الخَوارج
THE KHARIJITES
المارِقونَ / The Apostates
1- كنزالعمّال: إنّ رجُلاً أتى النَّبيَّ صلى الله عليه و آله يَومَ حُنينٍ وهُو يَقْسِمُ تِبْرا فقالَ: يا محمّدُ، اعْدِلْ ! فقالَ: وَيْحَكَ ! مَن يَعْدِلُ إذا لَم أعْدِلْ ؟! أو عِندَ مَن يُلْتَمَسُ العَدلُ بَعدي ؟! ثُمّ قالَ: يُوشِكُ أنْ يأتيَ قَومٌ مِثلُ هذا يَسألونَ كِتابَ اللّه وهُم أعْداؤهُ، يَقْرَؤونَ كِتابَ اللّه ولا يَحُلُّ حَناجِرَهُم، مُحَلَّقَةً رؤوسُهُم، فإذا خَرَجوا فاضْرِبوا رِقابَهُم.
1. It is narrated in Kanz al-`Ummal that while the Prophet (SAWA) was handing out gold bullion on the day of
[the battle of] Hunayn, a man came to him and said, ‘O Muhammad, act fairly!’, The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘Woe to you, if I am not fair then who is fair?’ or he said, ‘With whom will you find fairness besides me?’ after which he said, ‘Soon there will come a people like this who will seek the Book of Allah while being its enemy, they will read the Book of Allah but the words will not go higher than their throat. They will have shaved heads, so when they arise
[to revolt] slay their necks.’
[Kanz al-`UmmAl, no. 31610]
2- الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام وقد تَلا رجُلٌ هذهِ الآيةَ بحَضْرَتِهِ : أهلُ حَرُوراءَ مِنهُم.
2. Once a man, in the presence of Imam Ali (AS), recited the above-mentioned Qur’anic verse after which the Imam said, ‘The Harura` – people of the hot wind –
[i.e. the Kharijites] are from them.’
[Sharh Nahj al-Balagha li ibn Abial-Hadid, v. 2, p. 278]
الخَوارج
THE KHARIJITES
3- الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام: سَمِعْتُ رسولَ اللّه صلى الله عليه و آله يقولُ: يَخْرُجُ في آخرِ الزّمانِ قَومٌ أحْداثُ الأسْنانِ، سُفَهاءُ الأحْلامِ، قَوْلُهُم مِن خَيرِ أقْوالِ أهْلِ البَرِيَّةِ، صَلاتُهُم أكْثَرُ مِن صَلاتِكُم، وقِراءتُهُم أكْثَرُ مِن قِراءتِكُم، لا يُجاوِزُ إيمانُهُم تَراقِيَهُم أو قالَ حَناجِرَهُم يَمْرُقونَ مِن الدِّينِ كمايَمْرُقُ السَّهمُ مِن الرَّمِيَّةِ، فاقْتُلوهُم.
3. Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘I heard the Prophet (SAWA) saying, ‘There will come a people during the last days who will be young and rash-minded, their words will be the best words of the righteous, their prayers will be more than your prayers, their recitation
[of the Qur’an] will be more than your recitation, however their faith will not transcend their collarbones - or he said ‘throats’ -, they will leave the true faith as swiftly as an arrow flies from the bow; therefore kill them.’
[Sharh Nahj al-Balagha li ibn Abial-Hadid, v. 2, p. 267]
بعدَ مقتلِ الخَوارجِ / After the Killing of the Kharijites
4- الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام فيما مَرَّ بقَتْلى الخَوارجِ : بُؤْسا لَكُم ! لَقد ضَرَّكُم مَن غَرَّكُم . فقيلَ لَهُ: مَن غَرَّهُم يا أميرَ المؤمنينَ ؟ فقالَ: الشَّيطانُ المُضِلُّ، والنَّفْسُ الأمّارَةُ بالسُّوءِ، غَرَّتْهُم بالأمانيِّ، وفَسَحَتْ لَهُم بِالمَعاصي، ووَعَدَتْهُم الإظْهارَ، فاقْتَحَمَتْ بهِم النّارَ.
4. When walking past the slayed bodies of the Kharijites, Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘How wretched you are! The one who misled you has brought harm to you’, someone then asked, ‘Who has misled them O Commander of the Faithful?’ he said, ‘The deceptive Satan and the carnal soul which commands towards evil have misled them by giving them a false sense of security, giving them a wide opening for disobedience and promising them victory, but through them they have plunged into the Fire.’
[Sharh Nahj al-Balagha li ibn Abial-Hadid, v. 19, p. 235]
5- الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام لَمّا قُتلَ الخوارِجُ فقيلَ لَهُ: يا أميرَ المؤمنينَ، هَلكَ القَومُ بأجْمَعِهِم : كَلاّ واللّه، إنَّهُم نُطَفٌ في أصْلابِ الرِّجالِ وقَراراتِ النّساءِ، كُلَّما نَجَمَ مِنهُم قَرْنٌ قُطِعَ، حتّى يكونَ آخِرُهُم لُصوصا سَلاّبِينَ.
5. When the Kharijites had been killed it was said to Imam Ali (AS), ‘O Commander of the Faithful, these people have been destroyed in their entirety’, to which the Imam (AS) responded, ‘Not at all! By Allah they still exist in the loins of men and the wombs of women. Whenever a chief appears from among them he will be cut down till the last of them will be thieves and robbers.’
[Nahj al-Balagha , Sermon 60]
6- الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام: أيُّها النّاسُ، فإنّي فَقَأْتُ عَينَ الفِتنَةِ، ولَم يَكُن لِيَجْتَرِئَ علَيها أحَدٌ غَيري بَعدَ أنْ ماجَ غَيْهَبُها (ظُلْمَتُها)، واشْتَدَّ كَلَبُها.
6. Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘O people, I have gouged out the eye of revolt. There was no one except me that advanced towards it when its gloom was swelling and its madness was intense.’
[Nahj al-Balagha , Sermon 93]
نهيُ الإمامِ عن قتلِ الخوارجِ بعدَهُ / The Imam’s Prohibition of Killing the Kharijites after Him
7- الإمامُ عليٌّ عليه السلام: لا تُقاتِلوا (تَقْتُلوا). الخَوارِجَ بَعدي ؛ فلَيس مَن طَلبَ الحقَّ فأخْطَأهُ (فاُعْطِيَ)، كَمَن طَلبَ الباطِلَ فأدْرَكَهُ.
7. Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Do not fight (or kill) the Kharijites after me, because the one who seeks the truth and mistakes it for something else is not like the one who seeks falsehood and finds it.’
[Nahj al-Balagha , Sermon 61]