All praise is for Allah, Lord of all the worlds, and blessings and peace upon His servant Sayyiduna Muhammad (sall-Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), upon his family, his companions, his wives and those who follow them for the best until the Day of the judgment.
A humble request: We start reading many articles and leave them in the middle. What is the end result? We do not have complete knowledge on any topic.
Please read this article completely.
In order to know the good among the people, one must first examine the history of heresy in Islam. Only by understanding false teachings and their supporters will we appreciate the importance of the people of good. (Ahl ul-khayr).
Insha Allah this article will be divided into 2 parts.
The first part will be about the origin of KHAWARIJ and the “MODERN DAY KHAWARIJ”. For all those who just want to know this, they must read PART 1 completely.
The second part will analyze hadith of NAJD.
It should be known that the original KHAWARIJ were outside the fold of Islam.
ORIGIN OF KHAWARIJ
The origins of Kharijism date back to the time of the Prophet (s).
Amongst the clearest indications we have of this is the Hadith in Bukhari and Muslim.
After the Battle of Hunain the Prophet (s) - in distributing the booty - gave preference to a number of non-Muslims. His aim was to attract them to Islam Hurqus ibn Zuhair. rebuked the Prophet (s) by saying to him: "Be just in your distribution O Messenger of Allah."
The Prophet was incensed by this remark and responded by saying:"Then who can be called just if I am not just?"
To this the Prophet added:
"There will come a time when a group of people will leave our ranks. They will recite the Quran with fervour and passion (lit. "With tongues that are moist".) but its spirit will not go beyond their throats. They will leave our ranks in the manner of an arrow when it shoots from its bow."
Points from above hadith:
This man objected to the decision of prophet and showed his preference over the decision of prophet. He showed disrespect to the prophet. He rebelled against the Prophet (sallallaahualaihi wasallam) in the sense that accused him of treachery. ( He is counted amongst the Kafir and not as a companion( sahaba) of the prophet). He is considered the first of the Kharij (the Seceders" or "the Rebels )to arise in Islam. The root of his sickness was that he preferred his own opinion above that of the Prophet . If he had waited to hear what the Prophet had to say, he would have realized that no opinion can be given precedence over that of The Prophet (s) .
He went against the Command of Allah subhanhu wa tala.
Say, (O Muhammad, to mankind): If ye love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. ( Quran , 3: 31)
He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah. But if any turn away, We have not sent thee to watch over their (evil deeds). "( Quran 4 : 80).
The Battle of Siffin (very important development)
It is significant that this selfsame Hurqus was elected as one of the heads of the Kharijites after the Battle of Siffin.
The Battle of Siffin was a battle between two groups of muslims. Sayyidna Ali(rd) on the one side and Sayyidna Muawiyyah(rd) on the other side. Many Companions on both sides were disheartened by this conflict. The necessity, therefore, for arbitration between the two parties was felt. The proposal was accepted by both parties with Abu Musa al-Ash'ari representing Sayyidna Ali (r) and 'Amr ibn al-As (r) representing Sayyidna Muawiyyah (r).
When the pact was read out by ibn Qais a large group on the side of Sayyidna Ali objected to its terms. Most of the members of this group belonged to the Bedouin tribe of Tamim.
Their spokesperson on the occasion was Urwa ibn Udaiyya. He said: "Are men to arbitrate in the affairs of Allah? There can be no arbitration except by Allah."In support of his view he quoted the following Quranic passage: "The prerogative of command rests with none but Allah. He declares the truth and he is the best of judges" (6:57).
Sayyidna Ali's response to this was typical:"There is a word of truth in what they say," he said, "but their ends are devious."
Urwa, along with 12,000 others, then seceded from the party of Sayyidna Ali. Initially they set up camp at a place called Harawra on the outskirts of Kufa. Here they elected Abdullah ibn al-Kawwa as their head. Sayyidna Ali pursued them and engaged them in debate. Ibn al-Kuwwa conceded to Sayyidna Ali's arguments and he, along with a few others, returned to his ranks.
The rest of the Kharijites then left for Nahrawan. Here they elected Abdullah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi and the above-mentioned Hurqus ibn Zuhair as their leaders.
