[To Avoid RTL alignment]

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله

Knowledge (عِلم) is to comprehend the reality of something as it truly is, with certainty. The levels of comprehension are six:

1. Knowledge (عِلم): which is to comprehend the reality of something as it truly is, with certainty.
2. Slight Ignorance (الجَهلُ البَسِيط): which is absence of full comprehension.
3. Aggravated/Compounded Ignorance (الجَهلُ المُرَكَّب): which is to comprehend something in a way contrary to its true reality.
4. Delusion (الوَهم): which is to think that one comprehends something despite the presence of that which should cause you to realize that you are incorrect.
5. Doubt (الشَّكّ): which is to think that you comprehend something, yet you are aware of something contrary to it which you think has the same possibility of being the truth.
6. Preponderant Belief (الظَّنّ): which is comprehension of something, despite the presence of something which is contrary to it, but which is less likely to be true.

Knowledge (عِلم) is of two categories:

1. Inevitable (ضَرُورِيّ): knowledge is that which is known inevitably without any need to investigate or prove with the evidence, for example the fact that fire is hot.
2. Speculative (نَظَرِيّ): knowledge is that which requires investigation and proof, for example the knowledge that it is obligatory to have intention (نِيَّة) when making ablution (وُضُوء).

Source: The Explanation of The Three Fundamental Principles of Islaam (Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab) by Shaykh Muhammad bin Saleh al-Uthaymeen

Made this as a brief reference for myself to refer back to when analyzing the characteristics of the Khawaarij. If you benefit from this, make du'a for me. The source is at the end of this list. Any and all footnote references are in the pdf in the link.

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله

1. They display fake piety (wara')

• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'This (display of overt) piety can lead a person to major innovations, for the (overt) piety (displayed) by the Khaarijites, Raafidites and Mu'tazilites is of this type. They avoided oppression and from what they believed to be oppression from mixing with the oppressors as they claimed until they abandoned the major obligations such as performing the jumu'ah (Friday) prayer and congregational prayers (with the Muslims), and Hajj and jihad (alongside the rulers) and giving advice to the Muslims and showing mercy to them. The people of this type of piety were shown rejection by the leading imams, such as the Four Imams, and this condition (of overt, fake piety) began to be mentioned amongst the (issues) within the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah.'"

2. They abandon the main body of the Muslims

• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'The foundation of the misguidance of these [Khaarijites] is their belief regarding the leaders of guidance and the body of the Muslims that they have departed from justice and are misguided.'"

3. They consider themselves to be more righteous and superior to the people of knowledge

• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'The first of those who went astray in this regard are the renegade Khaarijites when they judged that they (alone) are holding fast to the Book of Allah and His (Prophet’s) Sunnah.'"

4. Treating what is not a sin to be a sin

• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, “They have two well-known traits by which they departed from the main body of the Muslims and their rulers. The first of them is their departure from the Sunnah and making what is not a sin to be a sin or what is not a good deed to be a good deed.'"

5. They declare Muslims disbelievers on account of sins and subsequently legalize their murder

• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, '[The second of their two well-known traits] that they declare Muslims to be disbelievers on account of sins and evils and built upon this takfir they make lawful the shedding of the blood of the Muslims and taking their wealth and claim that the land of Islam is a land of war and that the land inhabited by them (alone) is a land of faith.'"

6. They follow ambiguous passages of the Qur'an

• Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'Likewise, [Imam] Ahmad would explain (correctly) the ambiguous verses and hadiths which the deviants would utilize from amongst the Khaarijites and others.'"

7. Their raising the sword of violence and slaughter with the pretext of enjoining good and forbidding evil

• "Ibn al-Qayyim said, 'The Khaarijites appeared fighting against the rulers, revolting against them with the sword with the pretext of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil.'"

8. Considering something to be from the religion when it is alien to the religion

• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'For the people of religiosity amongst those desire the attainment of what they consider to be religion but they err from two angles. The first is that what they consider to be religion is not religion, such as the view of the Khaarijites and other than them from the people of desires. For they believe and opinion which is erroneous and innovation and then fight the people over it. Rather, they declare their opponents to be disbelievers. Thus, they err in their view and in fighting those who oppose them or in declaring them disbelievers and cursing them. This is condition of the generality of the people of desires.'"

