zanzibar and North Africa, consider themselves distinct from the other sects and reject the designation "Kharijite".
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[edit] Origin
The origin of Kharijism lies in the first Islamic civil war: a struggle for political supremacy over the Muslim community in the years following the death of Muhammad. The third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, was killed by mutineers in 656 AD, and a struggle for succession ensued between Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and Muāwiyah, Governor of Damascus. According to John Esposito, they were the first radical dissent in Islam who combined "a rigorous puritanism and religous fundamentalism with an exclusivist egalitarianism".[2]
In 658, Alī's forces met Muāwiyah's at the Battle of Siffin. Initially, the battle went against Muāwiyah. Muāwiyah directed his army to hoist Qur'āns on their lances, thereby signifying that he wanted to put the decision as to who should rightfully be named Caliph to arbitration. Most of ˤAlī's army was favorable to the idea[citation needed], and he agreed, reluctantly, according to some[citation needed], to have the question decided by two arbiters. Much of his army refused to fight with the Qur'an between the two forces.[citation needed] Others in his army, however, regarded the turn of events as a fundamental betrayal of principle; a large group of them (traditionally believed to be 12,000, mainly from Banu Hanifah and Banu Tamim tribes) repudiated ˤAlī. Citing the verse, "No rule but God's", an indication that human arbitration was a violation of God's will, this group turned on both ˤAlī and Muˤāwiya.[citation needed] They opposed both Muˤāwiya for his rebellion and ˤAlī for submitting to the arbitration. They became known as Kharijites: Arabic plural Khawārij, singular Khārijī, derived from the verb kharaja "come out, leave the hold.
ˤAlī quickly divided his troops and ordered them to catch the dissenters before they reach major cities and disperse among the population.[citation needed] Abdullah ibn Abbas managed to persuade a number of Kharijites to return to ˤAlī.[citation needed] ˤAlī defeated the remaining military rebellion in the Battle of Nahrawan in 658, but some Kharijites survived and, in 661, ultimately assassinated ˤAlī. They are believed to have organized simultaneous attempts against Muˤāwiya and ˤAmrū (one of the arbitrators at the Battle of Siffin) who were, in their view, the main sources of strife within the Muslim community.[citation needed]
[edit] Beliefs and practices
Kharijite theology was a form of radical fundamentalism, preaching uncompromising observance of the teachings of the Qur'an in defiance of corrupt authorities.[citation needed] They preached absolute equality of the faithful, in opposition to the aristocracy of the Quraysh which had grown more pronounced under the Umayyad Caliphate.[citation needed] They spread their views by violent conflict, which they considered to be a righteous jihad (struggle) and the sixth pillar of Islam.[citation needed]
The Kharijites were, according to Esposito, pious and extremist believers who interpreted the Quran and Sunna of the prophet absolutely and literally. They strictly partitioned everything into good or bad, permitted or forbidden. They believed that anybody who commits a grave sin is no longer a Muslim and is subject to excommunication, warfare and death unless the person repented. They believed that the leader of the Muslim community can be any good Muslim, even a slave, provided that he had the community support. Having an strong emphasis on the need to depose unjust rulers and believing that the current leaders of the Muslim community were guilty of grave sins, they withdrew themselves from the rest of the Muslim community, started camping together and waged war against their enemies. They believed that they are the people of God fighting against the people of evil. [2]
[edit] Azraqī
The most extreme were the Azraqī, founded in Persia in 685 by Nāfiˤ ibnu l-Azraq.[citation needed] These pronounced takfir on all other Muslims, considering them to be mushrik ('unbelievers' or 'idolaters') who could be killed with impunity.[1][2] Their distinctive practices included:
- A test of sincerity (امتحان imtiḥān "examination") required of each new recruit, in which the neophyte was required to cut the throat of a captive enemy.[citation needed]
- Religious murder (استعراض istiʕrāḍ "demonstration"), not only of men, but also of their wives and children (the killing of non-combatants is disallowed in the Qur'an)[citation needed]
