بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ



الحمد لله القوي المتين والصلاة والسلام على من بعث بالسيف رحمة للعالمين

Who are the Khāwarij? – Part 2: Signs and Sects of the Khāwarij

By Abū Qitāl al-Isbānī

You can access Part 1, Origin and Emergence of the Khāwarij here.

Imām Ash-Shahrastānī states in Al-Milal wa Ah-Nihal:

"Whoever who rebels against the Rightful Imām to whom the Jamā’ah (community of Ahlu Sunnah) has agreed upon his rule, would be a Khāriji, whether it is a rebellion during the times of the Sahāba against the righteous leaders (the righteous caliphs), or be it after them against those who followed them in goodness – the Tabi’īn, and the Imāms in every era."

This is a basic definition of the Khawārij and rebelling against the Rightful Imām (the Khalīfah) is the defining feature of the Khawārij. The Wa'īdīya form a majority of the Khawārij and they hold that if a Muslim commits a grave sin he is a disbeliever and will be condemned to hell forever. On to the different groups of the Khawārij now, inshā'Allāh.

Imam Ash-Shahrastānī also states in Al-Milal wa Ah-Nihal:

"The biggest groups among them are: Al-Muhahkama, Al-Azāriqa, Ah-Najdāt, Al-Baihasiyyah, Al-‘Ajāridah, Ah-Tha’ālaba, Al-Ibādiyyah, As-Sufriyyah and the rest are branches of these."

In this matter Imām Ash-Shahrastānī outlines 24 different groups of the Khawārij, but in Al-Farq Bayn Al-Firāq, Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadī outlines 23 different groups. In any case, I will detail the main groups listed by Imām Ash-Shahrastānī, Inshā'Allāh.

Al-Muhahkama (مةحكالم) – they are those who rebelled against Alī رضي الله عنه‎‎ and rejected the arbitration after forcing it upon him, and these people are those whom the Prophet informed that they would manifest when the people split and that the closest group to the truth would fight against them, and as such they were the first to split from the Jamā’ah. They were named Al-Muhahkama due to the slogan that they raised “There is no ruling except for Allāh”, and it is indeed “A truthful word, which is intended with falsehood” as Alī رضي الله عنه‎‎ said. You can read in detail about this group who were also named Al-Qurā (القراء) and Al-Harūriyyah (الحرورية) in part 1 here

Al-Azāriqa (الأزارقة) - they are the companions of Abū Rāshid Nāfi' bin Al-Azraq Al-Hanafī and they emerged in the city of Basrah and they are the severest among the Khawārij and the most extreme. They are characterized theologically by their strange ijtihādāt. After their emergence in the city of Basrah they conquered to the city of Ahwāz and the districts of Fāris and Kirmān beyond it. Nāfi' bin Al-Azraq headed an army of around 30,000 thousand horsemen with 12 different junior commanders who held his same views. These junior commanders were Atīya ibn al-Aswad al-Hanafī, Abdullāh ibn Mākhūn, his brothers Uthmān and az-Zubair, Amr ibn Umair al-Anbarī, Qatarī ibn al-Fujā'a al-Māzinī, Ubaida ibn al-Hilāl al-Yashkarī and his brother Muhriz ibn Hilāl, Sakhr ibn Habīb al-Tamīmī, Salih ibn Mikhrāq al-Abdī, Abd Rabbihī the elder and Abd Rabbihī the younger. The Azāriqa fought against the Umayyad Khilāfah for 19 years until the time of Abū Muhammad al-Hajjāj al-Thaqafī who defeated the Azāriqa with the aid of Shāmī troops. Nāfi' bin Al-Azraq however had died before the last battle and as such Qatarī ibn al-Fujā'a al-Māzinī took the role of "Amīr al-Mu'minīn" and was killed in the battles with al-Hajjāj. This group has long since perished.

The Azāriqa had seven innovations which revealed them as Khawārij, they are:

They declared Alī رضي الله عنه‎‎ as a disbeliever. They further said that Uthmān, Talha, Zubair, Ā'isha, Abbās, and all other Muslims with them were disbelievers and would all be in Jahannām forever. Nāfi declared those who stayed behind and did not go into battle as disbelievers even if they agreed with his opinions. All those who did not join him in his camp he looked upon as disbelievers. Nāfi permitted the killing of women, children, the elderly, and the infirm from the enemies in cases where their enemies had not done the same to them. Nāfi abolished the punishment of stoning to death for adultery because it was not mentioned in the Qur'ān. He also abolished the punishment for defamation imposed on those who slandered innocent women. Nāfi maintained that the children of polytheists (those who converted to Islam but whose parents were polytheists) would be in Jahannām with their parents. Allāh may send a prophet whom he knows that will fall into disbelief after becoming a prophet. All of the Azāriqa agreed that whomever commits a major sin is an disbeliever and outside the fold of Islam, and they will be eternally in Jahannām with other disbelievers. They supported this view by the example of the disbelief of Iblis who, they say, committed a major sin when he was ordered to prostrate himself before Ādam‎ عليه السلام but refused, even though he had acknowledged the oneness of Allāh.

