THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE OF THE KHARIJITES DURING THE FIRST CENTURY AH. A HISTORICAL STUDY

Abstract

This article examines the political discourse of the Kharijites who appeared as an opposition group in the fourth decade of the first century AH / seventh century AD, after the Battle of Siffin and the arbitration between ‘Ali and Mu‘awiyah in 38 AH / 659 AD. The article follows the historical developments that the political discourse of the Kharijites underwent before they crystallized into a religious sect at the end of the Umayyad period and collapsed at the start of the Abbasid period and studies the political slogans and values expressed in their political discourse about the Imamate. Throughout Islamic history, political and doctrinal discourses have appeared for both the rulers and the opposition. However, the Kharijites connected their political discourse to their religious ideology, as well as to their Bedouin nature. The political principles of the Kharijites centered on the freedom to choose the caliph or the imam, not restricted to the Quraish