Are the Khawarij disbelievers?

Question:
Are the Khawarij disbelievers or not? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
The scholars have differed on whether the Khawarij are disbelievers or not. The majority hold that they are not disbelievers, because they erred while intending the truth, but they made a mistake. They are among the most devout people in worship and fear of Allah the Exalted. However, they exercised independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) and erred, so their action is considered open sinfulness (fisq) in belief. They are not declared disbelievers. When the Commander of the Faithful, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), was asked about the Khawarij, even though he was fighting them, they said, "Are they disbelievers, O Commander of the Faithful?" He said, "They have turned away from disbelief." That is, what drove them to this was their fear of disbelief. What drove them to fighting was their fear of disbelief. They thought that what was not disbelief was disbelief, out of their intense fear of disbelief. So he excused them due to ignorance and did not declare them disbelievers. There are scholars who declare them disbelievers based on the apparent meaning of the hadiths . Allah knows best. Yes.