الدفاع عن السنة The defence of the Sunnah

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Episode 31: The Kharijites and their stance from the Sunnah

Definition of Kharijites:
The Kharijite in the language is the plural form of Kharij (rebel) and the word was mentioned in the language books to indicate the groups of opinions and desires because they rebel against the religion or against Imam Ali (may Allah be pleased with him).
Al Azhary said: The Kharijite is a group of people who follow their desires. (1)
Az-Zabidy said about them: They are the Haruriyah, and the Kharijite are a group of them. They were seven groups and were named as such because they rebelled against the people, against the religion, against the truth, or against Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) after the Battle of Siffin. (2)
Idiomatically: Ash-Shahristany said: Everyone rebels against the true Imam about whom the Muslim group agreed is called a Kharijite whether the rebellion was in the time of the Companions against the Rightly-Guided Imams or after them against those who followed them righteously and all imams any time. (3)
The origin of the Kharijites was a group of political trend and special thinking who rebelled against Imam Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) after he was pleased with the Judgment that took place after the Battle of Siffin and fought them in the famous Battle of Nahrawan. (4)
Despite the scatter of the Kharijite into different sects, they hold the same doctrine which stated:
1- They free themselves of `Uthman and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them), and advance that on every act of obedience. Moreover, they held the marriage contracts valid on that fundamental otherwise they are invalid.
2- They call the people of grievous sins disbelievers.
3- They held that rebellion against the Imam is a must when he contradicts the Sunnah.
However, `Abdul-Qadir Al Baghdady had a different opinion in the things which combined the Kharijite. He said: "The correct view in the things that combine the Kharijite is the narration of Sheikh Abu Al Hasan Al Ash`ary (may Allah bestow mercy on his soul):
They called Ali, `Uthman, the people who fought in the Battle of Al Jamal, the two judges, anyone who approved their ruling, or approved one of them, or even satisfied the judgment disbelievers." (5)
Abu Al Hasan Al Ash`ary said in Maqalat Al Islamiyyin: The Kharijites hold consensus on calling `Ali ibn Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) a disbeliever. However, they disagreed whether his disbelief was part of polytheism or not? They also hold consensus that every major sin is an act of disbelief except the sect which was called An-Najdat who did not held that view. They also hold consensus that Allah (Glory be to Him) tortures the people of grievous sins permanently except An-Najdat.

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(1) Tahdhib Al Lughah (7 / 50).
(2) Taj Al `Arus (2 / 30).
(3) Al Milal Wa An-Nihal (1 / 114).
(4) See: Al Fisal Fi Al Milal Wa An-Nihal (4 / 157), Al Milal Wa An-Nihal (1 / 21), Al Bidayah Wa An-Nihayah (7 / 189), Firaq Mu`asirah (1 / 70, 71).
(5) Al Farq Bayna Al Firaq p. 74.

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Episode 32: The stance of the Kharijites from the Hadith

No doubt that the stance of the Kharijites from the Hadith was based on their stance from its narrators i.e., the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
The books of history and sects are of agreement that the Kharijites, no matter the difference of their sects, said that all the Companions were trustworthy before the sedition then they called the following Companions disbelievers: Ali, `Uthman, the people who fought in the Battle of Al Jamal, and all the Companions after arbitration, including the two judges, those who satisfied with the arbitration and those who said about the judges they were right or even one of them was right. They called them unbelievers because they disobeyed the command of Allah. (1)
As a result to their apostasy, they rejected the Hadiths of the Companions after the sedition, refused to accept their narrations, and refused to accept the narrations of the Muslim jurists who verified and judged the narrations of the Companions and used analogy and gave their own views based on the Fatwas of the Companions, therefore they called them disbelievers too. (2)
Thereby, they fell into terrible errors that contradicted the sound reason among which their aversion from the Sunnah and narrations.
Dr. As-Siba`y said: "It was a serious sedition that the trustworthiness of the Companions, who participated in the dispute between Ali or Mu`awiyah, was doubted, their Hadiths were rejected, and called them disbelievers or dissolute. By that view, they are not less dangerous than the Shi`ite because their views are corrupted. If the standard to accept a narration is the truthfulness and integrity of the Companions in all they conveyed to us, and lie cannot be attributed to them because of their nature, religion, and rearing, what is the connection between their selves and their political views and errors? And why to describe them with qualities that are not proper to describe common people; how about the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) who served Islam with all they could. Except if the Companions had not conveyed the message to us, we would have remained in darkness and we would not have known anything about guidance." (3)

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(1) See: Al Farq Bayna Al Firaq p. 74 As-Sunnah Wamkantuha Fi At-Tashri` Al Islamy p. 149. The stance of the Kharijites is contrary to the stance of the people of the Sunnah who certified all the Companions and called them trustworthy whether they participated in the dispute or not.
(2) See: Al Farq bayna Al Firaq p. 322.
(3) As-Sunnah Wamkantuha Fi At-Tashri` Al Islamy p. 133 with paraphrasing.

