Kharijite Rebellions against Ali

Kharijite Rebellions (657-661)
Part of First Fitna
Date 657 – 661 Location Arabia Iraq Iran Oman Bahrain Result Victory for Ali
Belligerents
Rashidun Caliphate	Kharijites
Commanders and leaders
Ali ibn Abi Talib X Hasan ibn Ali Qays ibn Sa'd Hujr ibn Adi Ziyad ibn Khasafah (WIA) Ma'qil bin Qays Al-Hilu ibn Auf Al-Azdi †[1] Yazid bin Mughafil Al-Abrash ibn Hasān Jariyah bin Qudamah Khalid bin Ma‘dan	Abd Allah ibn Wahb † Hurqus ibn Zuhayr † Abd al-Rahman ibn Muljam  Al-Khirrit bin Rashid al-Naji †[2] Hilal ibn Ulafa al-Taymi † Ashras bin Awf † Al-Ashhab bin Bashir † Sa`id ibn Qafil † Abu Maryam al-Sa'di †
Casualties and losses
Unknown	~ 4,000 killed 500+ captured[3]
3+ Muslim civilians killed by the Kharijites[4][5] and 1 Christian of Banu Taghlib killed[6]

The Kharijite Rebellions were the uprisings instigated by the Kharijites against the authority of the fourth Rashidun caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib. Various rebellions took place throughout the Caliphate but were all suppressed. However, a Kharijite dissident would assassinate Ali in 661 in retaliation, and Ali's eldest son Hasan would subsequently abdicate the caliphate to Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, the long-time governor of Greater Syria.

After the arbitration between Ali and Mu'awiya following the Battle of Siffin, about 12,000 troops from Ali's Iraqi army broke away and set up a camp at Harura. They rejected the arbitration and declared that the murder of Uthman was justified. They accused Ali of blasphemy for accepting arbitration with Mu'awiya despite being the legitimate caliph. They argued that Mu'awiya was a rebel who should be fought until he repented, citing the Qur'anic verse:

And if two groups of believers fight each other, then make peace between them. But if one of them transgresses against the other, then fight against the transgressing group until they ˹are willing to˺ submit to the rule of Allah. If they do so, then make peace between both ˹groups˺ in all fairness and act justly. Surely Allah loves those who uphold justice.

Ali visited the Harura camp to attain their support again by insisting that it was the dissenters who had forced him to accept the arbitration. The troops at Harura subsequently pledged their allegiance to Ali on the condition that the war with Mu'awiya would be resumed within six months.^[7][8]

Following a confrontation where a group of Kharijites interrupted his sermon, Ali returned to his residence while the dissidents sought the support of Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi. Although initially hesitant due to their lack of strength, the Kharijites including Hurqus ibn Zuhayr as-Sa'di and Hamza ibn Sinan departed Kufa under the cover of night in small groups to avoid detection, heading toward Mada'in. Ali dispatched Sa'd ibn Masud, the governor of Mada'in, in pursuit. Sa'd confronted the rebels at Karkh, where a day of fighting ensued. Following the skirmish, the rebels crossed the Tigris and successfully fled to the Nahrawan Canal to regroup.^[9][10] In July 658, Ali reached the canal with 14,000 troops following reports that the Kharijites had begun executing civilians, most notably the companion Abdullah ibn Khabbab al-Aratt. The Kharijite force of approximately 2,800 men refused to surrender and was nearly annihilated by Ali's superior numbers. Among the dead was Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi.^[11][12] While the battle was a decisive military victory, the carnage fueled a long-term desire for revenge among surviving sympathizers, shifting the movement from open warfare toward a decentralized insurgency.

In 658–659, Al-Khirrit bin Rashid al-Naji, a former ally of Ali at Siffin, led a significant uprising that spread from southern Iraq to the Persian Gulf. Khirrit’s revolt was a unique coalition of theological Kharijites, tribesmen refusing the Sadaqah tax, and local Christians who had reverted to their original faith during the civil war.^[13] After Khirrit defected from Kufa, Ali dispatched Ziyad ibn Khasafah to intercept him, resulting in an indecisive battle at al-Madhr.^[14] Khirrit subsequently withdrew to Ahvaz to gather Bedouin and Kurdish reinforcements, prompting Ali to send Ma'qil ibn Qays] to finalize the suppression. Ma'qil defeated the rebels at Ramhormoz, forcing Khirrit to flee toward the coast of Bahrain.^[15] In the final engagement near the Persian Gulf, Ma'qil offered amnesty to those who deserted, significantly thinning the rebel ranks. During the battle, Al-Numan bin Suhban located and killed Khirrit in a duel, effectively ending the uprising.^[16] Hundreds of captives were taken and later ransomed by Masqalah bin Hubayrah, who subsequently defected to Mu'awiya I after failing to pay the full amount to the Caliphate.^[17]

