Refuting Extremism- Part I: The Khawaarij ideology will continue to appear until the last hour

By Abdul Qadir Baksh

The Khawaarij ideology will continue to appear until the last hour

The impact of the Khawaarij, which was the first sect to split from the Muslims, had far reaching effects. It encouraged many other rebellions to take place in history, even though in later cases they had different political reasons. A number of different sects evolved from the Khawaarij throughout history. They either gave themselves names or they were exposed by the righteous scholars of Islam in the past. Today they are known by various names and exist in all parts of the world. The righteous scholars of this day also expose them by their names and features. Some

examples are the Jamat al Jihad wa Takfeer wal Hijra, Ikwaan al Muslimon, GIA, Muhajiroon, Salafi Youth for Reform, among many others. Some do not even take names for fear of being imprisoned by the regimes, like followers of Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza al Misri, Faisal Abdullah and not forgetting Abu Mohammed - the self acclaimed Khaleefah of the Muslims who resided in Luton and London, among other places. Their hallmarks are all the same, the call to excommunication of the Muslim leaders, and the promotion of jihad as the most important Islamic call of today and the only real way to revive this declining ummah.

The mere fact that the Prophet Mohammad informed us that they would continue to appear up to the last hour is enough reason for us to believe it. The Prophet prophesised in the famous hadith of Dhul Khuwaisara “verily from the progeny of this man will be a people who will leave the religion as fast as an arrow leaves the bow” referring to the Khawaarij. Allah the Most High said “and he does not speak of his own desires he speaks revelation

revealed to him” . Therefore, as Muslims, we have faith in his prophecies believing ultimately the information came to us from our Lord. Also, Ibn Umar narrates from the Messenger of Allah that: “they will continue to appear until the last of them joins the anti-Christ fighting against the Muslims and their leader.

Catalysts which aid the Khawaarij methodology to reappear

Thereafter, we find after the first three generations of Muslims, ignorance began to spread. Many hypocrites entered into Islam with a view to destroying it from within. They fabricated ahadith in an attempt to corrupt the fundamental beliefs of Muslims and sow discord between them. Thus, we saw the birth of the first split: the Khawaarij and after them the Mu’tazalite, Jahmiyah, Ash’ariah, Shi’ah, Qadariyah, Murjiyah, to name just a few. In each generation, history recorded the reappearance of the Khawaarij up to and including the present day. Those who lacked Islamic knowledge believed the misconceptions and misinterpretations of fundamentals by the above groups and fell victim to their methodology. Following these sects, fuelled by their own desires, they made these deviated methodologies famous. All these splits and internal dissention caused the Muslim ummah to weaken from within, as disunity caused them to organise into separate pacts making them seemingly weaker in the sight of the enemy. The enemies where then able to infiltrate, further corrupting the true knowledge of Islam. The enemies of Islam tried to distort the true

form of Islam and convinced people with little or no knowledge of Islam to follow these deviant branches. This was the strategy used by the enemies of Islam from the death of the Prophet onwards. Therefore, it can very easily be understood how the Khawaarij are able to reappear time and time again in different forms with different added perversions from the true belief.

An example of the strategy used by the disbelievers can be found in Abdullah ibn Saba who travelled through the Muslim empire spreading lies, doubt and suspicion about Uthman bin Afaan until he was killed. Abdullah bin Saba professed an outward Muslim belief but was in fact a Jew originally from Yemen who was extremely agitated by the spread and strength of Islam and the Muslims. He continued his hypocrisy even after Ali was made the khalifa and no doubt he played an important part in sowing dissention amongst the Muslims which led to the great conflict between the Khawaarij and Ali and Mu’awiyah.

Another reason for the re appearance of the Khawaarij was that the number of battles the Muslims fought led to a large number of the scholars being killed. This left a vacuum of knowledge which the deviated sects mentioned above took advantage of. The rebellions and revolts and discord against the Muslim leaders proved the huge lack of Islamic knowledge amongst the general people. This gave rise to different and incorrect understandings of Islam which in turn caused more differing and dispute and more sects to appear. Widespread ignorance led to a lack of patience. People did not understand they had to be patient with their rulers. Hadith, like those mentioned in Bukhari, is proof of this fact being a cause of breeding the Khawaarij ideology.

