People of Insurrection

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

According to Shaykh Nur ad-Din Abu ‘Ubadah ‘Ali ibn Juma’ah, when we consider the positions championed by the Khwarij and the Murji’ah, lexically, “khuruj” denotes “insurrection” and “insubordination”.  The active participle, “khawarij”, refers to those who rebelled against Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib (k.w.).  The movement originated at the murder of Sayyidina Abu ‘Amr ‘Utsman ibn ‘Affan (r.a.), and the allegiance pledged to Sayyidina ‘Ali (k.w.) as caliph.  Mu’awiyah ibn Abu Sufyan, then governor of Syro-Palestine, refused to acknowledge this allegiance owed, accusing him instead of covering over the murder of Sayyidina ‘Utsman (r.a.).  Thereafter, Sayyidina ‘Ali (k.w.) and Mu’awiyah faced each other at the Battle of Siffin and the latter would have been routed, but that Sayyidina ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aasw (r.a.) enjoined his forces to hoist up copies of the Qur’an on their lances, invoking the authority of scriptural writ to decide between them. 

Certain of Sayyidina ‘Ali’s (k.w.) supporters inclined toward seeking an arbitrated settlement between him and Mu’awiyah, but a faction rejected the possibility of subjecting legitimate authority to such adjudication.  They proclaimed the slogan, “No decision save that of Allah,” and struck camp at Harurah, by which they are also known as al-Haruriyyah.  Refusing the outcome of the arbitration, they rebelled against his authority and thus became known as the Khwarij, literally, “those who left.”  They subsequently split into twenty distinct groups.