Al-Najdāt (النجدات) - they are the followers of Najdā bin Amīr al-Hanafī who emerged in al-Yamāma. They are also called Al-‘Aaziriya (العاذریة) because they gave excuses of ignorance in the verdicts of the various Furoo. This type has ceased to exist.

Upon the emergence from al-Yamāma the Najdāt departed from Yamāma intending to join the Azāriqa Khawārij. The army encountered Abū Fudaik and Atīya bin al-Aswad al-Hanafī with a group opposed to Nāfi' bin Al-Azraq Al-Hanafi of the Azāriqa. They informed the Najdāt of the dissension Nāfi' had caused both by his declaration that those who stayed behind were disbelievers, and also by his other innovations and heresies. Thereupon, they swore allegiance to Najdā and called him Amīr al-Mu'minīn.



The Najdā afterwards differed amongst themselves regarding the belief of Najdā bin Amīr al-Hanafī. Some groups said that he had become an disbeliever because of certain deeds which they considered blameworthy. One of them was that he had sent an army against the people of al-Qatīf under the command of his son, who put to death their men and captured their women. On the women the army put a price: "If their value falls within our share there is no problem, but if not we shall give back whatever is in excess." However, they cohabited with them before the division took place, and appropriated the booty before it was rightfully divided. When they returned to Najdā bin Amīr al-Hanafī and told him about it, he said, "It was wrong to do what you did." They replied, "We did not know that it was not right." So he excused them on account of their ignorance, his followers however were divided on this point. Some of them agreed with him and regarded ignorance as grounds for acquittal in judgement based on ijtihād. They said:



"Religion consists of two things. The first comprises knowledge of Allāh and his prophets, the inviolability of the blood of Muslims (by this they meant those who agreed with them), and, in general, acceptance of all that has been revealed by Allāh. This is obligatory upon all men and ignorance of it cannot be excused. The second comprises everything else; and in this people are excused until they know for certain what is lawful and what is unlawful."



They said also that whoever allows punishment of a mujtahid for making an error in matters of law, before the law is certainly established, is an disbeliever. According to Najdā bin Amīr al-Hanafī the life and propety of the people of the covenant and of dhimmīs are forfeited during the state of dissimulation. Moreover, he ordered his followers to dissociate themselves from those who forbade this. He also said that there was hope that Allāh would forgive those of his followers who deserved the punishment prescribed by law; if he did punish them it would be elsewhere than in hell, and subsequently they would be admitted to heaven. From those, therefore, it would not be lawful to dissociate. He said, too, that whoever casts a glance (at a woman), or he tells a lie, small or great, and persists in it, is a polytheist; but whoever commits adultery, drinks wine or steals, and does not persist in it, is not a polytheist. Najdā was, nevertheless, extremely strict in applying the legal penalty for drinking wine.

Baihasīyyah (ةّالبیھسی) - They are the followers of Abū Baihas Al-Haisam ibn Jābir (أبي جابر بن الھیصم ب) he was imprisoned and killed by order of Al-Walīd ibn ‘Abdul Malik (الوليد عبد الملك). Al-Hajjāj had tried to capture him but he had escaped to Madīnah. Uthmān ibn Hayyān al-Muzanī searched for him there at Madīnah and having found him put him in prison. There Uthmān al-Muzanī spent many nights conversing with the Khāriji until Al-Walīd's letter arrived with instructions to cut Abū Baihas' hands and feet off then put him to death and so Uthmān al-Muzanī carried these orders out.



