Ali and Muawiya’s right to rule. Based on their
decision to separate from the community of Mus-
lims, this seceding faction came to be known as
the Khawarij or, literally in Arabic, “those who
go out.” The Khawarij’s initial opposition to Ali
and Muawiya quickly developed into a more far-
reaching protest against Muslim leadership in
general and the corruption of Muslim society, and
this protest took a very violent form. According
to the Khawarij, those deviating from (Khariji)
Islam became grave sinners whose Muslim status
and life were forfeit. The Khawarij felt obliged to
purge the community of sinners who jeopardized
the spiritual good of the whole. The means of
purifying the community became a subject of seri-
ous debate among Khawarij, leading to infighting
and further sectarian splits. The most infamous
subsect, the Azariqa, determined that the wives
and children of grave sinners were subject to
death. The most moderate subsect, the ibadiyya,
condemned grave sinners as hypocrites but toler-
ated them within the community of Muslims. The
Ibadiyya, then, were sectarian or heretical due to
their beliefs, not their actions, which accounts for
the fact that they are the only Khariji faction to
survive until the present day.
While the diversity and radical independence
of Khariji subsects prevents a clear articulation
of their common beliefs and practices, they seem
to have agreed on several key issues that distin-
guished them from Sunnis. First, they held a pur-
ist view of the caliph and the office he occupied:
moral or religious infractions nullified a person’s
right to rule. At the same time, however, the Kha-
warij affirmed the equality of all believing men,
permitting anyone to rise to the position of caliph,
unlike the Sunnis who restricted the office to
members of the tribe of Muhammad, the qUraysh.
Second, and related to the first, they rejected the
idea that Faith, not works, determined one’s right-
ful membership in the community of believers.
As a result, the community became the locus of
charisma and purity, and the training ground for
potential leaders.
Khariji uprisings throughout the seventh and
ninth centuries served as a constant reminder
of the limits to Sunni authority and legitimacy,
which in turn provoked Sunni thought and propa-
ganda, including discourse on the Khawarij. Some
medieval Sunni sources portray the Khawarij as
pious but well-intentioned Muslims whose moral
zealotry compromised their ability to live peace-
fully within society; most maintain that Khariji
piety and purity were a cover for more blatant
political interests. By the year 1000 c.e., historical
references to the Khawarij take on a generic mean-
ing of “rebels.” In modern Arab Muslim societies,
the name Khawarij has been used to anathematize
those who use religion to justify political violence,
such as the assassins of Egyptian president Anwar
al-sadat (1918–81).
See also heresy; kafir; sUnnism; theology.
Jeffrey T. KenneyFurther reading: Ignaz Goldziher, Introduction to Islamic
Theology and Law. Translated by Andras and Ruth Ham-
ori (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981);
Jeffrey T. Kenney, Muslim Rebels: The Kharijites and the
Politics of Extremism in Egypt (New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 2006); Michael G. Morony, Iraq after the
Muslim Conquest (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press, 1984); Julius Wellhausen, The Religio-Political
Factions in Early Islam. Translated by R. C. Ostle and S.
M. Walzer, edited by R. C. Ostle (New York: American
Elsevier Publishing Company, 1975).Khilafat Movement (also known as the
Caliphate Movement)
The 1919–24 movement by Muslims in india
to advance the Ottoman sUlta n as the caliph
(Arabic: khalifa) of all Muslims. This movement
demonstrated Indian Muslim pan-islamism, rep-
resented an attempt to mobilize the diverse body
of Indian Muslims using the symbols of Islam and
the ancient office of the caliphate, and it served as
the means by which Muslims came to participate
in the Indian independence movement.K 432 Khilafat Movement