بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Ibn Qudāmah al-Maqdisī said in al-Mughnī 8/208-210:
“A group among the people of hadīth held that they are disbelievers, apostates, their ruling being the ruling of apostates: their blood and their wealth become lawful [to take]…
…on account of what Abū Saʿīd related, [who] said:
سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللهِ ﷺ يَقُولُ: يَخْرُجُ قَوْمٌ تَحْقِرُونَ صَلَاتَكُمْ مَعَ صَلَاتِهِمْ، وَصِيَامَكُمْ مَعَ صِيَامِهِمْ، وَأَعْمَالَكُمْ مَعَ أَعْمَالِهِمْ، يَقْرَءُونَ القُرْآنَ لَا يُجَاوِزُ حَنَاجِرَهُمْ، يَمْرُقُونَ مِنَ الدِّينِ كَمَا يَمْرُقُ السَّهُمُ مِنَ الرَّمِيَّةِ، يَنْظُرُ فِي النَّصْلِ فَلَا يَرَى شَيْئًا، وَيَنْظُرُ فِي القِدْحِ فَلَا يَرَى شَيْئًا، وَيَنْظُرُ فِي الرِّيشِ فَلَا يَرَى شَيْئًا، وَيَتَمَارَى فِي الفُوقِ
I heard the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) say: “There will emerge a people beside whose prayer you will regard your own prayer as insignificant, and your own fasting [as insignificant] beside their fasting, and your own deeds [as insignificant] beside their deeds; they will recite the Qurʾān, [yet] it will not pass beyond their throats; they will exit the religion just as the arrow exits from the game — [the archer] looks at his arrow, at the arrowhead, and sees nothing; at the shaft, and sees nothing; at the feathers, and sees nothing; and remains in doubt over the nock.” Related by Mālik [1/204] and al-Bukhārī in his Sahīh [#5058] – it is a Sahīh hadīth, of an established isnād…
And in [another] wording he (ﷺ) said:
يَخْرُجُ قَوْمٌ فِي آخِرِ الزَّمَانِ، أَحْدَاتُ الْأَسْنَانِ، سُفَهَاءُ الأَحْلَامِ، يَقُولُونَ مِنْ خَيْرِ قَوْلِ البَرِيَّةِ، يَقْرَءُونَ القُرْآنَ لَا يُجَاوِزُ تَرَاقِيَهُمْ، يَمْرُقُونَ مِنَ الدِّينِ كَمَا يَمْرُقُ السَّهْمُ مِنَ الرَّمِيَّةِ، فَأَيْنَمَا لَقِيتَهُمْ فَاقْتُلْهُمْ؛ فَإِنَّ فِي قَتْلِهِمْ أَجْرًا لِمَنْ قَتَلَهُمْ يَوْمَ القِيَامَةِ
“A people will emerge at the end of time, young in age, foolish in mind; they utter some of the best speech of [any] created being; they recite the Qurʾān [but] it does not pass beyond their collarbones, they exit the religion just as the arrow exits from the game — so wherever you meet them, kill them, for in killing them there is reward for the one who kills them on the Day of Resurrection.” Related by al-Bukhārī [#6930], from the hadīth of ʿAlī — Allāh be pleased with him]. And its meaning has been related through [other] routes.
He [i.e. the Prophet (ﷺ)] means: just as this arrow emerged clean, free of blood and dung, nothing of either clinging to it, so too is the exit of these [people] from the religion — meaning the Khawārij.
And from Abū Umāmah:
أَنَّهُ رَأَى رُءُوسًا مَنْصُوبَةٌ عَلَى دَرَجٍ مَسْجِدِ دِمَشْقَ فَقَالَ: كِلَابُ النَّارِ، شَرُّ قَتْلَى تَحْتَ أَدِيمِ السَّمَاءِ، خَيْرُ قَتْلَى مَنْ قَتَلُوهُ. ثُمَّ قَرَأَ: يَوْمَ تَبْيَضُ وُجُوهٌ وَتَسْوَدُّ وُجُوهُ ﴾ إِلَى آخِرِ الآيَةِ. فَقِيلَ لَهُ: أَنْتَ سَمِعْتَهُ مِنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ؟ قَالَ : لَوْ لَمْ أَسْمَعْهُ إِلَّا مَرَّةً، أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ، أَوْ ثَلَاثًا ، أَوْ أَرْبَعًا حَتَّىٰ عَدَّ سَبْعًا مَا حَدَّثْتُكُمُوهُ
that he saw heads mounted on the steps of the mosque of Damascus, and said: “Dogs of the Fire — the worst of the slain beneath the canopy of heaven, the best of the slain are those whom they [the Muslims] slew.” Then he recited: “On the Day when [some] faces will be whitened and [some] faces will be blackened” [3:106] — to the end of the verse.