Abū Baihas regarded Ibrāhim and Maimūn as disbelievers because they held views different from his own about the selling of a female slave. Similarly, he held the Wāqifiya (a sect of the Shia similar to Twelvers except they believe the Imāmate ended with the 7th Imām, Mūsa ibn Ja‘far al-Kāzim) to be disbelievers because they said, "We suspend judgement about a person who has done what is unlawful in ignorance of whether it was lawful or not." According to Abū Baihas he should have known whether it was lawful or not. Faith, he held, is a knowledge both of all that is right and all that is wrong. It is knowledge in the heart and does not consist of words and deeds. Abū Baihas is also reported to have said that faith is confession and knowledge, and not simply one without the other. Most of the Baihasīyyah, on the other hand, held the view that knowledge, confession, and deeds all constitute faith. Some of them maintain that nothing is forbidden apart from what is revealed in the words of Allāh: "Say, "I do not find within that which was revealed to me [anything] forbidden to one who would eat it unless it be a dead animal or blood spilled out or the flesh of swine - for indeed, it is impure - or it be [that slaughtered in] disobedience, dedicated to other than Allah . But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], then indeed, your Lord is Forgiving and Merciful." [Al-An'am; 145] and they maintained that all else is lawful.



A section of the Baihasīyyah are called the Awuīya, who in turn are divided into two sub-groups. One of these groups said, "We shall dissociate ourselves from those who leave the camp to which they had migrated and return to their former state of inactivity." The other group said, "We, on the other hand, shall befriend such people because they have returned to a state which was lawful to them." Both the sub-groups held that if the Imām becomes a disbeliever all his subjects become disbelievers.



Another group of the Baihasīyyah are called the Expositors, because they believed that a Muslim bearing witness to the faith will be interrograted as to its detailed exposition and explanation. A further group, called the Questioners, say that a person becomes a Muslim by bearing witness to the two testimonies, by dissociating himeself from the enemies of Allāh and associating with the friends of Allāh, and by believing in a general way what has been revealed by Allāh. If he does not know what Allāh has made of obligation upon him he should enquire. There is no harm in not knowing the obligation until the situation demands knowledge of it; then he should ask. However, if he does what is unlawful, not knowing that it is unlawful, he becomes a disbeliever. With regard to children they hold the same belief as the Tha'āliba Khawārij, which is that the children of believers are believers, and that the children of disbelievers are disbelievers.

‘Ajāridah (العجاردة) - They are the followers of Abdul Karīm ibn Ajrad and they were prevalent in Khurāsān. The Ajāridah were divided into seven (Imām Ash-Shahrastānī) or ten (Imām Baghdadī) sects which agreed on the view that a child is to be called to Islām when it has attained maturity, having been left in freedom before this until it is called to Islām, or speaks of it itself. One matter that the Ajāridah differed from the Azāriqa in is that the Azāriqa considered it permissible to seize the possessions of their opponents under all conditions. The ‘Ajāridah, on the other hand, do not consider it lawful to seize the possessions of the opponent as ghanīmah until after killing the owner. All the ‘Ajāridah agreed on this at first, but later sects divided off from them.



The Saltīyyah sect consisted of the followers of Uthmān ibn Abu al-Salt. They differed from the majority of the Ajāridah in that they say, "When a man becomes a Muslim we shall associate with him, but not with his children till they reach adulthood and accept Islām." Some of them are reported to have said that they have neither friendship for, nor enmity against, the children of polytheists or Muslims till they reach adulthood, when they will receive a call to Islām and either accept or reject it.



The Maimūnīyyah are the followers of Maimūn ibn Khālīd who belonged to the ‘Ajāridah. He differed from the others, however, in maintaining that the power to do good and evil belongs to man, that a man's act is created and brought into being by himself, that capacity exists before teh act. He also said that Allāh wills good and not evil, and does not will man's disobedience. Husain al-Karābisī has mentioned in one of his books (I'm not sure which book, Imām Ash-Shahrastānī does not mention) where he treats of the views of the Khārijites, that the Maimūnīyyah allow marriage with the "daughters of daughters," and with the "daughters of the children of brothers and sisters." They say, however, that Allāh has forbidden marriage with daughters and with the daughters of brothers and sisters, though now with the daughters of their children.



The Maimūnīyyah are said to have denied the Sūrah Yūsuf as forming part of the Qur'ān. They also say that it is a duty to take up arms against the Sultān and punish him according to the law, together with all those who accept his government. It is not permissible, however to fight against those who do not accept him unless they have helped him against the Khārijites, attacked their beliefs, or given the Sultān information about them. They also hold that the children of polytheists will be in Jannāh.



The Hamzīyyah are the followers of Hamza ibn Adrak. They agreed with the Maimūnīyyah on the question of power and their other heresies, however they differed from them in regard to the children of their adversaries and of polytheists, all of whom, according to the Hamzīyyah, will be in Jahannām. Hamza was one of the followers of al-Hussain ibn al-Raqqād from Auq who led a revolt in Sijistān.



