3 - Protest and Piety

Summary

Chapter 3 provides an overview of the history and development of the medieval group known as the Khārijites. It first discusses the many problems with scholarship and sources on them: there are vitually no sources from the Khārijites themselves, and much of what exists is polemic against them. Nevertheless, the chapter delves into the origins of the group at the Battle of Ṣiffīn, the shurāt rebellions that followed, and the emergence of the militant Khārijites during the first Muslim civil war (fitna). It emphasizes how the militant groups achieved self-definition earlier than their moderate counterparts, but that their militancy resulted in their early demise at the hands of the Umayyads. The last segment of this chapter follows the development of the moderates, namely, the Ṣufriyya and Ibāḍiyya, the latter of whom survive to the present.