The Traits and the Characteristics of the KhawÄrij
On the basis of the Prophetic tradition and the activities of the KhÄrijites, the SalafÄŤ scholars have detailed their traits and characteristics, which are summarised below:
They display fake piety (waraâ). A type of piety that led them to major innovations and deviation. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728Ḥ) said, âThis (display of overt) piety can lead a person to major innovations, for the (overt) piety (displayed) by the KhÄrijites, RÄfiá¸ites (Shiâites) and Muâtaáşilites is of this type. They avoided oppression and from what they believed to be oppression from mixing with the oppressors as they claimed until they abandoned the major obligations such as performing the JumĹŤ'ah (Friday) prayer and congregational prayers (with the Muslims), and Hajj and JiḼÄd (alongside the rulers) and giving advice to the Muslims and showing mercy to them. The people of this type of piety were shown rejection by the leading ImÄms, such as the Four ImÄms, and this condition (of overt, fake piety) began to be mentioned amongst the (issues) within the doctrine of Ahl as-Sunnah wal-JamÄâah. An illustration of their fake piety is that when they took the Prophetâs companion, âAbdullÄh Ibn KhabbÄb, captive and led him to his eventual slaughter, they passed by some date-palm trees owned by a Christian and one of them took a date and ate it. So they said to him, âYou have (unlawfully) taken the date which belongs to the people of the covenant.â Another killed a pig that belonged to a Christian and they ordered him to pay compensation. Whilst observing these actions, âAbdullÄh said to them, âShall I not tell you who is a greater right upon you than this?â They asked, âWho?â and he replied, âMe, I have not abandoned a prayer nor have abandoned this nor that (form of worship).â However, they killed him. So they showed overt piety and fear of Allaah in taking a date unlawfully and killing a pig which was the property of a Christian, however, it was a fake type of piety, because they paid no regard to human life, that of the Prophetâs companion, whom they slaughtered by the banks of a river until his blood flowed into it.Â
They abandon the main body of the Muslims. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, âThe foundation of the misguidance of these (KhÄrijites) is their belief regarding the leaders of guidance and the body of the Muslims that they have departed from justice and are misguided.â
They consider themselves to be more righteous and superior to the people of knowledge. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, âThe first of those who went astray in this regard are the renegade KhÄrijites when they judged that they (alone) are holding fast to the Book of Allaah and His (Prophetâs) Sunnah.â Considering that the KhÄrijites have no genuine scholars amongst them, it is clear that they consider themselves more learned and superior to the scholars.Â
Treating what is not a sin to be a sin. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, âThey have two well-known traits by which they departed from the main body of the Muslims and their rulers. The first of them is their departure from the Sunnah and making what is not a sin to be a sin or what is not a good deed to be a good deed.â
They declare Muslims disbelievers on account of sins and subsequently legalise their murder. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, â(The second of their well-known traits is) that they declare Muslims to be disbelievers on account of sins and evils and built upon this takfÄŤr (excommunication), they make lawful the shedding of the blood of the Muslims and taking their wealth and claim that the land of IslÄm is a land of war and that the land inhabited by them (alone) is a land of faith.â
They follow ambiguous passages of the QurâÄn. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, âLikewise, (ImÄm) AḼmad would explain (correctly) the ambiguous verses and aḼadith which the deviants would utilise from amongst the KhÄrijites and others.â
Their raising the sword of violence and slaughter with the pretext of enjoining good and forbidding evil. ImÄm Ibn al-Qayyim (d.751Ḥ) said, âThe KhÄrijites appeared fighting against the rulers, revolting against them with the sword with the pretext of enjoining good and forbidding evil.â
Considering something to be from the Religion when it is alien to the Religion. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, âFor the people of religiosity amongst those who desire the attainment of what they consider to be religion but they err from two angles. The first is that what they consider to be religion is not religion, such as the view of the KhÄrijites [1] and other than them from the people of desires. For they believe and (form) opinion which is erroneous and innovation and then fight the people over it. Rather, they declare their opponents to be disbelievers. Thus, they err in their view and in fighting those who oppose them or in declaring them disbelievers and cursing them. This is the condition of the generality of the people of desires.