It is interesting to note here that al-Rasibi was known for his fervour in reciting the Quran and was also nicknamed Dhu al-Thafanat (the one whose kneecaps appeared like two humps of a camel because of the intense and extended nature of his prostration in Salaah).
Nevertheless, on their way to Nahrawan, they encountered Abdullah ibn Khabbaab al-Aratt, one of the governors of Sayyidna Ali. Amongst the things he said to them after they identified him as an enemy was the following:"My father related to me that the Prophet (s) said: 'There will come a time when the fitna (corruption and sedition) of the one who sits will be considered preferable to the one who stands; and the fitna of the one who stands will be preferable to the one who walks; and the fitna of the one who walks will be preferable to the one who runs. So if it is at all possible then try to be amongst those who are slaughtered rather than amongst those who will do the slaughtering."
Khabbab, ironically, was one of the first victims of Kharijite brutality. He, along with his pregnant wife, was hacked to death. When the news of this slaughter reached Sayyidna Ali he set out for Nahrawan with an army of 4,000 men.
Points from above incidence
Khawarij use Quran to back up their false claim.
They think their understanding of Quran is better than the understating of the companions of the prophet.
If Muslims do not agree with them, they kill innocent Muslims.
They have riya (show off) in Ibadah (worshippig Allah).
Imam Bukhari (rh) in his sahi under the chapter” Book of Asking apostates and those who separate themselves in obstinate rebellion to repent and fighting them” names a sub chapter as “Killing Kharijites and heretics after proof is established against them”.
Imam Bukhari (rh) narrates this:
Ibn 'Umar used to consider them to be the worst of Allah's creation. He said, "They took verses which were revealed about the unbelievers and then applied them to the believers."
This is a hall mark of the khawarij who use quranic verses revealed about unbelievers and apply them upon muslims.
Hadith ( Sahi Bukhari)
Abu Salama and 'Ata' ibn Yasar reported that they went to Abu Sa'id al-Khudri and asked him about the Haruriyya*, "Did you hear the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say anything?" He said, "I do not know what the Haruriyya are, but I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Some people will emerge in this nation (and he did not say, 'from this nation") whose prayer will make you think little of your prayers in comparison. They will recite the Qur'an, but it will not go beyond their throats. They will pass through the deen as an arrow passes through game. The archer looks at his arrow, arrowhead and its fastening and is unsure about its notch, and whether there is any blood on it.'"
The Haruriyya are the Kharijites. The name is taken from Harura', a place in Iraq where they first gathered.]
Suffice it for us at this stage to know that by now this group of Kharijites - known as the "Muhakkima"- had already resolved upon the following principles:
a) The declaration of Kufr (unbelief) on Sayyidna Ali, Muawiyyah, and all those who had participated in and agreed to the process of arbitrationb) Takfir (charging with unbelief) of all those who disagreed with them on any theological issuesc) The right to kill any of the above.
In this context the response of Sayyidna Ali to their view that the "prerogative of command belongs to Allah alone"( "fal-hukmu lillah", Quran 40: 12)by saying that it was "a word of truth with a devious end" becomes quite apparent.
It was evident to Sayyidna Ali that theirs was a political agenda - an agenda that was inspired by an ill-conceived sense of political isolationism owing to their Bedouin status. The spirit of Islam - as yet - had not served to de-tribalise them. Strength, to them, resided in aggression and belligerence; and not in the deeper recesses of the spirit and soul - the wellsprings of genuine faith (Iman).
Sayyidna Ali understood this for he understood the meaning of the Quranic verse:"The desert Arabs say, 'We believe (amanna).' Say: 'You do not as yet have true faith.' Rather say: 'We have only submitted our wills to Allah (aslamna), for not yet has true faith entered your hearts.'" (49:14).
It is therefore not surprising that the Hurub al-Ridda (the War against the Apostates) that occurred during the time of Sayyidna Abu Bakr was inspired by a group of people with similar backgrounds. It is even less surprising that most of the claims to prophethood after the death of the Prophet (s) also emanated from these localities.