9. Their gross ignorance of the religion and absence of scholars amongst them

• "In their debate [with Ibn Abbas] they demonstrate their ignorance of the Qurʾān and its interpretation."
• "They do not have the ability to make istidlaal (infer and deduce from the texts) and they rely upon generalizations and absolutions."
• "Imam al-Shatibi said, 'From following ambiguities is to take unqualified absolutions before looking at their qualifications and taking generalizations without reflecting as to whether they have specifications or not. Likewise, the opposite, to take a text which has been restricted and to generalize it.'"
• "There are no scholars to be found with the Khaarijite terrorists of al-Qaa'idah, al-Nusrah and ISIS and certainly those who feign knowledge amongst them did not take knowledge from the well-known and famous Salafi scholars of this era."
• "...they were nurtured upon the books of Sayyid Quṭb and Mawdudi and the books of ideology (fikr) and harakah (political activism) that are circulated amongst the Quṭbiyyah, Sururiyyah, Haddaadiyyah - all factions of Takfiris who came from the direction of the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen)."

10. They subject the Qur'an and Sunnah to faulty analogies and interpretations

• Ibn al-Qayyim said, 'Whoever subjected the Qur'an and the Sunnah with a form of interpretation such as the use of analogy (qiyaas) or ones taste (dhawq) or intellect ('aql) or emotional state (haal) then he has a resemblance to the Khaarijites, the followers of Dhul-Khuwayṣarah.'"
• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'The very first innovations such as the innovation of the Khaarijites arose due to their evil understanding of the Qur'an. They did not deliberately intend to oppose it, but they understood from it what it did not indicate.”

11. Severity and exaggeration in worship

• The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم informed his companions, “A people will depart from you and you will belittle your prayer compared to their prayer and your fasting compared to their fasting.”

12. They split into groups, declare each other astray and make takfir of each other

• "Ibn Taymiyyah said, 'From the blameworthy characteristics of the people of innovation is that they make takfir of each other.'"

13. If they gained power, they would behave with the Muslims as the leaders of Persia and Rome

• “Fear Allāh and fight those who contend with Allāh and attempt to extinguish the light of Allāh, fight the erroneous, misguided, oppressive criminals. Those who are not (truly) reciters of the Qur'an, nor jurists in religion, nor scholars in interpretation, nor do they have any precedence in worthiness in this affair within Islam. By Allah, if they were appointed with authority over you, they have would have done with you the deeds of Chosroes and Heraclius.” ('Ali's sermon to the Muslims prior to fighting the Khawaarij)

14. When they gain strength they slaughter Muslims primarily and leave alone non-Muslims

• "Ibn Ḥajar said, 'When the Khaarijites judge with disbelief those (Muslims) who oppose them, they make lawful the shedding of their blood whilst leaving alone the people of the covenant. They say, ‘We shall fulfill their covenant with them. And they abandon fighting the pagans and preoccupy themselves with fighting the Muslims. All of this is from the effects of the worship of the ignoramuses whose hearts have not been expanded with the light of knowledge. They did not hold fast to any firm rope of knowledge. Sufficient it is that their leader (Dhul-Khuwayṣarah) showed rejection against the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وسلم and accused him of oppression, we ask Allah for safety.”

15. They are the worst of those killed beneath the canopy of the sky

• "...stated in the Prophetic tradition related by Ibn Majah, 'They are the most evil of those killed beneath the canopy of the sky.'"

Source: The Kharijites: Historical Roots of Modern-Day Extremism and Terrorism

Made this as a brief reference for myself to refer back to when analyzing the characteristics of the Khawaarij. If you benefit from this, make du'a for me. The source is at the end of this list. Any and all footnote references are in the pdf in the link.

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله

1. Forging documents against the Companions.

• "The Saba'ite Khaarijite terrorists distributed a document in the name of 'Uthman رضى الله عنه in which there was a command authorizing the killing of the conspirators behind the planned uprising against 'Uthman رضى الله عنه during 35H (656CE).
• "They had forged this document and the seal of ʿUthman رضى الله عنه with which they stamped the document to give it the appearance of authenticity."
• "They also fabricated documents against the Companions such as 'Ali رضى الله عنه, Ṭalhah رضى الله عنه and Zubayr رضى الله عنه in which they allegedly called the people to fight against 'Uthman رضى الله عنه in order to aid the religion, and they wrote in these fabricated documents that fighting against 'Uthman رضى الله عنه was the greatest form of jihad and support of the religion."
• "They also fabricated a document against 'A'ishah رضى الله عنها in which she allegedly called the people to revolt against 'Uthman رضى الله عنه and to kill him."
• "Ibn Kathīr comments, 'And in this and its likes is plain evidence that those Khaarijites, may Allah disfigure them, would fabricate documents upon the tongues of the Companions رضى الله عنهم and spread them in the horizons, inciting the people to fight against 'Uthman رضى الله عنه.'"

