Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of charts
- Preface
- Addenda and corrigenda
- I THE BEGINNINGS
- II THE WANING OF THE TRIBAL TRADITION, c. 700–900
- 4 INTRODUCTION
- 5 THE KHĀRIJITES
- 6 THE MUTAZILITES
- 7 THE SHĪITES OF THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
- 8 THE ABBĀSIDS AND SHĪISM
- 9 THE ZAYDĪS
- 10 THE IMAMIS
- 11 THE ḤADĪTH PARTY
- III COPING WITH A FRAGMENTED WORLD
- IV GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
- Charts
- Bibliography, abbreviations, and conventions
- Index and glossary
5 - THE KHĀRIJITES
from II - THE WANING OF THE TRIBAL TRADITION, c. 700–900
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of charts
- Preface
- Addenda and corrigenda
- I THE BEGINNINGS
- II THE WANING OF THE TRIBAL TRADITION, c. 700–900
- 4 INTRODUCTION
- 5 THE KHĀRIJITES
- 6 THE MUTAZILITES
- 7 THE SHĪITES OF THE UMAYYAD PERIOD
- 8 THE ABBĀSIDS AND SHĪISM
- 9 THE ZAYDĪS
- 10 THE IMAMIS
- 11 THE ḤADĪTH PARTY
- III COPING WITH A FRAGMENTED WORLD
- IV GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY
- Charts
- Bibliography, abbreviations, and conventions
- Index and glossary
Summary
The most prominent enemies of the Umayyads were the Khārijites, also known as Ḥarūrīs and Muḥakkima. Their origins are quite obscure. They are identified as those who seceded from Alī at Ṣiffīn in protest against his acceptance of the Syrian call for arbitration, but the story does not offer a satisfactory explanation of the issues between them and Alī, and contrary to what is often said, it was not with reference to their departure from Alī's camp that they were known as Khārijites (‘those who go out’). It may have been because they assembled at Ḥarūrā˒that they came to be known as Ḥarūrīs, but this does not tell us much, and though they were indeed known as Muḥakkima because they were given to shouting ‘judgement belongs to God alone’ (lā ḥukma illā li'llāh), nobody knows what they meant by it. To the Ibāḍīs, who are the only Khārijite sect to survive to this day, they merely meant that any rule laid down in the Qur˒ān must be applied: humans cannot make their own decisions on questions settled by God. But this is too banal to explain the programmatic nature of the slogan. It was so obviously right that the Khārijites must have meant something special by it, as Alīis said to have observed; in his view they meant that they did not want any government. But this does not appear to be correct either, except later in the case of the Najdiyya.
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- Medieval Islamic Political Thought , pp. 54 - 64Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2004