RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESthe conquest, especially during the two (itnas of 656-61 and 680-92,
the antagonists tended to define each other as unbelievers so that armed
opposition would be justified. These conflicts forced Muslims to make
judgments and to take action, to take stands on the issues and to
justify the stands which they took. Because these issues were expressed
in religious terms, these conflicts contributed to the post-Qur'anic
development of Islamic doctrine. Distinct groups and positions had
formed by the time of 'Abd al-Malik (686-705), and although sec-
tarian forms of Islam tended to be defined in terms of political op-
position, it is important to recognize the reality of religious convictions
in spite of their political dimensions.
There seem to have been three central issues that cut across sectarian
divisions. The first issue was the nature of leadership and authority,
which was an Islamic form of the ancient conflict between divine
kingship (as it was expressed in royal absolutism) and forms of group
government. Among Muslims this took the form of a conflict between
the authority of an infallible, divinely appointed, rightly guided leader
and the authority of an equally infallible community of righteous
believers through the consensus (Ar. ijma; of its spokesmen.
The second issue involved different concepts of human nature. On
one side were those who believed that human nature was similar to
divine nature, or that there was a divine element in human nature
which enabled believers to enjoy private contact with God and to
achieve perfection. On the other side were those who asserted that
human and divine natures were totally different, that God was ab-
solutely perfect and infinitely distant, and that humans were inferior,
dependent, subject creatures whose very works were derived from God.
The third issue was the definition of the meaning of religious faith.
For some, belief (Ar. iman) alone was sufficient, although others in-
sisted that the sincerity of belief had to be demonstrated by living
according to the Qur'an and sunna. Faith tended to be defined more
rigorously by alienated pious Muslims who were prepared to take up
arms and more generously by those with vested interests who preferred
to avoid conflict.
THE KHA W ARIJ
The Kharijl movement developed out of religiously justified oppo-
sition to the growing socioeconomic polarization in the garrison cities
of Iraq. Dissident elements at Basra and Kufa resented the effect of