They regarded the territory occupied by other Muslims as part of Dar al-Kufr, the territory of unbelief where it was permitted to attack both people and goods - but also a territory from which one must exile oneself, as Muhammad had exiled himself from Mecca to escape the unbelievers there.[citation needed]
[edit] Sufrī
Less brutal was the Sufri sect, founded by Ziyād ibnu l-Asfar in an environment hostile to Kharijism.[citation needed] These condemned political murder, adhered the practice of taqiyya,[citation needed] and rejected the massacre of the unbelievers' children.[citation needed] They considered Sura 12 to be not truly part of the Qur'an.[citation needed]
[edit] Ibādī
A third sect, the Ibādīs, developed further than the others. Founded by ˤAbdullāh ibn-Ibād, they maintained attitudes of political intransigence and moral rigor.[citation needed] They were, however, more flexible in their dealings with other Muslims - for example, they would not attack without first extending an invitation to join.[citation needed]
[edit] Harūrīyya
The branch founded by Habib ibn-Yazīd al-Harūrī held that it was permissible to entrust the imamate to a woman if she was able to carry out the required duties.[citation needed] The founder's wife, Ghazāla al-Harūriyya, commanded troops; in this she followed the example of Juwayriyya, daughter of Abu Sufyan, at the battle of Yarmuk. In one battle, she put the famous Umayyad general Hajjāj ibn-Yūsuf to flight.[citation needed]
[edit] History
| Civil Wars of the Early Caliphates |
|---|
| Ridda wars – First Fitna – Ibn al-Zubair's revolt – Kharijite Revolt –Second Fitna – Berber Revolt – Zaidi Revolt– Abassid Revolt |
The high point of the Kharijites' influence was in the years 690-730 around Basra in south Iraq, which was always a center of Sunni theology. Kharijite ideology was a popular creed for rebels against the officially Sunni Caliphate, inspiring breakaway states and rebellions (like Maysara's) throughout the Maghrib and sometimes elsewhere.
The Azraqī revolted against the Caliphate in 685 after separating from the Ibādī near Basra and departing for Fars. They were suppressed by Abd al-Malik's armies, under the command of Amir al-Hajjaj; their leader was killed, and by 699 they had vanished. Another revolt occurred in 695; Sunni traditions underline the massacre of Muslims at a mosque in Kufa as an example of Kharijite fury and brutality. Agitations such as these fatally weakened the Ummayad caliphate and paved the way for its overthrow by the Abbasids.
From the beginning of the Arab conquest of the Maghrib, the Kharijites sent representatives to join the local Berber population. The Berbers, used to a communal system of government and opposed to Arab domination, found in Kharijism an ideological framework for rebellion. In the last years of the Umayyad dynasty, the western part of the Islamic empire escaped from the central authority; Spain came under the rule of the Umayyad emirs of Cordoba, while several independent states were founded in the Maghrib.
A Sufrī community from southern Tunisia captured Kairouan in 755, at the price of fearful massacres. The Ibādī of Jebel Nafusa, outraged by the excesses of their rival sect, took the city and wiped out its Sufrī population. They proclaimed an imamate c. 757, founding a state which would cover parts of Tripolitania and Ifriqiya before it was conquered by Abbasid armies in 761. Among the leaders of this state was Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rustam, a Persian convert who would later found the Rustamid dynasty at Tahert.
Around the same time, a Sufri kingdom was founded in Tlemcen (western Algeria). Berber Sufrī from the tribe of Meknasa established the Midrarid state at Sijilmassa on the eastern slope of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Abū Qurra, a Sufrī of the Ifren tribe of Tlemcen, reconquered Ifriqiya from the Arabs in 771.
The region stabilized in 778, when ibn Rustam made a peace treaty with the Abbasid governor of Kairouan, and remained so until the arrival of the Fatimids in 909.
[edit] Modern times
The Ibadis have survived into the present day, though they now reject the designation "Kharijite". They form a significant part of the population of Oman (where they first settled in 686), and there are smaller concentrations of them in the Mzab of Algeria, Jerba in Tunisia, Jebel Nafusa in Libya, and Zanzibar.
In modern times, Islamist writers have sometimes branded terrorist groups which emphasize the practice of takfir as neo-Kharijites; notable examples of groups described as such include the Groupe Islamique Armée of Algeria and the Takfir wal-Hijra group of Egypt.
[edit] References
- ^ "Schisms and Heterodoxy among the Muslims", hosted on irfi.org
- ^ a b Esposito, Islam the straight path, p. 43-45