So it was said to him: “Did you hear this from the Messenger of Allāh?” He said: “If I had not heard it except once, or twice, or three, or four times” — until he counted seven — “I would not have related it to you.” Al-Tirmidhī said: “This is a hasan hadīth” [Related by al-Tirmidhī #3000, and al-Albānī graded it hasan in al-Mishkāt #3554]
And Ibn Mājah related it, from Sahl, from Ibn ʿUyaynah, from Abū Ghālib: that he heard Abū Umāmah say:
شَرُّ قَتْلَى قُتِلُوا تَحْتَ أَدِيمِ السَّمَاءِ، وَخَيْرُ قَتْلَى مَنْ قَتَلُوا، كِلَابُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ، كِلَابُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ، كِلَابُ أَهْلِ النَّارِ، قَدْ كَانَ هَؤُلَاءِ مُسْلِمِينَ فَصَارُوا كُفَّارًا. قُلْتُ: يَا أَبَا أُمَامَةَ، هَذَا شَيْءٌ تَقُولُهُ؟ قَالَ: بَلْ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللهِ
“The worst of the slain are those slain beneath the canopy of heaven, and the best of the slain are those they [the Muslims] slew — dogs of the people of the Fire, dogs of the people of the Fire, dogs of the people of the Fire; these were once Muslims, then they became disbelievers.”
I said: “O Abū Umāmah, is this something you say [of your own opinion]?” He said: “Rather, I heard [it from] the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ)” [Related by Ibn Mājah #176), and al-Albānī graded it hasan in Sahīh Ibn Mājah #146].
قُلْ هَلْ تُنَبِّئُكُم بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَلًا ﴾ [الكهف: ٣٣] . قَالَ : هُمْ أَهْلُ النَّهْرَوَانِ
And from ʿAlī — May Allāh be pleased with him — regarding His, The Most-High saying: “Say: Shall We inform you of the greatest losers in respect of their deeds?” [18:73] — he said: “They are the people of al-Nahrawān” [Related by al-Bukhārī #1728]
And from Abū Saʿīd, in another hadīth, from the Prophet (ﷺ), who said:
هُمْ شَرُّ الخَلْقِ وَالخَلِيقَةِ، لَئِنْ أَدْرَكْتُهُمْ لَأَقْتُلَنَّهُمْ قَتْلَ عَادٍ. وَقَالَ: لَا يُجَاوِزُ إِيمَانُهُمْ حَنَاجِرَهُمْ
“They are the worst of creation and created beings; if I should live to reach them, I shall surely kill them with the killing of ʿĀd.” And he said: “Their faith does not pass beyond their throats” [Related by al-Bukhārī #3344 and Muslim #1064]
Abū Abbās al-Qurtubī said in al-Mufhim 3/110 explaining the hadīth of Abū Sa’īd al-Khudrī:
وعن أبي سلمة وعطاء بن يسار، أنهما أتيا أبا سعيد الخدري، فسألاه عن الحَرُورِيَّةِ : هل سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يذكرها؟ فقال: لا أدري مَنِ الحَرُورِيَّةُ ولكني سمعتُ رسولَ الله ﷺ يقولُ : يَخْرُجُ في هذه الأمة – ولم يقل : منها – قوم تحقرون صلاتكم مع صلاتهم وصيامكم مع صيامهم، فيقرؤون القرآنَ لا يُجاوِزُ حُلوقَهم أَو حَنَاجِرَهم، يمرقُونَ مِن الدين كما يمرق السَّهْمُ مِن الرَّمِيَّةِ ، فينظرُ الرَّامِي إِلى سَهْمِه إِلى نَصْلِهِ إلى رِصَافِه ، فيتمَارَى في الفُوقَةِ . هل عَلِقَ بها من الدم شيء
“From Abū Salamah and ʿAtāʾ ibn Yasār, that the two of them came to Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī and asked him about the Harūriyyah: ‘Did you hear the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) mention them?’ He said: ‘I do not know who the Harūriyyah are — but I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: “There will appear, within this Ummah — and he did not say ‘from it’ — a people beside whose prayer you will regard your own prayer as insignificant, and your own fasting [as insignificant] beside their fasting; they will recite the Qurʾān, [yet] it will not pass beyond their throats or their larynxes; they will exit the religion just as the arrow exits from the game, such that the archer looks at his arrow, at its arrowhead, at its binding, and remains in doubt over the nock — whether any trace of blood has clung to it at all.“‘”
—
“I say: the purpose of this likeness/analogy is — that this faction exited from the religion of Islām without anything of it clinging to them, just as this arrow exits from the game: on account of the force of the draw and the speed of the arrow, its exit preceded the exit of the blood, such that nothing of the visible mark of the game clung to it — just as he said: “it preceded the dung and the blood [sabaqa al-farth wa-l-dam]” [that is: the arrow preceded the dung and the blood, passing beyond them, with nothing of the two clinging to it; “al-farth” is the name for what is in the paunch].
