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The History and Ideology of The Khawarij

The Khawarij is one of the firqah (sects) that has had a lot of influence on extremism and radicalism movements within the body of Islam. Their presence has changed the portrait of Islamic teachings that are rahmatan lil alamin into faces that are intolerant and full of hatred towards fellow Muslims.

The word khawarij is etymologically derived from the Arabic word "kharaja" which means to come out, appear, arise, or rebel.

Some argue that the name khawarij was given to the letter an-Nisa verse 100 in which it is stated: "Get out of the house and run to Allah and His Messenger".

Thus the khawarij saw themselves as people who left their homes from their hometowns to devote themselves to Allah and His Messenger.

Historians differ on who exactly is called the khawarij firqah. There was a split within the Muslims after the assassination of Caliph Usman bin Affan.

At that time, in general, the people were divided into two, namely Ali bin Abi Thalib's camp as the caliph who replaced Usman and the opposition camp consisting of the Ummul believers Aisyah group and Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan's group.

Aisyah's group had fought with the government of the caliph Ali bin Abi Talib in the Jamal war which ended in Ali's victory. Then from the Muawiyah camp, they became the next challenger in the civil war between the Muslims known as the Shiffin war.

At the end of this war, arbitration took place between the two warring factions. The end result of this arbitration won Muawiyah's side so Muawiyah was appointed as the next caliph. 

Sayyidina Ali himself seemed reluctant to maintain his status as caliph after this arbitration. This later disappointed some of his followers, so they broke away from Ali's group and began to fight against him. 

From this, some historians define the khawarij as a group that left the ranks of supporters of the caliph Ali bin Abi Thalib after the arbitration took place.

This khawarij group did not hesitate to regard Muawiyah as an infidel because he had opposed the legitimate caliph. However, they also considered Ali Bin Abi Talib to be an infidel because they wanted to accept the arbitration results. So that all groups that are not in line with their thoughts will be considered infidels. 

With the narrow definition above, you could say that the khawarij were destroyed and no longer existed in the following period after the death of all those who opposed Ali.

However, some other experts define the khawarij firqah more broadly to include anyone who leaves the legitimate ruling camp. 

For example, As-Syahrastani who defines the khawarij as follows:

“Anyone who comes out against the legitimate leader that has been decided by society is called Khawarij. Whether the opposition occurred in the time of the Companions against the Rashidun Khulafaur or occurred after them against the good tabi'in and leaders of every era. (As Syahrastani, Al Milal Wan Nihal, Juz 1 page 114).

From this definition, the khawarij can be said to still exist today. So that all rebel and separatist groups in a country can be categorized as khawarij. Because they are against the legitimate leader. 

Then it became increasingly apparent that they were a political movement, not a religious movement. Because the main focus is on the issue of political leadership, but then this movement uses religious issues as propaganda against the legitimate government. 

In its development, they also called themselves Surah which means to sell. As stated in the letter Al Baqarah verse 207: "There are people who sell themselves for the pleasure of Allah".

There is also another name given to them, namely Hurairah, from the word Harura, which is a village near the Kufa of Iraq. It was in Harura that the first generation of khawarij lived and built up their strength.

They, who at that time numbered around 12,000 people, gathered after separating from Ali bin Abi Talib. Here they chose Abdullah bin Abdul Wahab Al Rasyidi to be the imam instead of caliph Ali.

In the battle against Ali, they suffered a major defeat but because of their ambition, a khawarij named Ibn Muljam killed the Caliph Ali bin Abi Talib.

The khawarij movement was centered in two places, namely in Bathaih which ruled and controlled the khawarij in Persia and around Iraq. There the figures include Nafi bin Azraq and Qathar bin Faja'ah.

While the others were based in mainland Arabia which controlled the khawarij in the areas of Yemen, Hadramaut, and Thaif. Its figures include Abu Thaluf bin Amri and Abu Fudaika.

Main Doctrines of Firqah Khawarij 

The main doctrines of the khawarij are as follows:

1. The Caliphate or the Imam must be freely chosen by the Muslims.
2. The caliph does not have to be of Arab descent, anyone has the right to become caliph if he meets the conditions.
3. The caliph is permanently elected as long as he is fair and implements Islamic law. He must be brought down and even killed if he commits an injustice.
4. The caliphs before Ali, namely Abu Bakr Umar, and Uthman, were legitimate. However, after the 7th year of his caliphate, Uthman was considered to have deviated.
5. Caliph Ali was legitimate, but after arbitration, he was deemed to have deviated.
6. Muawiyah and Amr Bin 'ash and Abu Musa al-Asy'ari have also been considered deviant and have become infidels.
7. Jamal's army from Ummul Mukminin Aisyah who fought against Ali was also an infidel.
8. A person who has committed a major sin is no longer called a Muslim, so he must be killed. What's worse, they think that a Muslim can become an infidel if he does not want to kill other Muslims who have been considered infidels at the risk that he bears the burden of having to be eliminated too.
9. Every Muslim must migrate and join their group. If they don't want to join then they must be fought because they live in an enemy country. Meanwhile, their group considers themselves to be in an Islamic state
10. One must avoid misguided leadership.
11. There are wa'ad and wa'id (good people must go to heaven while bad people must go to hell).
12. Amar ma'ruf nahi mungkar.
13. Turning away the verses of the Koran that look mutasyabihat (vague).
14. The Quran is a creature.
15. Man is free to decide what he does not come from God.

Then according to Syahrastani, this khawarij group split again into 18 subsects. But the most important are al-Muhakkimah, Al Azariqah, An Najdiyah, al Baihasiyah, Al A'jaridah, Ats Ts'alibah, and al-Shufriyah. Meanwhile, according to Al Baghdadi, there are 20 subsects of the Khawarij.

The khawarij sects discussed legal issues for people who committed major sins. Is he still considered a believer or has been considered a disbeliever? 

This is what seems to dominate them while the other doctrines only serve as support. The thinking of this subsect is practical rather than theoretical so the criteria for believers and unbelievers are unclear. This creates certain conditions for someone who can be a disbeliever and at the same time a believer.

The Khawarij group is also known by the nickname al-Mariqah which means a group that stays away from religion. Because their existence is always identified with those whom the Prophet Muhammad called away from religion like an arrow shooting from a bow (Abul Hasan al-Asy'ari, Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, pages 127-128).

They do not accept this nickname, because even though all other Muslims consider them to have deviated from religion, according to themselves, it is the other way around that it is other people who have deviated and left religion.

 

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