Their gross ignorance of the Religion and absence of scholars amongst them. This is manifest when Ibn âAbbÄs was sent to debate with them and repel their doubts. It became clear that amongst the twelve or so thousand of them, there was not a single companion of the Prophet (ᚣallAllaahu âalayhi wa ᚣallam). In their debate they demonstrate their ignorance of the QurâÄn and its interpretation. They do not have the ability to make istidlÄl (infer and deduce from the texts) and they rely upon generalisations and absolutions. ImÄm ash-ShÄášibÄŤ (d.790Ḥ) said, âFrom following ambiguities is to take unqualified absolutions before looking at their qualifications and taking generalisations without reflecting as to whether they have specifications or not. Likewise, the opposite, to take a text which has been restricted and to generalise it. There are no scholars to be found with the KhÄrijite terrorists of al-QÄâidah, an-Nuᚣrah and ISIS, and certainly those who feign knowledge amongst them did not take knowledge from the well-known and famous SalafÄŤ scholars of this era. Rather, they were nurtured upon the books of Sayyid Quášb and MawdĹŤdÄŤÂ and the books of ideology (fikâr) and Ḽarakah (political activism) that are circulated amongst the Quášbiyyah, SurĹŤriyyah, ḤaddÄdiyyah â all factions of TakfÄŤrÄŤs who came from the direction of the the (so-called) Muslim Brotherhood.
They subject the QurâÄn and Sunnah to faulty analogies and interpretations. ImÄm Ibn al-Qayyim said, âWhoever subjected the QurâÄn and the Sunnah with a form of interpretation such as the use of analogy (qiyÄs) or ones taste (á¸awq) or intellect (âaql) or emotional state (ḼÄl) then he has a resemblance of the KhÄrijites, the followers of Dhul-Khuwaiᚣarah. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, âThe very first innovations such as the innovation of the KhÄrijites arose due to their evil understanding of the QurâÄn. They did not deliberately intend to oppose it, but they understood from it what it did not indicate.Â
Severity and exaggeration in worship. The Prophet (ᚣallAllaahu âalayhi wa ᚣallam) informed his companions, as occurs in a narration collected by al-BukhÄrÄŤ, that, âA people will depart from you and you will belittle your prayer compared to their prayer and your fasting compared to their fasting.â
They split into groups, declare each other astray and make takfÄŤr of each other. Shaikh al-IslÄm Ibn Taymiyyah said, âFrom the blameworthy characteristics of the people of innovation is that they make takfÄŤr of each other.â
If they gained power, they would behave with the Muslims as the leaders of Persia and Rome. âAlÄŤ Ibn AbÄŤ ᚏÄlib said in a sermon to the Muslims prior to fighting the KhÄrijites, âFear Allaah and fight those who contend with Allaah and attempt to extinguish the light of Allaah, fight the erroneous, misguided, oppressive criminals. Those who are not (truly) reciters of the QurâÄn, nor jurists in the Religion, nor scholars in interpretation, nor do they have any precedence in worthiness on this affair within IslÄm. By Allaah, if they were appointed with authority over you, they would have done with you deeds of Chosroes and Heraclius.âÂ
When they gain strength they slaughter Muslims primarily and leave alone non-Muslims. ImÄm Ibn Ḥajar (d.852Ḥ) said, âWhen the KhÄrijites judge with disbelief those (Muslims) who oppose them, they make lawful the shedding of their blood whilst leaving alone the people of the covenant. They said, âWe shall fulfil their covenant with them.â [2] And they abandon fighting the pagans and preoccupy themselves with fighting the Muslims. All of this is from the effects of the worship of ignoramuses whose hearts have not been expanded with the light of knowledge. They did not hold fast to any firm rope of knowledge. Sufficient is that their leader showed rejection against the Messenger of Allaah (ᚣallAllaahu 'alayhi wa ᚣallam) and accused him of oppression, we ask Allaah for safety. This observation is true today when we see that the vast majority of those killed by the ISIS KhÄrijite terrorists, once they gained power, are Muslims. Likewise, the overwhelming majority of those killed by terrorist attacks are Muslims.
They are the worst of those killed beneath the canopy of the sky. This is textually stated in the Prophetic tradition related by Ibn MÄjah, âThey are the most evil of those killed beneath the canopy of the sky.â
[1] The Religion of the KhÄrijites is revolting against the rulers in order to establish law and justice as they claim. This is alien to IslÄm. IslÄm never came with this and is the way of the Marxists, Socialists and Communists. IslÄm came with its opposite, which is to maintain civil order by having patience upon the rulerâs tyranny and injustice, and this is from the angle of bearing the least of two harms so as to avert a greater harm. To oppose this clear Sunnah, the KhÄrijites impute disbelief to the rulers to enable them to justify their activities, since it is easier to recruit others for this purpose when they are told that the rulers are apostates and enemies of IslÄm and the Muslims.
[2] As indicated elsewhere in his work, the KhÄrijites do not withhold from killing the people of the covenant either, even if they do not subject them to the same type of slaughter they unleash upon Muslims.
Ref: The KhawÄrij: Historical Roots of Modern-Day Extremism and Terrorism (so-called) Muslim Brotherhood, Ḥizb at-TaḼrÄŤr, Al-QÄâidah, An-Nuᚣrah, ISIS, et al. | The Traits and the Characteristics of the KhawÄrij.
