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This article forms part of the series</br>'''Islam'''
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Vocabulary of Islam
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Five Pillars''
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Profession of faith
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Prayer ·
Alms ·
Fasting
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Pilgrimage to Mecca
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''People''
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Muhammad
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Prophets of Islam
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Caliphs ·
Shia Imams
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Companions of Muhammad
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Holy Cities''
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Mecca ·
Medina ·
Jerusalem
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Najaf ·
Karbala ·
Kufa
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Kazimain ·
Mashhad ·
Samarra
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Events''
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Hijra ·
Islamic calendar ·
Eid ul-Fitr
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Eid ul-Adha ·
Aashura ·
Arba'in
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Buildings''
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Mosque ·
Minaret ·
Mihrab ·
Kaaba
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Islamic architecture
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Functional Religious Roles''
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Muezzin ·
Imam ·
Mullah
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Ayatollah ·
Mufti
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Interpretive Texts & Practices''
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Qur'an ·
Hadith ·
Sunnah
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Fiqh ·
Fatwa ·
Sharia
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Sects''
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Sunni:
Hanafi ·
Hanbali ·
Maliki ·
Shafi'i
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Shi'a:
Ithna Asharia ·
Ismailiyah ·
Zaiddiyah
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|style="font-size: 90%;"|Others:
Ibadi ·
Kharijite ·
Murjite ·
Mu'tazili
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Movements''
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Sufism ·
Wahhabism ·
Salafism
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Non-Mainstream Sects / Movements''
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Ahmadiyyah ·
Nation of Islam
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Zikri ·
Druze
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|style="font-size: 95%; background:#F6E6AE"|''Related Faiths''
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Babism ·
Bah' Faith ·
Yazidi
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'''Kharijites''' were members of an Islamic sect in late 7th
and early 8th century AD, concentrated in today's southern Iraq.
They were distinct from mainstream Islam and from the
Shiites.
The origins of Kharijites lie in the strife over political supremacy
over the Muslim community in the years following the death of
Muhammad.
The third Caliph,
Uthman ibn Affan, was killed by mutineers in 656 AD, and a struggle for succession ensued between
Ali, cousin and son-in-law of
Muhammad, and
Mu'awiya, governor of Damascus. (The core of Ali's followers later became
Shiites.) In
658, Ali's forces met Muawiya's at the
Battle of Siffin; at first, the battle went against Muawiya, but then he hit upon the idea of having his army hoist Qurans on their lances, proclaiming that he wanted to have the decision of who should be caliph arbitrated using it. Most of Ali's army was favorable to the idea, and he agreed to have the question decided by two arbiters. Some in his army, however, regarded this as a betrayal; a large group of them (traditionally 12,000, mainly from the
Tamim tribe) repudiated his cause, leaving to fight both sides; they became known as Kharijites (in Arabic Khawārij, singular Khārijī, meaning 'those that seceded'). Ali defeated the military rebellion, but the Kharijites survived and an adherent of the movement murdered Ali in 661.
Kharijite theology was a form of radical fundamentalism,
preaching uncompromising observance of the teachings of
Quran
in defiance of corrupt authorities.
Extreme Kharijites considered moderate Muslims to be 'hypocrites' or
'unbelievers', who could be killed with impunity; this practice is called
takfir.
Their communities expelled from their midst those who committed
'grave sins', defined as any action contrary to the
Quran.
Kharijites insisted that only the most pious members of the community
should be entrusted with political power.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the various Kharijite communities never
agreed on who the most pious person was, and the movement remained
politically fragmented throughout its existence.
With time the movement became more moderate and less antagonistic
to mainstream Islam.
The high point of the Kharijites' influence was in the years 690 to 730,
when their main city,
Basra, became a center of Islamic theology. Kharijite ideology (like
Shiism) became a popular creed for rebels against the officially
Sunni Caliphate, inspiring breakaway states (like the
Rustamids and the
Midrarids) and rebellions (like Maysara's) throughout the
Maghreb and sometimes elsewhere.
Two of the main Kharijite sects were named by color: the "white"
Ibadis (still extant), and the "yellow"
Sufris (who established the
Midrarid state at
Sijilmassa.)
One "Kharijite" sect, the
Ibadis, have survived into the present day (though they reject the designation "Kharijite".) They form a significant part of the population of
Oman, and there are smaller concentrations of them in the
Mzab of
Algeria,
Jerba in
Tunisia, and Djebel
Nafusa in
Libya.
In modern times,
Islamist writers have sometimes branded terrorist groups which emphasize the practice of ''
takfir'' as neo-Kharijites; notable examples of groups described as such include the
Groupe Islamique Arme of
Algeria and the
Takfir wal Hijra group of
Egypt.
==External link==
*
Ibadhi Islam site
*
The Kharijites and their impact on contemporary Islam
de:Charidschiten
fr:Kharidjisme
