Shaykh Sulaymān bin Saḥmān (1349H) wrote, after mentioning the story of the emergence of the Khārijites, citing from Shaykh ʿAbd al-Laṭīf bin ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bin Ḥasan (1293H), the great grandson of Shaykh Muḥammad bin ʿAbd al-Wahhāb:
This is a summary of their affair and you have come to know their misconception on account of which they firmly held the disbelief of ʿAlī and his party and Muʿāwiyah and his party. This belief remained present amongst those who had dispersed after this event. The extremists amongst them then began to make takfīr by way of major sins. Then they gained strength and [acquired a] state after which they were fought by al-Muhallab bin Abī Ṣufrah, al-Ḥajjāj bin Yūsuf. And before that, they were fought by Ibn al-Zubayr during the era of his brother, ʿAbdullāh. It was then spread about them, that they make takfīr by way of sins, meaning those which are less than shirk. End what was mentioned by our Shaykh [ʿAbd al-Laṭīf].
[Shaykh Sulaymān bin Saḥmān]: When they had such exaggeration in religion and exceeding the limit which they had been commanded (to remain within), they declared Muʿāwiyah (may Allāh be pleased with him) and whoever was with him from the Companions to be disbelievers and they declared ʿAlī bin Abī Ṭālib, the chief of the believers, (may Allāh be pleased with him) and whoever was with him from the most superior among the Companions and Successors to be disbelievers when they agreed with them [the party of Muʿāwiyah] to set up an arbitration. They claimed that allowing men to judge in Allāh’s religion is disbelief that expels from the religion. They said that they had sinned on account of this [by agreeing to it at the beginning] and had disbelieved. So they [said they had] repented from this affair and said to ʿAlī, ‘If you [also] repent, we are with you and from you, and if you refuse, then we will contend against you all the same’...
For this reason, ʿAlī (may Allāh be pleased with him) took this path with them, he advised them for the sake of Allāh and in the path of Allāh. He was gentle to them in his speech, perhaps that Allāh might turn their hearts, that they may return to what they used to be upon first. He would remind them again and again, as he would say to them when addressing them in his sermons. So they said, ‘Judgement belongs to none but Allāh’ (لا حكم إلا لله), they intended to ‘reject the evil’ by this, as they claimed. So ʿAlī said, ‘Allāh is greatest! A word of truth by which falsehood is intended’.
Refer to: Al-Durar al-Saniyyah (9/229-231).
Notes:
- It should be clear that making takfīr of Muslims on account of major sins is not the unique, identifying factor of all Khārijites. Rather, the unique identifying factor of all Khārijite groups, sects and movements is the issue of ḥākimiyyah, the issue of ruling by other than Allāh’s law. Their religion is founded upon this issue. Thus, many Khārijites may remonstrate – and amongst them Abū Qatādah and Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī – that they do not make takfīr by way of sin. But not all the Khārijites made takfīr by way of sin either, as is established in the well-known classical books of heresiography.
- The first Khārijites said that allowing men to judge in Allāh’s religion is disbelief that expels from the religion. The Khārijites of today such as Abū Qatādah, Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī and others are upon the same doctrine because they make takfīr of the rulers on account of matters that the Islāmic legislation has permitted them to engage in. This includes making treaties, discussing truces, trade and diplomatic relations, giving gifts and donations to non-Muslims and so on. So just like allowing men to arbitrate was permitted in the Sharīʿah and the Khārijites considered this disbelief and associationism on account of their gross ignorance, then likewise, the Khārijites of today do the same. They present those issues which are permitted as violating the principles of ‘loyalty and disloyalty’ and invalidating ḥākimiyyah and absence of ‘rejecting the ṭāghūt’. All of this is from their pseudo-scholarship, gross ignorance and not understanding the religion from its proper authorities, but relying on one’s own opinions. They are identical to the first Khārijites.
Abu Iyāḍ
12 Muḥarram 1438 / 13 October 2016