MUSLIMS: DOCTRINESBasran Khawarij, including Nafi' ibn al-Azraq and Najda ibn 'Amir,
both of the Banii f:lanifa, joined Ibn az-Zubayr in the Hijaz in order
to fight the Syrians and participated in the first siege of Makka in 683.
They were divided over whether or not to recognize Ibn az-Zubayr as
the Commander of the Faithful. When they discovered that he disa-
greed with them concerning 'Uthman and 'Ali, they returned to Basra
where they split among themselves. Nafi' declared those Khawarij
who had not taken up arms to be unbelievers, but Najda did not agree.
After they returned to Basra, 'Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad is said to have
imprisoned about one hundred and forty Khawarij.24
When Yazid I died in 683, the number of Khawarij in Basra in-
creased. As soon as 'Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad had turned over authority
to his lieutenant Mas'iid ibn 'Amr of the tribe of Azd, the Khawarij
broke out of prison, allied themselves with the tribes of Tamim and
'Abd al-Qays, rebelled against Mas'iid, and killed him in the spring
of 684. Afterwards the Khawarij withdrew to the Nahr al-Asawira
but were driven away from there by the men of Azd.^25 The final division
between the moderate and extremist Khawarij occurred in 684 when
Ibn az-Zubayr sent his own governor to Basra to take over the gov-
ernment from Nafi'. At that point, Nafi' and his followers, who were
called Azariqa, decided to fight and withdrew to Khuzistan. Nafi' was
a typical militant ascetic who favored zuhd (Ar.), opposed the love of
this world as well as its government, and incited his companions to
jihiid (Ar.). The Azariqa considered any Muslim who did not agree
with them and join them to be an apostate (Ar. murtadd) who should
be killed, together with his wives and children. Their depredations
were terrible. In 685 and 686 they burned, looted, and killed in the
region between Basra and Khuzistan, and in 687 they sacked Mada'in
and massacred its Muslim population. At Sabat they killed a woman
of the tribe of Azd while she was reciting the Qur'an. On the other
hand, they protected Jews, Christians, and Magians.^26
The Khawarij regarded themselves as the only true Muslims. Mus-
lims who sinned were guilty of un belief (Ar. kufr) or polytheism (Ar.
shirk) and forfeited their membership in the community. More extreme
groups such as the Azariqa and the Yazidiyya expelled a Muslim for
24 Baladhuri, Ansab, IVh, 96, 101-2; Salern, Khawarij, p. 28.
2S Baladhuri, Ansab, IVh, 112; Dlnawari, Akhbar at-tiwal, p. 279; Tabari, Ta'rfkh,
n;461.
26 Baladhuri, Ansab, IVb, 93-94, 115; R. Rubinacci, "Azari~a," El(2), I, 810-11;
Salern, Khawarij, p. 66; TabarI, Ta'rmh, n, 755-56.