A Muslim Convert Once Before

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 ori...

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 aut...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Some books of sirah mention the following version in the chapters devoted to the battles against the Banu Hanifah, “At the end of times a man will come out of Musaylimah’s country and he will change the religion of Islam.”   Most of the Khwarij were also from the Najd area, from the tribes of Banu Hanifah, Banu Tamim, and Banu Wa’il.   Musaylimah ibn Habib al-Khadzdzab was from the Banu Hanifah, and Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab an-Najdi was from Banu Tamim.   Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swadiq ( r.a. ) said, concerning the Banu Hanifah, the tribe of Musaylimah the Liar, “Their valley will not cease to be a valley of dissensions until the end of time, and the religion will never recover from their liars until Judgement Day,” and in another version, “Woe to al-Yamamah without end.”   al-Yamamah is the valley in the Najd.   When Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) killed the Khwarij , someone s...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Referring to the Khwarij , the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) said, “They transferred the Qur’anic verses meant to refer to unbelievers and made them refer to believers.”   He also said, “What I most fear in my community is a man who interprets verses of the Qur’an out of context.”   He also said, “The fitnah comes from there,” and he pointed to the east, where the Najd is, in Eastern Saudi Arabia, in the current age.   He described their coming thus: “A people that recite Qur’an will come out of the East, but it will not go past their throats.  They will pass through the religion like the arrow passes through its quarry.  They will no more come back to the religion than the arrow will come back to its course.  Their sign is that they shave,” meaning that they shave their heads.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam Taqi’ ad-Din Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd al-Kafi’ as-Subki ( r.a. ) said, “It has been argued that the Khwarij are disbelievers because of their idol worship, and takfir of the eminent swahabah , since such an act entails disbelief of the Prophet’s ( s.a.w. ) testimony that they are bound for Paradise, and I consider this position sound.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Speaking about groups such as ISIS, Nusrah Front and Al-Qaeda, Habib ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Jifri said, “These groups came into existence in part because the erroneous beliefs they espouse are deeply rooted in our education systems, our mosques, the media, and even in the way we think, react and live our lives.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Ibadhiyyah are the sole remnant of the Khwarijyah movement existing now.  They are the dominant sect in Oman and Zanzibar.  They are also found in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and East Africa.  The sect is said to have been founded 20 years after the passing of Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ), predating both the Sunni and the Shi’ah.  They are a reformed sect of the Khwarijyah .  The Ibadhiyyah deny anything more than a passing relation to the Khwarijyah , and claim they merely developed out of the same precursor group.  The sect is named after Imam ‘Abdullah ibn Ibadh at-Tamimi ( r.a. ), a noted jurist and muhaddits , the student of Sayyidina ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas ( r.a. ).  Imam ibn Ibadh ( r.a. ) was responsible for breaking off from the wider Khwarijyah movement roughly around the time of ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan became the fifth Umayyad caliph.  Whilst it is named after Imam ibn Ibadh ( r.a. ), the true fo...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The Bida’iyyah are an extinct Khwarijiyyah sect.   Their doctrine was generally the same as the Azraqiyyah with one exception.   Peculiar to them alone, is the assertion that swalah is only two raka’atan for maghrib .   This was based on their interpretation of this ayat :   سُوۡرَةُ هُود وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ طَرَفَىِ ٱلنَّہَارِ وَزُلَفً۬ا مِّنَ ٱلَّيۡلِ‌ۚ إِنَّ ٱلۡحَسَنَـٰتِ يُذۡهِبۡنَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ‌ۚ ذَٲلِكَ ذِكۡرَىٰ لِلذَّٲكِرِينَ ( ١١٤ )   And establish regular prayers at the two ends of the day and at the approaches of the night: for those things that are good remove those that are evil: be that the word of remembrance to those who remember (their Lord): (Surah Hud:114)   Like the Azraqiyyah , they believed it is permissibility to take women captives from among the kuffar , and of killing their infant children inadvertently.   We must remember here that “ kuffar ” here also includes Musl...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Khwarijiyyah sect, the Bahnasiyyah are historically related to Abu Bahnas, of which little is known.  They maintained a man cannot be considered a Muslim until he knows everything that Allah ( s.w.t. ) has Made lawful to him, and everything that He has Made unlawful to him, specifically and personally.  There are some amongst them who said that if a person commits a sinful offence, he should not be treated as a disbeliever until he has been arraigned before the sulthan , so that the latter may impose upon him the penalty prescribed by the shari’ah for his particular offence, and that only then should he be convicted of kufr .