For the Kharijites, on the other hand, to legitimise their agenda and justify their killing of Muslims they had to declare them as Kafir and hence the territories in which they lived as a Dar al-Harb (an abode of war). This they legitimised under the nefarious pretence of "the prerogative of command belongs to Allah." This statement - and more correctly read, in its Kharijite context, as "only we (with our swords) have the prerogative of command" - spawned thousands of little gods who maimed and massacred and killed in the name of the most Merciful of the Merciful.
FIGHTING BETWEEN THE MUSLIMS AND THE KHAWARIJ
( REFERENCE: al-Farq bain al-Firaq BY Abdul Qahir al-Baghdadi)
Sayyidna Ali set out for Nahrawan, as mentioned earlier, with a party of 4,000 soldiers. Here he confronted the Kharajites.
"When Ali approached the Kharajites he demanded that they hand over the one who killed Abdullah ibn Khabbab. They responded by saying that all of them were responsible for his death and that if they should get the opportunity they would kill Ali too.
Ali and his army moved out and confronted them. Shortly before the battle, however, he said to them: 'For what reason do you seek revenge from me?' They replied: ' The first reason is that after having fought alongside you at the Battle of the Camel - and after having been victorious - you allowed us to take the spoils of war but you prohibited us from imprisoning their women and children. So how did you allow us the one and not the other?'
Ali replied, 'I allowed you the booty for the reason that they had unlawfully taken that wealth from the Bait al-Mal in Basra in the first place. That happened before I went to Basra. As for their women and children, they did not join in the battle. So their rights within Islam remain as it would for any Muslim living in a Dar al-Islam. Moreover, none of them apostatised and it's not permissible to shed the blood of those who remain within the fold. But above all, had I allowed you to imprison their women, then who amongst you would have had the temerity to take Aisha as a prisoner?' The Kharajites shuddered at this rejoinder.
They then said, 'The second reason for our revenge is that that when you signed the treaty of peace between yourself and Muawiyya you eliminated your title 'Amir al-Mu'minin'.
To this Ali replied, 'In this respect I did exactly what the Prophet (s) of Allah did with Suhail ibn 'Amr at the Treaty of Hudaibiyya. Suhail said to him (s), 'Had I accepted that you were the Prophet of Allah then I would not be disputing with you in this fashion. So remove your title 'The Prophet of Allah' from the pact and write your name followed by the name of your father. The Prophet (s) acceded to this and had his Companions record 'This is what Muhammad ibn Abdullah and Suhail ibn 'Amr have agreed upon…'
Soon after that the Prophet informed me that I would one day find myself in a position similar to the one in which he had found himself at Hudaibiyya. So my situation today with the children of those people is identical to that of the Prophet with their fathers.
The Kharajites then said to Ali, 'Why did you say to the two arbitrators (Abu Musa al-Ashari and Amr ibn al-As), 'If I am suited for the position of Khalifa then you may appoint me.' By this you expressed doubt in your own ability as a Khalifa. It is therefore understandable, if not preferable, for others to hold similar doubts about you.'
Ali replied, 'Indeed through that I wished to be fair to Muawiyya. Had I unconditionally asked the arbitrators to appoint me as the Khalifa then Muawiyya would not have accepted that. In this regard, when the Prophet invited the Christians of Najran to earnestly pray to Allah for an answer he expressed a similar fair-mindedness. This is evident from the verse of the Quran, 'Say: Come! Let us gather together - our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves. Then let us earnestly pray, and invoke the curse of Allah upon the one who lies.' (Quran, 3: 61)
In this manner the Prophet was fair to the Christians. Had he (s) said, on the other hand, 'I will earnestly pray and invoke the curse of Allah upon you' then the Christians of Najran would never have accepted his invitation. For the same reason, therefore, I wished to be fair to Muawiyya. Moreover, at that point I could not be certain about Amr ibn al-As's position - whether he would mislead me or not.
Lastly they said to Ali, 'Why did you, in the first place, allow two arbitrators to arbitrate in a matter that was inherently your right?'
Ali responded, 'I was present when the Prophet of Allah appointed Sa'ad ibn Muadh as an arbitrator after the battle with the tribe of Quraitha. If he wished then he need not have appointed an arbitrator in the first place. So I did the same - and followed the example of the Prophet - when I appointed an arbitrator.'"