2. Addressing the rulers with Jewish names.

• "The Khaarijite terrorists would address 'Uthman رضى الله عنه with names of Jewish leaders to imply his disbelief and that he was like them and they would refer to 'Ali رضى الله عنه with derogatory names such as jaahid (denier, rejector)."
• "...one of them stood up whilst 'Uthman رضى الله عنه was delivering a sermon and said to him, 'Stand O Naʾthal and come down from this pulpit.' Na'thal was the name of one of the Jewish leaders in Madinah."
• "One of them, Jabalah bin 'Amr al-Sa'idi passed by 'Uthman رضى الله عنه and said: 'O Na'thal, by Allah I will kill you and carry you on a scabby she-camel and through you into the heat of fire.'"
• "...when the murderers eventually broke into his house they said to him, 'Which religion are you upon O Na'thal?' 'Uthman رضى الله عنه replied, 'Upon the religion of Islam and I am not Na'thal, but I am the Chief of the Believers (amir al-mu'minin).'"
• "Ibn Kathīr relates that after 'Uthman رضى الله عنه was assassinate and the Companions رضى الله عنهم had washed and shrouded him and one of them prayed over him the janazah prayer, 'the Khaarijites objected to him and desired to stone ['Uthman’s body], fling him off his burial crib and were resolute that he should be buried in the Jewish graveyard by Dayr Sal'.'"

3. Stealing property and wealth.

• "The first Khaarijite terrorists would steal the property and possessions of the rulers whom they declared apostates..."
• "Ibn Kathir states: 'And the Khaarijites came and took the wealth in the state treasury, and it had a great deal of it.'"

4. Spilling blood and cutting off routes of travel.

• "The Khaarijite terrorists who opposed 'Ali would shed blood, cut off the routes of travel and would violate the inviolable such as their murder of 'Abdullah bin al-Khabbab and killing women and even an unborn child."

5. Motivated by personal reasons.

• "...they were motivated primarily for personal, worldly reasons."

6. Divided in their pursuit of overall leadership.

• "Ibn Kathīr writes, 'So when they revolted in the era of 'Uthman رضى الله عنه, the people rallied behind them [the Khaarijites], and everyone had an associate [leading them in the revolution], and each group of people desired that their associate would take the overall leadership after 'Uthman رضى الله عنه.'"
• "This undercurrent of rivalry and pursuit of ultimate authority expresses itself today in the rivalry between the factions..."

7. Recruitment by stealth and encouraging emigration from Muslim lands.

• "...Abdullāh bin Wahb al-Raasibi - who was the first leader of the Khaarijites and member of the Saba'iyyah subversive movement - began to meet with his associates and started recruiting people by encouraging them to abandon their families and to travel to them by stealth."
• "He said, 'Come out with us O our brothers from this city whose inhabitants are oppressive to this outskirt near the mountainous rural district or to some of these cities, in rejection of these oppressive rulings (al-ahkaam al-jaa'irah).'"
• "They would write letters to their followers in Basrah and other locations giving them advice on how and where to meet. Youths began to leave, abandoning their mothers, fathers, aunties and uncles and all other relatives."
• "Ibn Kathīr commented, 'Due to their ignorance and paucity of knowledge and intellect, they thought this matter pleases the Lord of the Heavens and Earth. They did not know that it is from the greatest of major sins, vices, destructive affairs, mighty transgressions and errors and that it is from what Iblis (Satan) has beautified for them and for their souls which command them with evil.'"

8. Waging jihaad against Muslims and encouraging their slaughter.

• They "considered the Muslims to have strayed and abandoned Islām, despairing of bringing them back and thus they enjoined jihaad against them."
• "Ibn Kathīr commented upon this, 'These type of people are from the strangest of species amongst the offspring of Ādam, and sublime is Allāh who created variations in His creation as He desired... The intent here is that they are misguided ignoramuses, wretched (despicable) in both statements and deeds.'"
• "...though the Khaarijites split and became into many sects, acquiring other deviant beliefs, what is common between them and unites them all is the issue of takfir in relation to rulership and judgement by Allah's law. This is the foundational basis of all revolutionary political movements taking form in the innovated 'Islamic political jama'ah.”'"

9. Judging Muslims with disbelief on account of matters that do not constitute it.

• "The ignorant Khaarijites excommunicated ʿAlī and accused him of being a polytheist because he deferred judgement to men, a reference to the arbitration between 'Ali رضى الله عنه and Mu'awiyah رضى الله عنه during the battle at Siffin."
• "They said, 'O Alī, you have ascribed partners to Allāh in His religion, judgement belongs only to Allāh.'"
• "..despite the fact that arbitration - such as in marital disputes and in reconciliation between to contending or warring parties - is permitted in the Qur'an, and this is how Ibn 'Abbas, the Qur'anic scholar, refuted those Khaarijites."
• "...they accuse Muslims with disbelief through matters that are not even considered sins in the Islāmic Shari'ah, let alone disbelief itself, but rather commended."