 A man came to the Prophet after being tortured by the Quraysh and said: “are you not the Prophet of Allah?” he replied: “I am”, the man continued: “then why do you not raise your hands to Allah and ask him to relieve us of this?” The Prophet replied: “verily you are a hasty people, verily you are a hasty people, verily you are a hasty people, there were people before you who’s leaders would dig a huge ditch and then place them inside it and saw their bodies in half down the middle and use metal claws to peel of their skins, yet they never left their religion.”6 Meaning they remained steadfast in the methodology they were upon. And the hadith of the Messenger narrated by Abdullah bin Amr bin Aas where he said: “Verily Allah will not lift this knowledge by taking it away from the hearts of men, rather he will lift it away by the death of the scholars such that their will remain the ignorant ones and they will give rulings and misguide themselves and others”.

Islamic Ignorance these days is not like the ignorance of the previous generations

Ignorance of Islamic knowledge these days is far much more than it was during the revolt of the Khawaarij and the birth of subsequent sects. Each generation became more ignorant than its preceding generations. As for the first three generations, it has been testified by the Prophet that it will be safe from corruption of knowledge and that it is the best of all generations. He said in a hadith narrated by Ibn Masood: “the best generations are my

generation, then those who follow that, then those who follow that, then after them will come those who will testify but their testimony will not be accepted?. In another long hadith narrated by Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyaan he said: “…..and verily my ummah will split into seventy three sects, all of them in the Hellfire except one. A companion said: “describe them to us, oh

Messenger of Allah,” he said: “those who follow what I am upon and my companions are upon today.”

The Takfiri extremist indoctrination

Many of the contemporary takfiri extremists were indoctrinated by so called “scholars’ of Islam in Peshawar and Afghanistan namely the likes of Abdullah Azzam, even more contemporary Abu Hamza al Misri, Abu Qatada al Filisteeni; the latter two reside in UK and have actively propagated extremist ideas. They are now under arrest in Great Britain. There were a number of other so called ‘scholars’ in Afghanistan indoctrinating the fighters with emotional speeches criticizing the Arab leaders of the world .These scholars carried the ideology of ‘Jamat ul Jihad wa Takfeer wal Hijrah’ they believed in excommunicating all the Muslim rulers of the world from Islam - this is commonly known in Arabic as ‘takfeer’. Some of foreign mujahideen who were influenced by these ‘scholars’ carried this corrupt ideology back to their countries and spread it.

The Muslim belief is that no one has the right to judge by any law other than the law of Allah. If a Muslim leader was to judge by other than Allah’s law, such as secularist or communist, then this is an act which takes him outside the fold of Islam and he is excommunicated according to the contemporary group Jamat ul Jihad wa Takfeer wal Hijrah without any further discussion or excuses! This subject of judgment by Allah’s law is often referred to as ‘Hakimiyah’ or divine legislation. This group believed that the Islamic Shari’ah is the only law which Muslims are allowed to rule by, which is a shared common belief among all Muslims, the deviation however was in their implementation of it. They made no distinction between the one who judged or supported the secularist law because of weakness, being forced, worldly gain, following of desires, or even misunderstanding whilst maintaining that the Islamic law is supreme and must be adhered to and the one who judges or supports secular law because he loves it, deems it superior to Islamic law, or believes he has a choice in the matter of what to rule by.

The distinction is that the latter are excommunicated from the religion and Muslim community by consensus of all the Muslim scholars. As for the former then they are not excommunicated from the religion, they are deemed sinful upon major sin according to the correct opinion. The takfiri extremists make no distinction and have excommunicated all and sundry from the religion whoever judged or supported the secularist law for whatever reason. The group Jamat ul Jihad wa Takfeer wal Hijrah had pronounced the Egyptian regime and all its supporters and helpers and executors of its law and order as disbelievers. Therefore, the government, military, police, judges, those who worked in the courts, all civil servants, and anyone who supported these categories of people were all labelled non-Muslims. Even their wives and children and anyone who defended them were excommunicated. This religious perversion naturally led them to their extreme views and actions.

These takfiri principles are responsible for the carrying out of hideous crimes and horrible killings and massacres of innocent Muslims and non-Muslims in the world today. This is exactly what the Khawaarij did and they too held the same principles. They even killed a companion of the Prophet Abdullah bin Khabaab and his wife who was pregnant and they killed her unborn child. They wanted to excommunicate the Muslims fighting against

them, and then take their women and booty from the battle of the camel in which Aeysha, the Prophets wife, took part. This was also one of their disputes against ‘Ali because he prohibited them from this following the hadith: “verily your blood, your wealth and your honour are sacred like the sacredness of this place [Mecca], like the sacredness of this day [ Arafah], like the sacredness of this month [Hajj]”?.