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Zhafariyyah are another group from the Khwarijiyyah, of whom we do not have any actual information.   In this case, we are uncertain how they were named.   We know of them by their successor group, the Hafswiyyah .   The Hafswiyyah were a sectarian group that branched off from the Zhafariyyah .   They maintained that as long as a person acknowledges Allah ( s.w.t. ), he cannot be considered guilty of shirk , even if he does not believe in anything else in the religion apart from Him.   In effect, according to them, such a person could theoretically reject the Messenger ( s.a.w. ), a Garden of Paradise and a Fire of Hell, and regard as lawful, zina and other acts Proscribed in Islam, and despite all this, as long as he gives lip service that there is a God, he would be a Muslim to them.   According to them, a person can be considered guilty of shirk only if he is ignorant of Allah ( s.w.t. ) and refuses to r...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The extinct Khwarij sect, the Akhnasiyyah , trace their origin to a man called “al-Akhnas”.  Not much is known about this particular person.  They hold the opinion that the slave-owner may take for himself part of the zakat due to his slave, and pass on to him only part of his zakat , if the slave-owner is needy and impoverished.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Swaltiyyah , a Khwarijiyyah sect, are historically related to ‘Utsman ibn asw-Swalt.  They maintained that if a person has an infant child at the time he embraces Islam, that child cannot be regarded as a Muslim until he reaches the age of puberty, at which time he must be invited to enter Islam and must accept the invitation on his own behalf.  They are similar to the Anabaptists of the Christians in that respect.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Majhuliyyah , an extinct Khwarijiyyah sect, were proponents of the doctrine that if someone knows Allah ( s.w.t. ) by at least some of His Names, he is to be considered as an ‘alim .  This is regardless of his adab and akhlaq , or even his competency in the religious sciences.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Khwarij sect, the ‘Ajradiyyah , are historically related to ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn ‘Ajrad.  They are a composite grouping of many subsects, collectively known as the Maymuniyyah .  They considered it permissible for a man to marry the daughters of his sons and the daughters of his daughters, as well as the daughters of his brothers and the daughters of his sisters.  They also claimed that Surah Yusuf is not part of the Qur’an.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Najdatiyyah were a Khwarij sect traced to Najda ibn ‘Amir al-Hanafi, once conqueror of al-Yamama.  They were the followers of ‘Abdullah ibn Naswir.  Their doctrine was that if a person tells a lie or commits a minor sin, and makes a habit of it, he is a mushrik , but a person can still be considered a Muslim even if he commits adultery or fornication, steals, and drinks wine, as long as he does not persist in these offences.  They also maintained that there is no need for an imam , since what is necessary is knowledge of the Qur’an, and that alone is quite sufficient.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ One of the early Khwarij groups was the Haruriyyah .   The Haruriyyah were named for their first leader, Habib ibn Yazid al-Haruri.   It was a Haruri who assassinated Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) while he was praying, on the 21 st Ramadhan, 661 CE.   Sayyidina ‘Ali ( k.w. ) is quoted to have said that the following ayat is about the Haruriyyah :   سُوۡرَةُ الکهف قُلۡ هَلۡ نُنَبِّئُكُم بِٱلۡأَخۡسَرِينَ أَعۡمَـٰلاً ( ١٠٣ )  ٱلَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعۡيُہُمۡ فِى ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَا وَهُمۡ يَحۡسَبُونَ أَنَّہُمۡ يُحۡسِنُونَ صُنۡعًا ( ١٠٤ )   Say: “Shall we tell you of those who lose most in respect of their deeds? ― Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they thought that they were acquiring good by their works?” (Surah al-Kahf:103-104)   Dr. Khalid Abu al-Fadhl wrote, in “Islam & the Challenge of Democracy”, “Anecdotal reports about the debates between ‘Ali and the Kh...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Murji’ah were an early sect.  Their eponymous key tenet of irja’ , lexically denotes “postponement”, takhir , because they “deferred” the requital of transgressions to the Day of Judgement.  It is imperative to differentiate the position of this sect from that of certain early companions and followers who, responding to the conditions of their time, forbade engaging the bitter contemporaneous political struggles.  In that vein, they recommended “deferring” the case of grave sinners to Allah (s.w.t.), Who will Punish or Forgive them as He Wills on the Day of Judgement.   In the subsequent period, however, there emerged the Murji’ah , who took this notion of deferral to its limit and made it a point of doctrine.  They, thus, held that sin does not spoil faith much like obedience does not benefit disbelief, that is, that the believer remains a believer no matter the enormities of sins he commits, just as the disbeliever r...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Khwarij school rested on the equation of hakimiyyah , sovereignty, with sulthan , power, as what yields siyadah , dominion, quite resembling that of modern political thought — that is, a concept of absolute authority.  However, authority yields dominion only in particular times and places.  Certain contemporary Islamist groups have approximated this view, relying for instance on what they understood of the teachings of Sayyid Abu al-A‘ala al-Mawdudi, or the later works of Sayyid Quthb Ibrahim Husayn.   Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) was among the first to stridently resist this approach.  Responding to the Kharijite slogan, “No decision save that of Allah,” he said, “A true word, yet they intend falsehood by it.  True, no rulership save that of Allah ( s.w.t. ), yet they claim there is no command save that of Allah ( s.w.t. ), while people require leaders, whether righteous or profligate.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Regarding the Khwarij , we have to understand that 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 Sham, 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 incl...