Ashras ibn Awf and his followers, having decided to pledge allegiance to Abd Allah ibn Wahb, departed for Al-Mada'in during the night in groups of two to five men to avoid suspicion from Ali's authorities. Ashras ibn Awf al-Shaybani was the first to rise against Ali ibn Abi Talib after the Battle of Nahrawan. He rebelled in al-Daskra and then moved toward Anbar. Ali dispatched al-Abrash ibn Hassān against him with three hundred men. Some reports state that Ali ibn al-Harith ibn Yazid ibn Ruwaym wounded him, but the more reliable accounts indicate that Ashras survived that encounter and was later killed in Rabi' al-Awwal in 658.^{[18][19][20][21]}

In late 658, Hilal ibn Ulafa and his brother Mujalid led a splinter group of Kharijites from the Taym al-Ribab tribe. Although Mujalid held the formal leadership, the movement became primarily associated with Hilal. Caliph Ali dispatched Ma'qil ibn Qays to intercept the rebels; in the ensuing engagement during Jumada al-Awwal, Hilal and approximately two hundred of his followers were killed.^[22][23] The rebellion saw a brief resurgence the following month when Al-Ashhab ibn Bashir led a group of 130 men to the site of Hilal's defeat to perform funeral prayers for the fallen. This act of defiance prompted Ali to send Jariyah ibn Qudamah and Hujr ibn Adi to finalize the suppression of the cell. The government forces confronted Al-Ashhab at Jarjaraya in Jumada al-Thani, where the remaining rebels were killed, effectively ending the uprising.^[24]

Sa'id ibn Qafil al-Taymi led a rebellion at al-Bandanijin in the month of Rajab with two hundred men and advanced as far as the bridge of al-Darzijan, located about two farsakhs from Mada'in. Ali ibn Abi Talib wrote to Sa'd ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi, his governor over Mada'in, concerning Sa'id’s forces. Sa'd ibn Mas'ud then marched against them and engaged them in battle, killing Sa'id ibn Qafil and his followers in Rajab of the year 658 CE. Some reports, however, record his name as Sa'd ibn Qafil rather than Sa'id.^[25]

When Ali returned to Kufa from the river, where three thousand Kharijites had been gathered, one thousand of them split from Ibn Wahb and joined the army of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. Others who had been stationed at al-Nukhayla went out to join the Syrian army before reaching the river.

During Ali's battle with the Kharijites at the river, many Kufans refused to fight alongside him. Abu Maryam al-Sa'di remained in Shahrizor with two hundred men. He reminded his followers about the events at the river and advanced toward the outskirts of Kufa.

Ali called for the pledge of allegiance and promised protection to anyone who neither fought against him nor fought on his behalf. He sent Shurayḥ ibn Hānī with seven hundred men to take the pledge from those resisting. Abū Maryam refused to give allegiance, citing Ali's killing of Kharijite leaders. His group attacked Shurayḥ, but they were defeated. Even so, Shurayḥ was left with only two hundred men, and he withdrew to nearby villages. Some companions joined him, forming a force of about five hundred, while others entered Kufa and spread the false rumour that Shurayḥ had been killed.

Ali then marched himself with two thousand men, accompanied by Jariyah ibn Qudāmah, who had another five hundred, to confront Abū Maryam. ʿAlī again demanded a pledge of allegiance, but Abū Maryam refused. Fighting broke out, during which many of ʿAlī’s companions were wounded. Abū Maryam’s forces were mostly destroyed, with only fifty survivors who asked for safe conduct. Abū Maryam was killed in Ramadan of the year 658.

According to Al-Mada'ini, Abū Maryam had about four hundred followers, most of them non-Arabs; only six were from Banu Sa'd, including Abū Maryam himself.^[26][27][28]

On 28 January 661, a Kharijite dissident named Ibn Muljam struck Ali with a poisoned sword in the Great Mosque of Kufa. Ali was about sixty-two years old and passed away of his wounds about two days later. After the assassination of Ali, his eldest son Hasan was proclaimed caliph in Kufa.^[29] Hasan would then execute Ibn Muljam.^[30] However, Mu'awiya would quickly march on Kufa with a large army, and Hasan's military suffered defections in large numbers. By the time Hasan agreed to a peace treaty with Mu'awiya, his authority did not exceed the area around Kufa.^[31] Under this treaty, Hasan ceded the caliphate to Mu'awiya. The treaty stipulated a general amnesty for the people and that a council would choose the caliph after Mu'awiya's death.^[32] Mu'awiya was then crowned as caliph at a ceremony in Jerusalem.^[33]

• First Fitna
• Ali's Eastern Campaigns
• Battle of Nahrawan
• Banu Najiyah revolt

• Yahya, Hashim al-Mallāḥ (2013). الوسيط في السيرة النبوية والخلافة الراشدة (in Arabic). Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah دار الكتب العلمية. ISBN 978-2-7451-5673-0.
• Hawting, G. R., ed. (1998-01-01). History of Tabari, Volume 17. pp. 194–195.
• Williams, Jamaal (2024). Muhammad: the Demon Possessed False Prophet of Islam. Jesus Truth Deliverance Ministries. ISBN 978-1-304-50377-0.