Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

23
THE KHARIJITES
Basically the Kharijites belonged to the revolutionary party which took part in the assassination of Usman (656 A.D). After that they merged themselves with the Shiites. They fought in the battle of Camel (656 A.D.) against Hazrat Ayesha. They were with Hazrat Ali during the battle of Siffm (657 A.D). So far they did not maintain a separate entity.
In the battle of Siffm, when Mu’awiya’s forces were facing defeat, he asked his troops to raise the copies of the Holy Book on the point of their lances, meaning thereby an appeal to arbitration on the word of God. The sabotage worked, Hazrat Ali knew it and declared that it was a stratagem of war, but his men became divided on the issue. Some were in agreement with him, others, mostly from Banu Tamim said that they fought in the name of God, and so when the word of God itself was claimed as arbiter they could not spurn it. This latter opinion prevailed and a truce was negotiated. The Syrians chose Amr Ibn A’s their delegate while Abu Musa Ashari was selected by the Alids though against the will of Hazrat Ali.’
While the negotiations were proceeding, the same people who had forced Hazrat Ali to accept the arbitration, refused to accept any one as arbiter in the matter of Holy Book. They said that arbitration was an error, because the word of God in regard to real authority was clear and definite, and arbitration implied doubt and suspicion with regard plan taken by either party. But this doubt was not justified, for they and their friends who had fallen in the war, were believers and they had fought with the convention that right
i Mitlnh Hiisjwn pvolution ot Social institution in Islam. P 160
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was undoubtedly on their side. This theory was enunciated in the favour of Kharijites dogma-”there is no authority but that of God”. The idea spread like thunder and was echoed all around.
These people demanded of Hazrat Ali to accept his error or rather that he had committed an act of disbelief and therefore, should abrogate the term of the arbitration which he had pledged with Mu’awiya. Hazrat Ali refused to accept this position for obvious reasons. Therefore, these people separated them from his party and organized themselves into a separate group, to be called Kharijites.
They set up their headquarters at a village Haroura near Kufah after which they were called Harourites. Hazrat Ali fought against them fought battle at Al-Nahrawan and a large number of them were killed. But he could not exterminate their ideology; rather this defeat segmented their hatred of Ali so much so that they hatched a conspiracy to kill him. And one Abdur Rahman bin Muljam assassinated him one morning when he was leading Congregational prayer.2
The power of the Kharijites rose rapidly. They remained a great danger for the Umayyad Caliphate for a long time. Their bravery and pluck in battles, their hardiness and pursuance against odds was most astonishing. On many occasions they almost annihilated the authority of the Umayyads. Their power, however, finally but gradually was broken by the famous Umayyad general Muhallab bin Abi Sufrah.
For long, the Kharijites remained a mere political party. During the reign of Abdul Malik they mixed their political teachings with metaphysical problems. The Azaraiq were the sect chiefly reputed to have made this innovation. Their most famous principle, they declared was that the injunctions of religion were essential part of faith, and faith was not mere profession. And one who omitted these injunctions is a ”Kafir”.
The Kharijites were never united. They exhibited the Bedouin traits of extreme freedom and independence. So they soon became divided into two main groupos. One was in a valley near Basrah. They ravaged Kirman, Pars and often threatened Basrah. The most prominent among them were Nah abi-Azaraiq etc. This group was mainly handled by Muhallab bin Abi Sufrah. The other group took its abode in the desert and secured in Yamama, Hadramaut,

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Yaman and Taif. The prominent among them were Abu Talib, Najda bin Amir and Abu Fudaik. The Umayyads did not succeed against these two groups except after most exhausting and protracted battles and campaigns.