Some Points about Khwarij Doctrine

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Nur ad-Din Abu ‘Ubadah ‘Ali ibn Juma’ah wrote, the most important articles of Khwarij doctrine are as follows.  They considered whoever is content with such arbitration to be takfir, disbelievers.  They anathematised Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib (k.w.), Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan (r.a.), and Sayyidina Abu ‘Amr ‘Utsman ibn ‘Affan (r.a.), all of whom accepted arbitration in matters of authority.  They believed in appointing the caliph through free, valid election alone, as established by the Muslim majority, and not a group of delegates or the like.  They would support the caliph so long as he ruled in justice as upheld by the shari’ah; otherwise, they held it necessary to remove him from power, given also the necessity of rising against permissive authorities.  They upheld the permissibility of non-Qurayshi caliphs, and indeed that all contenders were equal regardless of tribal or ethnic origin - even that non-Arab claimants were preferable for they would be easier to remove from power in the event they acted against the shari’ah.  They, themselves, chose the non-Qurayshi ‘Abdullah ibn Wahb ar-Rasibi as their leader.  They held a radical conflation of belief and action, holding that iman, faith, necessarily yields righteous works.  This in turn meant they considered the perpetrator of sins a disbeliever, without distinguishing between enormities and minor sins.  Likewise, they considered those adhering to opposing judgements and schools to be unbelievers.  In support of such doctrines, they offered the Qur’anic verses: 

سُوۡرَةُ آل عِمرَان

… وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ حِجُّ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ مَنِ ٱسۡتَطَاعَ إِلَيۡهِ سَبِيلاً۬‌ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَنِىٌّ عَنِ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ (٩٧) 

… pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to Allah―those who can afford the journey; but if any deny faith; Allah stands not in need of any of His creatures. (Surah Ali ‘Imran:97) 

They interpreted it to equate abandoning the rite of pilgrimage, surely a sin, with full disbelief, such that any sinner becomes a disbeliever.  They also cited the verse: 

سُوۡرَةُ المَائدة

 …وَمَن لَّمۡ يَحۡكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُوْلَـٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرُونَ (٤٤) 

…. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah has Revealed, they are (no better than) disbelievers. (Surah al-Ma’dah:44) 

They interpreted it to mean that every perpetrator of sins had decided his course of action by something other than Revelation and so had disbelieved.