The Ruling on the Khawarij and Whether They Are Disbelievers
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The questioner:
These are some questions that came in via the internet. The questioner asks: Are the Khawarij considered disbelievers? And is it true that His Eminence Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) held that they were disbelievers?
The Shaykh:
The scholars differed regarding the Khawarij: are they disbelievers who have exited the religion, or are they disbelievers in the sense of minor disbelief? There are two positions. The first position is that they are not disbelievers who have exited the religion, but rather they are Muslims who have committed a major sin among the major sins. Therefore, when 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was fighting them and was asked, "Are they disbelievers?" he said, "No, they fled from disbelief; they are not disbelievers." This is the position of the majority of the scholars of knowledge: that they are not disbelievers who have exited the religion. The second position is that they are disbelievers who have exited the religion, based on the apparent meaning of the hadiths: Sahih Muslim 1068a the arrow, then they do not return to it. They took the hadith at its apparent meaning. Allah knows best.
The questioner:
More.
The Shaykh:
As for Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him), I do not know that he issued a ruling to that effect, nor have I heard it from him, nor have I read it in his books. He only warns against the doctrine of the Khawarij, warning strongly against it. As for him ruling that they are disbelievers, I do not know that.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
These are some questions that came in via the internet. The questioner asks: Are the Khawarij considered disbelievers? And is it true that His Eminence Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him) held that they were disbelievers?
The Shaykh:
The scholars differed regarding the Khawarij: are they disbelievers who have exited the religion, or are they disbelievers in the sense of minor disbelief? There are two positions. The first position is that they are not disbelievers who have exited the religion, but rather they are Muslims who have committed a major sin among the major sins. Therefore, when 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was fighting them and was asked, "Are they disbelievers?" he said, "No, they fled from disbelief; they are not disbelievers." This is the position of the majority of the scholars of knowledge: that they are not disbelievers who have exited the religion. The second position is that they are disbelievers who have exited the religion, based on the apparent meaning of the hadiths:
They separate themselves from the religion
ينفردون من الدينjust as the arrow passes through
كما يمرق السهم منThe questioner:
More.
The Shaykh:
As for Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz (may Allah have mercy on him), I do not know that he issued a ruling to that effect, nor have I heard it from him, nor have I read it in his books. He only warns against the doctrine of the Khawarij, warning strongly against it. As for him ruling that they are disbelievers, I do not know that.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
شرح فضل الإسلام [ صالح الفوزان ]، باب ما جاء في غربة الإسلام وفضل الغرباء — islamhouse.com (56:14)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.