10. Their opponents condemned to Hellfire if killed by them.

• "The Khaarijites of old also believed that whomever was killed by them was automatically in the Hellfire."
• Abu Ayyub al-Ansari said, "I pushed a spear into a man from the Khaarijites and pushed it through till it came out from his back and I said to him, 'Glad tidings O enemy of Allah of the Fire.' So he replied, 'You will soon come to know which of us is more worthy of being burned therein’."
• "This is keeping in mind that the Companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم are guaranteed Paradise by the testimony of the Qur'an and the Khaarijite dogs are condemned to the Hellfire by testimony of the Qur'an and the Prophetic traditions."

11. Claiming Paradise for their dead.

• "When 'Ali رضى الله عنه came to them at al-Nahrawan, admonished them and warned them severely and they intended battle, they began chanting, “Judgement is for Allah, departure, departure to Paradise!” Thus, they claimed automatic entry to Paradise for their dead, whereas the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had judged them...dogs of Hellfire who exit from Islam as an arrow passes through its game."

11. Violating the rights of the people under protection.

• "...violate the rights of the non-Muslims who are under guarantee of protection from the Muslims."

12. They comprised the ruffians, hooligans, the dregs of society and the young and foolish of age.

• "Just as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم described them, “young of age, foolish-mind.”
• Historians Ibn Saʾd, al-Dhahabi, Ibn Kathīr and others recount from earlier authorities that those the revolutionaries mobilized against 'Uthman رضى الله عنه were the dregs of society, ruffians, brainless savages and that the Khaarijites comprised of ignorant masses.

13. Find fault with scholars in irrelevant matters.

• "When 'Ali رضى الله عنه sent Ibn Abbas to debate with the Khaarijites after they abandoned his army and camped at Harura', he was wearing a fine garment. They began to debate with him about it and he replied with the Qur'an, 'Say: Who has forbidden the adornment [of clothing] given by Allāh which He has produced for His servants and the good lawful things of provision?' (7:32). This indicates their resentment against both the rulers and the scholars for the good things Allāh has bestowed upon them and that these underlying currents of jealousy are what drive the instigators amongst them."

14. Fault-picking against the rulers and twisting everything that they do in their statements, activities and decisions.

• "During the 2 year period between 36H and 38H before 'Ali رضى الله عنه eventually fought the Khaarijites, they would find fault with 'Ali in every issue possible, criticize him and twist his words to present them in the worst possible light. Ibn Kathīr relates through al-Tabarī that the Khaarijites, 'began to confront him regarding his statements, make him hear their slurs (revilements) and making all sorts of interpretations of his statements.'"
• "'Uthman رضى الله عنه made some personal judgements in matters of jurisprudence and these issues were raised against him by the Saba'iyyah as part of a wider agenda to stir up revolution. Likewise, when they fabricated a letter upon 'Uthman رضى الله عنه in which he allegedly gave orders to have them killed and 'Uthman رضى الله عنه stated his complete innocence, they responded by saying, 'If you did write it you are treacherous and if you did not write it, it shows you are powerless and the likes of you therefore are not fit for leadership due to either treachery or incapacity.'"

15. Complaining and supplicating for change despite living in relative affluence and safety.

• "...despite living in sufficiency, affluence and safety, they supplicate for change...Many of those who are upon and promote the ideology of the Khaarijites in the Muslim countries, particularly those of the Gulf countries, live in relative affluence, have jobs and live in security...This indicates the nature of the heart residing in the body of a Khaarijite, vile and putrid, ungrateful and filled with scorn."

16. Doctrines of prominent early Khārijite sects:

• Azaariqites – "declared the killing the wives and children of Muslims they considered apostates to be lawful. Some of them also made it lawful to violate contracts. They also held that whoever resides in the lands of disbelief is a disbeliever, keeping in mind that a land of disbelief is any land other than theirs."
• Najadites – "made it lawful to kill non-Muslims under covenant with the Muslims and to take their wealth. Some of them also believe that dissimulation (taqiyah) in speech and deed is permissible even in killing people."
• Bahaisites – "asserted that when the ruler becomes a disbeliever (according to them), all of his subjects also become disbelievers."
• 'Ajaaridites – "make secret assassinations lawful and they also make it permissible to enslave women and kill the children of the disbelievers (that includes Muslims)."

Source: The Kharijites: Historical Roots of Modern-Day Extremism and Terrorism

The Crime of Hizbiyyah Against the Salafi Da'wah