The Takfiri’s extremists misinterpret the Qur’an

Theologically the contemporary takfiri’s went astray in interpreting the verse in the Qur’an of Surah al Ma’idah verse 44, literally without looking into the explanation of it, which states: “and whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed then they are the disbelievers”. So they claim, Allah excommunicated them for not judging by His book (law). This implies that

all the Muslim leaders of the world are disbelievers because they too do not judge by what Allah has revealed. Allah said in another verse in Surah al Ma’idah verse 51: “…and whoever from amongst you turns towards them then they are indeed from them…” this last verse was their justification to prove that all those who worked for, supported or defended the disbelieving Muslim leaders are themselves also disbelievers. One can clearly see the similarity between them and the Khawaarij claim. With regards to refuting this false understanding and misinterpretation, of the above verse, I would argue that in the Qur’an and the authentic ahadith, there are a number of texts which use the words ‘if one does “x” he has disbelieved or is a disbeliever’, however, this does not always mean the individual will literally be excommunicated from the religion. In some cases, it means he has fallen into major sin. Like for example the hadith in Saheeh Muslim: “speaking ill of a Muslim is sin, and fighting him is disbelief” this does not mean the one who fights a Muslim is excommunicated because there is a verse in Surah al Hujurat “if two believing parties fight each other then fix the affairs between them” in this verse Allah refers to the fighting parties as

believers. This clearly implies that the meaning of the aforementioned hadith is not disbelief which excommunicates rather it is a major sin. Another example would be the hadith again in Saheeh Muslim; “whoever enters his women from her anus has disbelieved in what I have come with” and there is consensus that this action in itself does not excommunicate a person from the religion. Likewise, the verse of Surah al Ma’idah that has been misinterpreted “and whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed then they are the disbelievers” is also understood to mean the disbelief which does not excommunicate rather is major sin.

The Takfiri extremists distort the concept of Jihad

Another perversion the takfiri extremists have is their view that the way to revive an Islamic state is by means of Jihad only, regardless of time and place and without any exceptions. They believe waging Jihad against all non believing countries is an obligation upon each and every Muslim since the fall of Spain. This is why they reject any movement which call to politics or rectification of the self and religion as the way to revive an Islamic state. The fact that many political Islamist parties failed in the past and their lack of patience with the methodology of rectifying of the self and religion only increased their belief in their corrupt methodology. An example of this would be when the FIS14 party of Algeria won the national elections; but during the uprising and elections they were forcefully dissolved by the military, many of their followers went over to the GIA15 and waged armed struggle against the regime. Others activated the armed wing of the FIS and fought the authorities separately from the GIA because they disagreed with the ideology it had of takfeer and extremism. The principle that defensive jihad is the most important of all obligations, more important than prayer and fasting as the only way to revive an Islamic state is another perverted principle which not only the Jamat ul Jihad wa Takfeer wal Hijrah but also the GIA, the late Abdullah al Azam, Abu Hamza, and Abu Qatada, all hold. They rooted this principle from a number of misinterpreted sources like that of the hadith “when a person asked him: “guide me to an act which is equal to jihad in the way of Allah”, the Messenger replied: “I cannot find anything equal to it?; then he said to the questioner: “could you stand up and pray non-stop and fast non-stop from the time a mujahid leaves for battle?” He asked: “who could do that, oh Messenger of Allah?” the Messenger then said: “a similitude of a mujahid who fights in the way of Allah is like a person who prays and fasts continuously until the mujahid returns to his family?. This hadith is actually interpreted correctly to refer to the voluntary prayers and fasts not the obligatory ones. Further evidence to prove this is the hadith of the Messenger where he said: “the difference between us and them is prayer so whoever abandons it has disbelieved”. Also, Allah has made prayer the second pillar of Islam after tawheed and made fasting the third; jihad was not mentioned as even being a pillar of the religion. Therefore, what these takfiri extremists claim regarding the primacy of jihad as the obligation of all obligations cannot be true.

