Ṣubrah ibn Shaymān al-Hadani and wrote to ʿAlī. ʿAlī thereupon dispatched Aʿyun ibn Ḍubayʿah al-Mujāshiʿī, but Aʿyun was assassinated in his sleep. ʿAlī then called upon Jāriyah ibn Qudāmah al-Saʿdī, who besieged Ibn al-Ḥaḍramī in the house he occupied and finally set it ablaze over him.

The Affair of the Kharijites

In Shaʿbān the Kharijites rebelled and rose up against ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him. They condemned him for accepting the arbitration of two judges, saying, “You have allowed men to rule in the religion of Allah, whereas Allah says, ‘Judgment belongs to Allah alone’ (Qur’an 6:57).” They branded him an unbeliever and cited as proof, “Whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed—they are the disbelievers” (Qur’an 5:44).

ʿAlī debated with them and then sent ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās. Ibn ʿAbbās exposed the flaw in their reasoning, explained the matter, and argued with the verses: “Let two just men from among you judge concerning it” (Qur’an 5:95) and “Appoint an arbiter from his family and an arbiter from hers” (Qur’an 4:35). Many of them returned to the truth, while the rest departed.

On the road they met ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt and his wife. “Who are you?” they asked. When he identified himself they questioned him about Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, and ʿAlī; he praised them all. They then slaughtered him, killed his pregnant wife, and ripped open her belly. He was among the eminent offspring of the Companions.

Later that year the Kharijites marched to fight ʿAlī, resulting in the Battle of Nahrawān. Their leader was ʿAbd Allāh ibn Wahb al-Sabāʾī. ʿAlī routed them, slew the majority—including Ibn Wahb—and lost twelve men from his own forces.

They were called al-Ḥarūriyya because they rebelled against ʿAlī in Kūfah and camped at a nearby village named Ḥarūrāʾ. ʿAlī deemed it lawful to fight them because of what they had done to Ibn Khabbāb and his wife.

The battle occurred in Shaʿbān of the year—