After this lengthy discourse most of the Kharajites - 8,000 of them - capitulated and returned to the ranks of Sayyidna Ali. 4,000 of them - including Hurqus ibn Zuhair and Abdullah al-Rasibi - remained committed to their cause. This is a story of the integrity of Sayyidna Ali. And that integrity, as told in the narration of al-Baghdadi, continues where he records that Sayyidna Ali ordered the 8,000 who capitulated not to join them in the battle. He had come with 4,000 and with 4,000 he would fight. On that day too, he swore that no more than ten on his side would die and no more than ten on their side would survive. That is precisely what happened. Amongst those who survived was Hurqus ibn Zuhair.
The intractable Hurqus confronted Sayyidna Ali and said, "O son of Abi Talib, I fight you not except for the sake of Allah, and for my reward in the afterlife."
Sayyidna Ali retorted, "Your kind, Hurqus, is the kind that Allahu Ta'ala refers to in the Quran where He states, '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 imagined that they were acquiring good by their works' (18: 103). Amongst these - and I swear by this in the name of the Lord of the Ka'ba - are you Hurqus!"
Hurqus met his end and was killed.
Perhaps Hurqus would see the worth of his "good" deeds in the afterlife. But the roots of internecine hatred they left behind were firmly sunk in the soil of this world. Nevertheless, the story, if it needs to be told, need not be for the sake of the legacy the Kharajites left behind. If there is ever a need for the story to be told, then it is for the lessons to be learnt from Sayyidna Ali's attitude and approach to them during his short reign as Khalifa. Not only is he a model of justice and integrity, but, like his three great predecessors, is a model of how Muslim leaders, governors and communities ought to behave and conduct themselves.
POINTS TO BE NOTED
Khawarij misinterpret Quran and Sunnah to justify their wrong action.
They think they know the most and go against the Muslims. They don’t accept any evidence which does not suit their desire. For them killing muslims is permissible.
HOW ALI (RD) WAS KILLED BY A KHAWARIJ
Muhammad ibn Sad (RH) in his Tabaqat, reported from his teachers that three Kharijites--Abdur-Rahman ibn Muljam, al-Burak ibn Abdilaah and and Amr ibn Bakr at-Tamīmī--gathered in Makkah and pledged to kill Sayyidina `Alī (r) on a Friday morning on the seventeenth day of Ramadhan, the three envious conspirators went to the main masjid of Kufa just before the break of dawn, there they took their position in the narrow passage leading to the prayer hall. A little later, Hadrat `Alī (r) the Beloved of Sayyiduna Muhammad (s) and the “Door of Knowledge” came to the masjid, when it was still dark and their was no one else in the masjid. Ibn Muljam struck Sayyidina `Alī (r) a vicious blow on the forehead which penetrated to his blessed brain. Sayyidina `Alī (r) cried out to the people not to let him escape and they caught him.
[NOTE: Abdurrahman Ibnu Muljam, the assassin of Imam `Alī, was the most important muhaddith (narrator of Hadith) in his generation of Tabi'een.]
When Umm Kulthūm screamed at him, “O enemy of Allah! [yā `aduwullh], you have killed the Amīril Mu'minīn wrongly,” the cursed one replied, “Then cry!” He then went on to say , “I poisoned the my sword, so if he survives me, I pray that Allah (swt) banishes him and destroys him.”
After Sayyidina `Alī (r) was martyred, Ibn Muljam was brought out to be executed. It was observed that the skin of his forehead was brown from the effects of constant prostration in prayer.
When Sayyidina Imam Hassan ibn `Alī (r) wanted to make a peace settlement with Mu`awiyah, a Kharijite by the name of al-Jarrah ibn Sinān revolted against him. Al-Jarrah said to him, “You have committed shirk as your father did,” then stabbed him in his upper thigh.
The Kharijites continued to raise confusion within and against the Muslim state, massacring innocent Muslim men, women and children during both the Ummayad and Abbassid dynasties. Later on they were all but eradicated by the Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama`ah.