The takfiri extremists spill Muslim blood

The takfiri extremists indiscriminately killed men, women and children, Muslim or non-Muslim. An example of this would be the GIA of Algeria during their uprising and continuous terror against the regime and civilian population. They permitted taking booty from Muslims after killing the Muslim villagers; according to al Misri they issued a fatwa claiming the civilians were no longer Muslims. To them, taking Muslim women as slave

girls and plundering their property and wealth, was permissible. They excommunicated the Algerian civilian population from Islam on the grounds that they supported the regime over them. This action of the civilians does not necessarily excommunicate one from the religion. If they supported the regime believing that the secular laws are better for them, then this could excommunicate them. However, one could also support such regimes as he/she may believe that their children may die from starvation from the resulting oppression. Thus, it is not out of disbelief that they supported the regime, but as a result of satisfying their everyday needs. And Allah says

“...except the one who is forced whilst his heart is full of faith...”. Excommunication does not apply if an individual is forced into submission. The vast majority of the Algerian population fall into this category, yet the GIA with their ignorance labelled them all as excommunicated without any distinction and applied other principles to permit the plundering of their wealth such as the hadith of the Prophet: “I have been ordered to fight the people until they testify non has the right to be worshipped and if they do that, their blood, their wealth, and their honour are safe from me.” So the GIA claimed the civilians worshipped the regime over Allah thus plundered their wealth, stole their wealth and took their honour.

The takfiri extremists call to disobeying the leaders

The takfiri extremists disobeyed their Muslim leaders; even if though the grounds for excommunication were not always clear-cut. According to the majority of the predecessors and contemporary scholars, if there is just 1% doubt a ruler may be a Muslim and 99% that he is not, even if he is incredibly tyrannical, we must believe him to be a Muslim if he professes faith and obey him in what is right. The Khawaarij done exactly the opposite; they disobeyed ‘Ali at the battle of Siffin and refused to fight Mu’awiyah. They also excommunicated him Ali from Islam. Whereas all the scholars of that time agreed he was still a Muslim. The Prophet said: “…obey your leader even if he beats your back and takes your wealth” Allah said in the Qur’an:

“Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those appointed over you”, the Khawaarij committed the crime of disobeying the leader thus they disobeyed Allah and His Messenger also.

The Takfir extremists justify revolting against Muslim leaders

The takfiri extremists justify revolting against the Muslim governments claiming the later did not judge by the law of Allah; rather they used manmade secularist law. This is very similar to the Khawaarij justifications in revolting against Ali, claiming that Ali brought men to judge in an affair in which judgement belongs to Allah alone. This misunderstood issue of ‘hakimiyah’ or judgement was one of the primary causes of violence for all

takfiri extremists. Takfiri extremists’ main slogan or cause for rebellion is the issue of Hakimiyah; they wanted the implementation of shari’ah, citing the verse of the Qur’an: “verily the judgement is for Allah alone” claiming that all ‘Muslim’ governments were judging with manmade laws. The Khawaarij made exactly the same accusation against Ali when they said he has called men to judge in a dispute in which only Allah book can judge, as Allah states “verily judgement is for Allah alone”. One may argue the takfiri extremist’s complaint is different in that they assert there is a complete wholesale removal of the shari’ah’ law the Muslim governments today do not implement the shari’ah’ at all. The takfiri’s would further argue that ‘Ali did implement the shari’ah generally but in this ‘one instance’ he did not. So on this ground we cannot cite the above similarity between the khawaarij and the takfiri extremists of today. I would rebut this claim as this argument does not specify how many instances are allowed before a given ruler is

adjudged to be transgressing the shari’ah - if we were to follow this takfiri principle, what exact number would be the cutting off point before we are allowed to rebel against the Muslim leaders? Everyone will differ; some will say one instance, others will say two or three or four. There is no definitive evidence to answer this question. The safest position is to not rebel or make takfir of the leaders over the number of instances. The correct position is if one sees open kufr displayed by the leader along with the ability to remove the leader without greater harm to the population amongst other important conditions then rebellion is considered. This decision can only reside with the wise, knowledgeable and renowned scholars of this religion and not young, highly emotional, ignorant youth or self-acclaimed

scholars.

The Takfiri extremists arouse emotions by openly speaking ill of the leaders

The takfiri extremists, along with other opposition groups, propagate what they believe to be the mistakes, sins, and corruption of Muslim leaders around the world. This is another similar characteristic of the Khawaarij; they proclaimed to the people that ‘Ali had called for men to judge in a dispute which only Allah’s Law can adjudicate; that Ali had taken off the ‘cloak’ which Allah clothed him with which signified his rank as the Chief

of the Believers; that he did not allow the Muslims to take the spoils of war after the Battle of the Camel. They spread these rumours and what they viewed as corruption amongst the Muslims, stirring up hatred and dislike for ‘Ali. The correct thing for both the contemporary takfiri extremists and the Khawaarij was to take the leader by his hand, away from public and advise

him. If he accepted, then all well and good, if he did not accept then they had done the obligation that was upon them. This action is based upon an authentic hadith. The hadith does not sanction the use of violence and rebellion against the leader if it going to cause more harm.