And it is by the apparent sense of this comparison that those of our Imāms who ruled that they are disbelievers held fast.
Yet many of the scholars withheld judgement on declaring them disbelievers, on account of his saying “and remains in doubt over the nock” — for this entails that one is in doubt concerning their case, and so withholds judgement about them.
And it seems the first view [i.e. declaring them disbelievers] is the more apparent one from the hadīth.
So: on the view declaring them disbelievers, they are fought, killed, and their property is taken as spoils — this being the view of a group of the people of hadīth regarding the property of the Khawārij.”
Al-Qādī Ibn al-‘Arabī said in his Sharh of Al-Tirmidhī 6/434-435:
“The correct view is that they [i.e. the Khawārij] are disbelievers, on account of his (ﷺ) saying:
يمرقون من الدين
“They exit the religion“.
and on account of his saying: “How many at prayer says with his tongue what is not in his heart”
[This statement is Khālid’s— as in Sahīh al-Bukhārī #4351 Khālid said: “How many a man at prayer says with his tongue what is not in his heart,” so the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “Indeed, I was not commanded to probe/look into people’s hearts, nor to cut open their bellies.”]
— thereby informing that the heart is devoid of that testimony [al-shahādah] which is [uttered by] the tongue.
And on account of his (ﷺ) saying:
لئن أدركتهم لأقتلنهم قتل عاد وثمود
“If I should live to reach them, I shall surely kill them with the killing of ʿĀd” and Thamūd” [The wording is Abū Nuʿaym’s, in al-Mustakhraj ʿalā Muslim 3/128]
— and ʿĀd were killed [as] disbelievers.
And on account of his (ﷺ) saying:
هم شر الخلق
“They are the worst of the creation” [Sahīh Muslim #1064] — and that could not be said except of a disbeliever.
They are, at root, of two kinds:
The first: [those who] claim that ʿUthmān and ʿAlī and the People of the Camel, and all who consented to arbitration, are disbelievers.
The second: [those who hold] that every one of the ummah of Muhammad (ﷺ) who commits a sin is in the Fire, abiding therein eternally.
So, having declared the Companions of Muhammad (ﷺ) disbelievers in their entirety, and ruled that they abide eternally in the Fire, they [i.e. these two groups] were [themselves] disbelievers.
They then [multiplied and] and ended up as twenty sects.”
Shaykh ibn Bāz: https://dusunnah.com/video/are-the-khawarij-disbelievers/
Al-Mardāwī mentions in al-Insāf 10/313:
[Ibn Hamdān] said in al-Riʿāyah al-Kubrā: “The Khawārij are innovating rebels. They declare disbelief upon whoever commits a major sin — and for that reason they impugned the Imāms, split from the [main] community, and abandoned the Friday prayer.
Among them are those who declared the Companions, Allāh be pleased with them, and the rest of the people of truth to be disbelievers, and deemed the blood and property of the Muslims lawful [to take].
And it is said: these are disbelievers like apostates, so it is permissible to kill them from the outset, to kill their captive, and to pursue their fleeing [remnant]; and whoever among them one is able to seize is asked to repent — if he repents, [he is spared]; otherwise he is killed. This is preferable.” End [of quote].
I [al-Mardāwī] say: this is the correct view.
Al-Zarkashī said: “The Khawārij who declare disbelief on account of sin, who declare ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Talhah, and al-Zubayr, Allāh be pleased with them, disbelievers, and who deem the blood and property of the Muslims lawful — regarding them there are two riwāyāt [narrations from Imām Ahmad], related by al-Qādī in his Taʿlīq: one, that they are disbelievers; the other, that their disbelief is not to be ruled upon.”
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