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Episode 33: The points in which the Kharijites differed from the people of the Sunnah

The most prominent qualities of the Kharijites were strictness, exceeding proper limits, and extremism in all rulings. Therefore, they abandoned Islam which is distinguished by moderation. They defamed their sect by dullness and ossification where they stopped at the apparent meanings of the Qur'anic texts without paying attention to the texts which abrogate these Qur'anic texts, specialize its generality, limit its absolute, or add some rulings to them by the Sunnah.
We have explained their stance from the narrations of the Companions represented in rejecting the narrations of those who disbelieved among them.
Their stance led to the rejection of most Hadiths, but they rather did not pay attention to Ijma` (consensus of scholars) and did not take it into account when they understood the Qur'an despite the fact that Ijma` in its origin is based on the texts of the Qur'an and the Sunnah and is not something fabricated in religion or something away from its rules and fundamentals. (1)
Their acute temper, extremism, and their immoderate inclination to name the opponents disbelievers played an effective role in their divisions where they separated to different sects and groups. All these issues played a great role in the errors and innovations which they invented in the society.
These are some of their errors which are contradictory to the authentic Hadith that were reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
1- Their most famous error, which was committed by the first court and Al Azariqah, was calling the following Companions disbelievers: Ali, `Uthman, the Companions who fought in the Battle of the Camel, Mu`awiyah, his army, the judges, and those who satisfied with the arbitration. (2)

The error which they believed that Ali committed was that he resorted to ordinary men in the arbitration rather than resorting the matter to Allah. (3)
They called him mistaken because he erased his name from the Muslim caliphate, thereupon they called him a disbeliever.
As for `Uthman, they attacked him because of the incidents which they considered favoritism to his tribe over the interests of the entire nation, in addition to the transgressions to which we denoted earlier.
As for the Companions who fought in the Battle of the Camel, the Companions who fought in the Battle of Siffin, and Mu`awiyah, they attacked them all because they were indulged in the sedition and because they were parties in the dispute.
Al Azariqah interpreted the Ayahs in a way that served their purposes and desires. They interpreted Allah's Saying: "And of mankind there is he whose speech may please you (O Muhammad peace be upon him), in this worldly life, and he calls Allâh to witness as to that which is in his heart, yet he is the most quarrelsome of the opponents." [Surat Al Baqarah: 204] and said that the Ayah was revealed in Ali.
Moreover, they approved the action of `Abdur-Rahman ibn Muljim, the killer of Imam Ali to the extent that `Imran ibn Hattan, the Mufty (Islamic scholar qualified to issue legal opinions) of the Kharijites and their greatest poet praised him in famous verses:
What a strike of a good person ** by which he meant to gain the pleasure of the Lord. (4)
Their stance from the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was contradictory to the authentic Sunnah because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) attested for a large number of those whom they called disbelievers and promised them Paradise such as Ali, Talhah ibn `Ubayd Allah, Az-Zubayr, and `Uthman. (5)
Those Companions were among the Companions who gave homage to the Messenger of Allah in the Homage of Ar-Ridwan about which Allah (may He be Exalted) says: "Indeed, Allâh was pleased with the believers when they gave the Bai'ah (pledge) to you (O Muhammad peace be upon him) under the tree." (6)
Furthermore, the books of the Sunnah are full of the great situations and virtues of those venerable Companions. (7)
As for the erasing of Ali to his name from the Muslim caliphate, he followed the example of the Messenger (peace be upon him) on the day of Al Hudaybiyah when he erased (the Messenger of Allah) after the polytheists objected to that title. (8)
When the Kharijites rejected the Sunnah, they turned away from its guidance and did not take a lesson of its incidents. (9)

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(1) At-Tafsir Wal Mufassirun 2/313.
(2) Al Farq Bayna Al Firaq (81 /2).
(3) When Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) heard it, he said: (A true word but used in falsehood) or (A word of justice that is meant to achieve injustice. They say there is no princedom, but there must be a princedom whether the emir is good or evil). 1/116 -117 Milal Ash-Shahristany.
(4) Milal Ash-Shahristany 1/120. Al Bidayah Wan-Nihayah 7\ 359 and was opposed by Bakr ibn Hammad Al Zanaty Al Tahirty (200 AH – 296 AH) who satirized him:
Nay, but it was a strike from a bad person who will enter Hell Fire ** forever and he approached the Most Gracious while He is angry at him.
(5) See Hadith No. (3574 - 3575) from Sunan At-Tirmidhy.
(6) Surat Al Fath: 18.
(7) See: Sahih Al Bukhari in the book of virtues of the Companions, Sahih Muslim in the book of virtues, and Sunan and At-Tirmidhy in the books of virtues.
(8) See: Jami` Bayan Al `Ilm wa Fadluh 2 / 127, and Sahih Al Bukhari in the book of conciliation, chapter on how did he write: This is what has been signed ..., and the book of Battles, in the chapter of `Umrat Al Qada' (the compensatory `Umrah).
(9) See: Fundamental of the science of Hadith between the approach and the idiom p. 162 - 164.

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Peace be upon him