RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIESIbn Wahb with about five hundred Basrans east of Mada'in at Nah-
rawan.^9 On their way to Nahrawan, the followers of Ibn Wahb are
said to have killed any Muslim they found who supported the arbi-
tration.^10 'Abdullah ibn al-Kawwa' and the ascetic Shurayl). ibn Ab}
Awfa were among the Khariji leaders at Nahrawan, and I:Iurqii~ ibn
Zuhayr led the infantry, but Shabath ibn Rib'i was in charge of the
left wing of 'Ali's army.ll Out of about six thousand Khawarij at
Nahrawan, some twenty-eight hundred were killed in battle with 'Ali's
army in July. The rest scattered throughout Iraq and western Iran and
returned to Kufa after 'Ali died.^12
The Battle of Nahrawan marked the break between 'All and the
religious opposition in Iraq. Thereafter it became increasingly obvious
that the Khawarij were less interested in the claims of either 'Ali or
Mu'awiya than they were in providing a vehicle for protest and armed
revolt against whoever happened to represent the establishment in
Iraq. The first Khariji rising to attract dissidents from outside the
original group was that of al-Khirrit ibn Rashid and the Banii Najiya.
They had originally been at Basra and had joined 'Ali just before the
Battle of the Camel in 656. Afterwards they settled at Kufa and fought
on 'Ali's side at Siffin and Nahrawan. But they broke with him in
658, refused to pay the Islamic tithe tax, left Kufa, and raided across
the Sawad toward Fars. By calling for vengeance for the death of
'Uthman and for the abolition of taxes, al-Khirrit gathered various
other dissident elements around him, including some of the 'Abd al-
Qays and local Christians and Kurds in Fars.13
In opposition to the new elite of the garrison cities, the early Kha-
warij stood for the original Islam of equality and brotherhood, in-
cluding women, and for a community based on faith instead of kinship.
They were also loyal to the sunna of God and of Mul).ammad and
they insisted on the application of Qur'anic principles, as their rallying
cry of "Judgment belongs only to God" signified. They were famous
for their vigils, excessive prostration in worship, fasting, recitation of
9 Dinawari, Akhbar at-tiwal, p. 204; Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 3367.
10 Dinawari, Akhbar at-tiwal, pp. 219-20.
11 Ibid., pp. 222-23.
12 E. Salem, The Political Theory and Institutions of the Khawarij (Baltimore, 1956),
p. 17; Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 3367-68; 11, 17-19. According to Dinawari (Akhbar at-tiwal
p. 224) five hundred men under Farwa ibn Nawfal al-Ashja'ileft Nahrawan before the
battle, others returned to Kufa, and one thousand men took safety at 'All's banner,
leaving 'Abdulliih ibn Wahb with less than four thousand men, all of whom were killed.
13 Tabari, Ta'rlkh, I, 3433.