The Khalafīyyah are the followers of Khalaf al-Khāriji, Khārijites from Kirmān and Mukrān. They differ from the Hamzīyyah on the question of qadar. In this respect they follow the main body of Muslims, they also say that the Hamzīyyah contradict themselves in holding that if Allāh punishes men for deeds he destined them to do, or for deeds they did not perform, he would be unjust, while saying at the same time that the children of polytheists will be in Jahannām, even though these children have done no deeds nor omitted any. Of all contradictory beliefs this is one of the most astonishing.



The Atrāfīyyah is a group which holds the same views as Hamza on the question of power. However, they absolve the Atrāfīyyah from guilt if they do not adhere to that part of the Sharī'ah of which they are ignorant, as long as they do what is manifested by reason as obligatory; for they maintain, as do the Qadarīyyah, that there are obligations based on reason. Their leader is Ghālib ibn Shādhak of Sijistān. They are opposed by Abdullāh ibn al-Sadīwarī who dissociated himself from them. Among them is a group called the Muhammadīyyah, the followers of Muhammad ibn Rizq, himself at first the follower of al-Hussain ibn al-Raqqād but later dissociated himself from him.



The Shu'aibīyyah are the followers of Shu'aib ibn Muhammad, who with Maimūn belonged to the ‘Ajāridah. However, when Maimūn expressed his views about power he dissociated himself from him. According to Shu'aib, Allāh creates the deeds of man, and man acquires them through Allāh's power and will. At the same time man is responsible for his deeds both good and bad, and is requited for them either by rewards or punishment. Nothing exists except by the will of Allāh, Shu'aib accepted the innovations of the Khawārij on the Imāmate and warning, and following the innovations of the 'Ajāridah in their judgements relating to children, to those who stayed away, to association and dissociation.



The Hāzimīyyah are the followers of Hāzim ibn Alī. They adopted Shu'aib's opinion that Allāh is the creator of man's deeds and that man has no power over them except as Allāh wills. They held also the doctrine of the final state, al-muwāfāt, namely, that Allāh takes as friends those whom he knows will have faith at the end of their lives; on the other hand, he dissociates himself from those whom he knows will be without faith at the end. Allāh does not cease to love his friends and hate his enemies. It is said of the Hāzimīyyah that they did not commit themselves in the case of Alī, nor clearly declare their dissociation from him, though they did so in the case of the others. They also laid waste to Sijistān, Khurāsān, Mukrān, Kuhistān, and Karmān, and defeated their large armies.

Tha’ālaba (الثعالبة) - They are the companions of Tha'ālaba ibn Āmir, who was closely associated with Abd al-Karīm ibn Ajrad until they differed on the question of children. Tha'ālaba said, "We shall dissociate with children, both the younger and the older, till we observer whether or not they deny truth and approve of injustice." Thereupon the ‘Ajāridah dissociated themselves from him. Tha'ālaba is also reported to have said that he passed no judgement with regard to children, that is, whether they were friends or enemies, till they reached adulthood and were called to the faith. If they then accepted the call, all was well; if, however, they refused, they became disbelievers. He believed also in taking the zakāt from slaves if they became rich, and giving them a share of it if they became poor. The Tha’ālaba are seperated into seven separate sects. They are Akhnasīyyah, Ma'badīyyah, Rushaidīyyah, Shaibānīyyah, Mukramīyyah, Ma'lūmīyyah and Majhūlīyyah, and the Bid'īyyah.



The Akhnasīyyah are the followers of Akhnas ibn Qais who belonged to the Tha'ālaba. He differed from the Tha'ālaba, however, in saying: "I shall reserve judgement with regard to all those who worship in the direction of Mecca and resides in the regions of dissimulation, except those whose faith is known, and these I shall befriend; or those whose disbelief is known, and from these I shall dissociate myself." The Akhnasīyyah forbid attacking, killing, and stealing in secret, except for those known personally to be opposed to their views. They believe that no one who worships in the direction of Mecca may be attacked until he has been called to the faith. If he resists the call, he may be attacked. It is said that they allow Muslim women to be given in marriage to the polytheists among them, that is, to those who have committed grave sins. In other matters they adhere to the doctrines of the Khārijites.



