Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad

 
 
The Kharijites were the most active of the Islamic sects in defending their doctrine. They showed immense 
zeal for their ideas, intense religiousness in general, and extreme recklessness in defence of their claims and 
ideas. In their position, they clung to expressions which they took literally, believing that theirs was the pure 
Deen
from which no believer could be permitted to deviate. Anyone who followed a different path was 
someone whose soul made him incline to lies and moved him to disobedience. Their attention focused on the 
Qur’anic phrase, 
“Judgement belongs to Allah alone”, 
and they took this as their motto. They shouted it in the 
faces of their opponents and ended every conversation with it.
Whenever they saw ‘Ali speak, they shouted these words at him and it is related that ‘Ali said about them 
when they kept repeating it, “A true word by which something false is meant. Yes, judgement belongs to 
Allah alone but those people are saying, ‘Amirate belongs to Allah alone.’ There must be a leader for people 
whether pious or corruptÉ Through him, booty is collected, the enemy is fought, the roads are made safe and 
the strong are made to provide for the weak – until the pious leader finds rest or the people find rest from the 
corrupt leader.” 
The Kharijites were carried away by the idea of being free of ‘Uthman, ‘Ali and unjust rulers until that 
notion overpowered their minds and perceptions and completely prevented them from ascertaining the truth. 
They sometimes acted with those who declared themselves quit of ‘Uthman. Sometimes, the disagreement 
was so intense that it led to a split with them. Ibn az-Zubayr rebelled against the Umayyads and the Kharijites 
helped him and promised to fight on his side. When they learned that he had not declared himself free of his 
father, Talha, and of ‘Ali and ‘Uthman, they left him. 
Although the Kharijites were sincere in their attack on ‘Ali and the Umayyads after him, there were other 
factors which led them to rebel one of the most significant of which was their intense resentment towards 
Quraysh for appropriating the khalifate. Most of them were from the tribes of Rabi‘a who had a long-standing 
enmity towards the tribes of Mudar, of which Quraysh was one. This enmity preceded Islam. Most of the 
Kharijites were Arabs, and very few clients were to be found among them, even though their tenets should 
have made the clients eligible for the khalifate. The views of the Kharijites clearly show their thinking, 
revealing their simplistic minds, superficial views and rancour towards Quraysh and all the tribes of Mudar. 
• The first and strongest of their views was that the post of 
khalifa
is to be filled by choosing any free, 
sane, healthy Muslim man who attends to the welfare of the Muslims. It is not for one group rather than 
another and someone can only remain as khalif so long as he establishes justice, supports the 
Shari‘a
and 
is far from error and deviation. If he transgresses, he should be deposed or killed. 
• They did not think that any of the families or tribes of the Arabs should be singled out for the khalifate or 
that the khalifate should be restricted to Quraysh as others stated, or even that it should be for an Arab 

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rather than an non-Arab. In their view all were the same. Indeed, they preferred that the khalif should not 
be from Quraysh so that it would be easier to depose or kill him if he opposed the 
Shari‘a
or deviated 
from truth, since then there would be no partisanship to protect him, tribe to defend him, or shelter but the 
shelter of Allah.
• Najdite Kharijites thought that people did not need a khalif at all. Muslims should be equitable in their 
mutual dealings. They thought that if that could only be achieved by means of having a khalif to 
encourage them to uphold the truth and establish it, then it was permitted. But in their view the existence 
of a khalif was not a necessary obligation but was merely permitted when needed for public welfare. 
• The Kharijites thought that people who committed wrong actions were unbelievers. They did not 
differentiate between a sin which was done with an evil intention and an error of opinion or 
ijtihad
which 
led to something incorrect. That is why they said that ‘Ali was an unbeliever when he agreed to arbitration 
although it was not his choice. If, in their opinion, arbitration was not correct, then the fact that they said 
‘Ali was an unbeliever indicates that they considered that an error in 
ijtihad
takes a person out of the deen. 
That was also their view of Talha, az-Zubayr, ‘Uthman and other great Companions who differed from 
them in minor matters – they held that they were unbelievers. They had various justifications for this 
which were based on false interpretation of 
ayats
of the Qur’an. 
This is the sum of the opinions which most of the Kharijites embraced while they did not agree on other 
positions, opinions or views. They frequently disagreed on even the smallest of matters. Perhaps this is the 
secret of the great number of their defeats. They were divided into many groups.