MODERN DAY KHAWARIJ
Ibn `Abdul Wahhāb at-Tamīmī of Najd, a descendant of Dhul-Khuwaisarah, revived the Kharijite sect, some of whom call themselves Wahabis and others who call themselves Salafis.
Ibn Abd al-Wahhab belonged to the Bani Tamim tribe. He was born in Uyayna village near the town of Huraimila in the Najd Desert in 1111 A.H. (1699) and died in 1206 (1792).
(TO SEE THE HADITH OF NAJD, PLEASE READ PART 2 OF THIS ARTICLE)
He spread their evil thought amongst the Bedouins of Najd, encouraging them to revolt against the Ottoman caliphate, with the help of the British, just as their forebears had revolted against the early caliphs.
Ibn Abdul Wahab najdi made friendship with Ibn saud and they both ordered many innocent muslims to be killed in Mecca and Taif. Mulsims women were tortured and Muslim property was taken.
Ibn Abdul Wahab and Ibn Saud made new laws. They said that Muslims worship grave. [Recall how the first Khawarij called the companions as Kafir ]. The blessed graveyard in Medina ‘jannat ul baqi” was destroyed. The graves of pious companions of the prophet which was not destroyed from the time of first Caliph till 1120 AH ( 1708) was destroyed by these wahabis. The house in which prophet was born has been recently destroyed by these modern day khawarij to make business centers.
1) The foremost Hanafi scholar of his time, Imam Muhammad Amin ibn Abidin (d. 1252/1836 Rahimahullah) said in his celebrated work Hashiyya radd al-Mukhtar (vol. 3, pg. 309): "In our time Ibn Abdal Wahhab (Najdi) appeared, and attacked the two noble sanctuaries (Makkah and Madinah). He claimed to be a Hanbali, but his thinking was such that only he alone was a Muslim, and everyone else was a polytheist! Under this guise, he said that killing the Ahl as-Sunnah was permissible, until Allah destroyed them (Wahhabi's) in the year 1233 AH by way of the Muslim army."
(2) Shaykh Zayni Dahlan (Rahimahullah) said in his book Futuhat al-Islamiyya (vol. 2, pg. 268): "The sign of the Khawarij (the first deviant sect that appeared in the time of the Companions) concerning the shaving of the head, was not found in the Khawarij of the past, but only in the Najdi's of our time!"
(3) Shaykh al-Islam Hussain Ahmad al-Madani (Rahimahullah) said in his book ash-Shihab as-saqib (pg. 42): "Ibn Abdal Wahhab arose in the beginning of the thirteenth Islamic century in the Najd. His thinking was false, and his beliefs were corruptional; on these grounds he opened the way for killing the Ahl as-Sunnah."
(4) A more contemporary view on the Wahhabite sect has been expressed by Abdal-Hakim Murad in the journal Islamica (pg. 9): "Ibn Abdal Wahhab, however, went far beyond this (i.e; of Ibn Taymiyya). Raised in the wastelands of Najd in Central Arabia, he had little access to mainstream Muslim scholarship (I say: This may be disputed by his supporters). In fact, when his da'wah appeared and became notorious, the scholars and muftis of the day applied to it the famous hadith of Najd: Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him) reported the Prophet (Peace be upon him) as saying: "Oh God, bless us in our Syria; O God, bless us in our Yemen." Those present said: "And in our Najd, O Messenger of God!" But he said, "O God, bless us in our Syria; O God, bless us in our Yemen." Those present said, "And in our Najd, O Messenger of God!" Ibn Umar said that he thought that he said on the third occasion: "Earthquakes and dissensions (fitnah) are there, and there shall arise the horn of the devil." (Sahih al-Bukhari). And it is significant that almost uniquely among the lands of Islam, Najd has never produced scholars of any repute.
The Najd-based da'wah of the Wahhabi's, however, began to be heard more loudly following the explosion of Saudi oil wealth. Many, even most, Islamic publishing houses in Cairo and Beirut are now subsidised by Wahhabi organisations, which prevent them from publishing traditional works on Sufism, and remove passages in other works considered unnacceptable to Wahhabist doctrine.