The Ma'badīyyah are the followers of Ma'bad ibn Abd al-Rahmān who was a member of the Tha'ālaba. Ma'bad opposed the error of al-Akhnas in allowing the marriage of Muslim women to "polytheists." He also opposed Tha'ālaba in his decision to take the zakāt from slaves; though he said, "I shall not on that account dissociate myself from him, nor shall I give up my own opinion, which is the contrary of his." The Ma'badīyyah also permit the different shares of alms-tax to be reduced to one when a person (the giver) is in a state of dissimulation.



The Rushaidīyyah are the followers of Rushaid al-Tūsī; they are also called the 'Ushrīyyah. The Tha'ālaba used to impose a tax of one twentieth on the land watered by rivers and canals. Ziyād ibn Abd al-Rahmān informed them that the tax was one tenth; but at the same time it was not lawful to dissociate from those who had earlier said that it was one twentieth. Rushaird then said, "If it is not lawful to dissociate from them we shall do as they did." Over this question the Rushaidīyyah became divided into two sub-sects.



The Shaibānīyyah are the followers of Shaibān ibn Salama who rose in revolt at the time of Abū Muslim. The Shaibānīyyah gave assistance to Abū Muslim and Alī ibn al-Kirmānī against Nasr ibn Sayyār. Shaibān belonged to the Tha'ālaba, but when he helped Abū Muslim and Alī ibn al-Kirmānī, the Khārijites dissociated themselves from him. When Shaibān was killed, some people said that he had repented. The Tha'ālaba said: "His repentance is unacceptable because he killed those who had the same beliefs as we have and took their property. Unless the property had been ceded to him the repentance of one who kills a Muslim and takes his property is acceptable only if he imposes retribution on himself and returns the property." Shaibān believed in predetermination, agreeing in this with Jahm ibn Safwān. He also denied created power. It is said of Ziyād ibn Abd al-Rahmān al-Shaibānī that he held that Allāh had no knowledge until he created it for himself, moreover, things only become known to him when they come into being and have existence.



The Mukramīyyah are the followers of Mukram ibn Abdullah al-'Ijlī who also belonged to the Tha'ālaba, but he differed from the others in his opinion that anyone who omits prayer is a disbeliever, not because he omits prayer but because of his ignorance of Allāh. He applied this principle to every grave sin man commits, and said that a man becomes a disbeliever on account of his ignorance of Allāh. It is inconceivable, he maintained, that anyone who knows that Allāh is one, that Allāh is aware of the hidden and manifest, and that he requites man's obedience and disobedience, would fall into disobedience or dare to oppose him, as long as he does not become unmindful of this knowledge and does not cease to care about his obligation. The Mukramīyyah believe in faith at the time of death, and hold that Allāh is a friend of his servants or their enemy according to what they will be at the time of death, and not according to their deeds now; for, till a man reaches the end of his life, his deeds cannot be depended on to endure. "If he remains steadfast in his beliefs," they said, "this is faith, and we shall befriend him. If he does not remain steadfast we shall be his enemy." The same is true of Allāh: his friendship or enmity are based on his knowledge of what a man will be at the time of his death. This doctrine is common to all the Mukramīyyah.



The Ma'lūmīyyah and Majhūlīyyah originally formed part of the Hāzimīyyah. The Ma'lūmīyyah, however, say that if anyone does not know Allāh, with all his names and attributes, he is ignorant of him; it is only when he attains all this knowledge that he becomes a believer. They also say that capacity is with the act and that the and that the act is created by man. Because of this the Hāzimīyyah dissociated themselves from them. The Majhūlīyyah, on the other hand, say that whoever knows some of Allāh's names and attributes, though ignorant of others, does know Allāh. THey also maintain that man's deeds are created by Allāh.



The Bid'īyyah are the followers of Yahyā ibn Asdam. They were the first to say: "We should hold for certain that whoever believes as we do shall go to Jannāh. We should not add, 'if Allāh wills,' for that would mean there was some doubt in our belief. Those who say, 'therefore, we are believers, if Allāh wills,' are doubters. We shall certainly go to Jannāh - of this there is no doubt."

Ibādīyyah (الإباضیة) - They are the followers of Abdullāh ibn Ibād at-Tamimī (from al-Yamāma) who arose in revolt at the time of Marwān ibn Muhammad. Marwān sent against him Abdullāh ibn Muhammad ibn Atīyah and they fought in Tabāla.