The Takfiri extremists call for abandoning the Muslim communities

The takfiri extremists call for hijrah [migration/flight] from the Muslim community into the mountains and rural areas claiming that all Muslim citizens of a state are apostates if they support the leaders whom they also believe to be apostates. Similarly, the Khawaarij sect abandoned the Muslim community in Kufa and settled in a place called Haroorah claiming ‘Ali and all those who followed him were apostates. Both these two groups

misunderstood the hadith: “I am free from the one who chooses to reside amongst the disbelievers”. In this case, the citizens of Kufa were not disbelievers and regime was not based on kufr, therefore the principle was incorrectly applied - Ali and his followers were not apostates.

The Takfiri extremists do not give precedence to Islamic knowledge

The takfiri extremists have a severe lack of Islamic knowledge as is evident in their actions from fighting a regime which outnumbered them and out-witted them. If they had the appropriate knowledge, they would have realised that it was legally permissible to abstain from fighting if the enemy out-numbered them by a ratio of more than 2:1. As Allah states “...and now

Allah has lightened your burden for you and knows that amongst you are weak ones so if you are one hundred patient you will overwhelm two hundred and if you are one thousand you will overwhelm two thousand by the permission of Allah and Allah is with the patient” . Also if they had knowledge they would have understood the principles of enjoining good and forbidding evil before they caused tribulation to fall upon all the Muslims: if by changing an evil or harm it gives rise to a greater evil or harm then it is impermissible to attempt to change it and one would be sinful if he did so. It is clear to any sensible person that given our present circumstances of weakness the harm which comes from attempting a revolution is much more than the harm in having a secularist law. Similarly it is crystal clear to all that the leaders of the Muslim world command armies that out-number the takfiri extremists by a ratio of far more than 2:1. Their lack of knowledge of these principles caused them to rebel. The Khawaarij also suffered from a severe lack of knowledge as Ibn Abbas pointed out to them references from the Qur’an of the permissibility of using men to adjudicate in disputes to prevent discord and bloodshed as well as the permissibility for Ali to remove his title and the impermissibility to take Muslims and their property as spoils of war. Yet those from amongst them who did not accept Ibn Abass explanation were ignorant and fought Ali and were subsequently annihilated by him, so they ad a common characteristic of lack of knowledge.

The Takfiri methodology strives on immature, young and emotional youth

Most of the takfiri extremists, constituted mainly of young men and youth, and are known for their lack of knowledge. Furthermore, the renowned scholars of today do not recognize them as knowledgeable counterparts. They are generally highly emotional young people who do not know how to channel their anger and balance the affairs with the scales of the shari’ah. The Khawaarij had similar traits, the Messenger of Allah said in a long hadeeth “...they will be young in age...”? An Nawawi explained this to mean; “...simple in their intellect...’ When Ibn Abbas went to advise them, he said: “I have come from a people upon whom the Qur’an was revealed and I see none of them amongst you.” He meant he had come from the

knowledgeable companions of the Prophet, who were by then generally older and wiser than them - and he did not see any of them amongst the Khawaarij. They consisted mostly of young men and a few older ones but none of them were companions. The takfiri extremists denounce the right of all the Muslim presidents to be leaders as did the Khawaarij denounce the right of Ali to be the caliph. The takfiri extremists fought the leaders and the Muslim states, just as the Khawaarij waged war against Ali and the state.

The Takfiri extremists are easily infiltrated

The takfiri extremists are easily infiltrated by secret agents like MI5 and FBI and hypocrites as well as a number of other agents. What makes this possible is their belief in jihad being the head of all obligations and their extreme love for fighting, and killing. With this principle they welcomed all fighters from everywhere even foreigners who they do not know. This infiltration has been proven beyond doubt during the GIA revolt against the Algerian regime when they announced they had infiltrated the GIA to the

highest section of its hierarchy. There are also self confessions to this fact. The Khawaarij were also infiltrated by the hypocrites and the enemies of Islam. During the expansion of the Muslim empire many non-Muslims wanted to destroy Islam and its followers because they had their lands taken over and property taken as spoils of war. To enter into Islam with the aim to destroy it from within was made easy by the Khawaarij as their main call was to fight against Ali and accepted anyone to fight with them as long as they proclaimed this belief. An example of this is Abdullah bin Saba who responsible for concocting the fitnah against Uthman. Ibn Saba was a Jew who disguised himself as a Muslim and infiltrated the ranks of the Muslims in order to de-stabilise the Muslims; he caused havoc and discord causing

Muslims to disobey their leaders all over the Muslim lands.