Undoubtedly, one of the worst abominations perpetrated by the Wahhabis under the leadership of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was the massacre of the people of Taif. They killed everyone in sight, slaughtering child and adult, ruler and ruled, lowly and high-born. They began with a suckling child nursing at his mother’s breast and moved on to a group studying the Qur’an, slaying all of them, down to the last man. When they had wiped out the people in the houses, they went into the streets, the shops and the mosques, killing whoever happened to be there. They even killed people in prayer until they had annihilated every Muslim in Taif and until only some twenty or more people remained.
The Wahhabis cast books into the streets to be blown to and fro, including copies of the Qur’an, volumes of Bukhari, Muslim and other canonical collections of hadith, and books of fiqh, all amounting to thousands. Books remained in the streets for several days, trampled on by the Wahhabis. Not one among them made the slightest attempt to remove even one page of the Qur’an from under foot and preserve it from the ignominy and disrespect of this display. Then they destroyed the houses and made what was once a town into a barren wasteland. This happened in the Hijra Year, 1217 (Jamal Effendial-Sidqi al-Zahawi).
UNFORTUNATELY not many young Muslim read this recent history. All we have to do is just cross check and we will find that it is a Historical fact about attack on Mecca and taif. I request Muslims to plz do their own research about the history of Saudi Arabia for the year 1924.
Please find time to investigate the following:
The origins of the Wahhabi Movement in the eighteenth century
The conquest of Mecca and Medina, 1803-1806: the first Saudi state
The reigns of Faisal b. Turki Al Sa´ud, 1834-1838 and 1843-1865
Travellers and surveyors of the Arabian Peninsula, 1831-1841
The capture of Riyadh, 1902
Relations with Ibn Rashid and with the Shaiks of Kuwait and Muhammerah, 1902-1918
Captain W.H.I. Shakespear´s meeting with Ibn Saud, 1911
The conquest of the Hijaz: the attack on Taif, September 1924, the siege of Jedda and the occupation of Mecca and Medina, 1924-1926
The Anglo-Saudi treaty, 1927
The Ikhwan rebellion, 1928
The proclamation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1932
The border dispute with Yemen, 1934
The oil concession with Standard Oil of California, 1933
The first oil exports, 1939, and the development of the oil economy
US/Saudi relations and ARAMCO.
Destruction of the graves of the companions of the prophet
Destruction of the house in which prophet was born.
For those who have academic interest can find, how Wahabis have deviated from the basic Aqidah( belief) of Islam.
The modern day Khawarij call themselves as SALAFI and they follow scholars like Ibn Tyamiah , ibn abdul wahab najadee, albani , ibn baaz, . The scholars from the Khawarij sect try to show disrespect to prophet , try to find faults in individual companions of the prophet and also in their collective decision.
Next time if you meet a wahabi calling you as a mushrik ,kafir or a deviant don’t be surprised! Recall how Hurqus ibn Zuhair and his friends called the companions of prophet as Kafir! Recall how wahabis killed muslims just 105 years back when their modern form developed. Recall how the original Khawarij used Quran to prove their wrong action and how they used quranic verse revaled for non muslims on muslims and you will find ALL OF THIS in WAHABIS.
List of modern day khawarij
1. Muhammad Abduh Jamal al Afghani Salafiyah - common with many modernists.
2. Madhkhalis further subdivided into-Faleh al Harbi group-Haddad group-Maribi group-Maghrawi group-Abdul Muhsin Abbad group-Ahya types who call against the others and claim to be on the middle ground.
3. The Sahwis ( these are the ones that call themselves Hanbali), further subdivided into:-Turathi group in Kuwait-Qutubi group-Sururi group who are realy just a salafi ikhwani group-Hawali conspiratorial group-Ittihad Somali group-Sad al Faqihs anti Saudi group-Markaz ad Dawah wal Irshad Pakistan-Ahlul Hadith -although some sub groups of them are with the Madkhalis-Ansar as Sunnah in Egypt and Sudan.
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AND NOT TO TALK OF THOSE WHO COME ON INTERNET, NEVER READ TAFSIR , SHARAH but will be First To call the great scholars as “deviant”’!