Abdullāh ibn Ibād said: "Those who worship in the direction of the Ka'ba but oppose us are disbelievers, not polytheists. However, marriage with them is lawful and so also is mutual inheritance. It is lawful also to take as booty such things as their weapons and horses, but nothing else. It is unlawful, however, to kill them or take them captive by a surprise attack. This is permitted only after war has been declared and proof of their disbelief has been established." The Ibādīyyah say that the territory where their Muslim opponents are is the abode of the unity of Allāh, and that the army campt of the Sultan is the territory of rebellion. They allow the testimony of non-Ibādites against Ibādites. They regard those who commit grave sins as muwahhidūn, but not mu’minūn. They do not call their Imām "Amīr al-Mu'minīn," nor do they call themselves al-muhajirīn. They are non-committal with regard to the children of polytheists. They consider it possible that suffering may be inflicted on them as a punishment, but also possible that by Allāh's grace they may enter paradise. They differ, however, on the question of hypocrisy, that is, as to whether it should be called polytheism or not. They say that the hypocrites in the days of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم were muwahhidūn, but having committed grave sins they became disbelievers on account of those grave sins, not on account of polytheism. They also maintain that whatever Allāh commands is common to all and not restricted to a few; by it Allāh commands both believer and disbeliever. The Ibādīyyah also differ among themselves, as the Tha'āliba and the ‘Ajāridah do; there are 3 sects of the Ibādites.



The Hafsīyyah are the followers of Hafs ibn Abu al-Miqdām, who differed from the other Ibādīyyah in holding that there is a state intermediary between polytheism and faith, namely knowledge of Allāh in his oneness. Whoever acknowledges Allāh but does not believe in other things, as a Prophet, or Book, or the resurrection, heaven or hell; or whoever commits a grave sin, as fornication, theft, or drinking of wine - such a one is an disbeliever, but he is free from polytheism.



The Hārithīyyah are the follower of al-Harith al-Ibādī who differed from the Ibādites in following the Mu'tazilite view of qadar. He also held that capacity exists before the act, and that there are acts of obedience not directed towards Allāh.



The Yazīdīyyah are the followers of Yazīd ibn Unaisa who believed in associating with the early Muhakkima who arose before the Azāriqa, but in dissociating from those who came after them, with the exception of the Ibādīyyah whom he befriended. Yazīd also maintained that Allāh would raise up a messenger from among the Persians, and would reveal to him a book written in Jannāh, and that this book would be revealed as a whole. He would abandon the sharī'ah of Muhammad and follow the religion of the Sabaeans mentioned in the Qur'ān, who are not, however, the Sabaeans living in Harrān and Wāsit. Yazīd befriended those of the ′Ahl al-Kitāb who accepted the prophethood of Muhammad, even though they did not embrace his religion. Those among his associates and others who deserved the prescribed penalty he regarded as disbelievers and polytheists. According to him also ever sin whether venial or grave is polytheism.



The Ibādīyyah Khārijites are the least among the Khawārij in extremism and they remain in Omān and al-Maghrib, but today's Ibādīyyah are only related to the past Ibādīyyah in name, meaning they negate from themselves the characteristics of Khārijiyyah.

as-Sufriyyah (الصفرية‎‎) - These are the followers of Ziyād ibn al-Asfar. They differ on several points from the Azāriqa, the Najdāt, and the Ibādites. For example, they do not regard as disbelievers those who abstain from fighting, provided they agree with them in their religious beliefs. They do not abandon the punishment of stoning to death; nor do they hold that the children of polytheists should be put to death; nor do they declare them disbelievers, and neither do they condemn them to hell forever. They say that dissimulation is permissible in words though not in deeds. They maintain, too, that those deeds for which the prescribed punishment is due do not render a man liable to be described by a name other than that for which it is due; thus fornication, theft, slander make a man a fornicator, thief or slanderer, but not a disbeliever or polytheists. On the other hand in the case of those grave sins, such as omitting a prayer or fleeing from battles, for which no punishment is prescribed on account of their gravity, the only guilty does become a disbeliever.



It is reported of Dahhāk, who was a member of this group, that he allowed the marriage of Muslim women to disbelievers amongst them when they were in the territory of dissimulation, not, however, in the territory where they could openly declare their belief. Ziyād ibn al-Asfar considered all the categories of alms as one in times of dissimulation. It is reported of him also that he said, "In our own eyes we are believers, but we do not know. Perhaps in the eyes of Allāh we have lost faith." He held that polytheism was of two kinds: the first was obedience to Satan, the other worship of idols. Disbelief also is of two kinds: one consists in not acknowledging Allāh's favours, the other in denying His Lordship. Dissociation, too, is of two kinds: one is dissociation from those who have merited the prescribed punishment - this is Sunnah; the other is dissociation from those who deny Allāh - this is obligatory.