Takfiri extremists abandon the scholars

The takfiri extremists abandon the scholars and seek guidance from within them as they regard themselves to be the wisest and most knowledgeable. They disrespect prominent scholars, claiming they are all government agents and even go as far as pronouncing them apostates for not supporting the takfiri extremist struggle as well as not forbidding the evil of their leaders who do not implement the complete shari’ah. The Khawaarij

did exactly the same; they separated themselves from the Companions who were the scholars of the time and pronounced them as disbelievers for siding with Ali or Mu’awiyah. They thought they had enough knowledge and wisdom within themselves. This was a main cause of their destruction. Al Jasim strengthens this opinion by stating a hadith of the Prophet when he was describing features which cause personal destruction, one of the most prominent features being those individuals who are in awe of themselves.

Here are some circumstances which cause the takfiri extremist ideology to breed;

_ Lack of understanding the religion; weakness in legislative knowledge or taking the knowledge from untrustworthy sources.

_ Extremism in following the religious principles and over strictness in the religion.

_ Unbalanced jealousy for the religion (extreme emotions without knowledge and wisdom).

_ Abstaining from the scholars and taking knowledge from them and following them.

_ Learning for deception in order to earn more respect than the scholars and other people.

_ Speakers are young in age and lack experience

_ Widespread evil, corruption and oppression in the communities and the abandoning of enjoining good and forbid ding evil.

_ Resentment of the social situation and those responsible for it.

_ Exciting the youth and the callers to Islam to dispute and argue with the authorities - this is a big plot against the religion and its people.

_ Little patience and weak wisdom in propagation.

_ Taking knowledge from the wrong people and wrong sources.

_ Indulging in disobedience and distancing themselves from Allah.

_ Muslims turning away from their religion and over-indulging in the worldly delights.

_ Widespread oppression in all its forms and kinds from the leaders and those whom are led.

_ The ruling of the disbelievers (Zionists, Imperialists, Atheists etc) over the Muslim leaders.

_ The internal fight against those who practice their religion and act according to the sunnah.

_ The dissention between the scholars and the youth.

_ Mistakes in methodology of contemporary dawah movements.

_ The emergence of the young and foolish as leaders of the

people.

_ Corruption of the media

We find most, if not all of these conditions, some of them in almost every Muslim land as well as in non-Muslim lands in contemporary times. For these reasons, there is no doubt that the Khawaarij ideology will continue to exist for many years to come, as long as these social conditions are present. In fact, these conditions will remain until the last day and the Khawaarij methodology will appear and re-appear and people will rebel and fight the leaders, shed blood until the Last Hour. The Prophet said: “A tribe will appear during the end of the world young in age and foolish. They will speak well. Their imaan will not go further than their throats, they will leave this religion as fast as an arrow leaves the bow. So wherever you find them fight them, for indeed in fighting them there is a great reward on the day of

judgement.” Ibn Umar narrates from the Messenger of Allah: “they will continue to appear until the last of them joins the anti-Christ fighting against the Muslims and their leader.

Are the Takfiri extremists labelled as Khawaarij?

Finally, the question remains to be answered: those whom we witness in this contemporary age committing violence and other forms of corruption, (such as the call to rebel against the Muslim rulers and excommunicating them from the religion), are they to be labelled as Khawaarij or not? In answer to this, al Aqal makes a clear distinction between those of them who hold the complete belief as the early Khawaarij sect did and those who held merely some of their traits. He explains that those who hold the same

fundamentals, in aqeeda, manhaj, rulings and misinterpretation of the texts validating takfeer and permit the shedding of Muslim blood are labelled as Khawaarij. As for those who do not entirely agree with the Khawaarij in heir fundamentals yet call to some or parts of their features like rebellion gainst the Muslim rulers with or without the use of violence or the need to proclaim takfeer, these individuals or groups harbour the traits of the Khawaarij but should not be labelled as such. In conclusion, to be labelled as Khawaarij, an individual or group must hold the exact belief and methodologies as the early Khawaarij sect did. Most of the deviated takfiri groups of this day and age fall into this latter category, it is indeed a dangerous position to be in as it is the spring board to becoming labelled as the khawaarij.