Huquq Al al-Bayt - Ibn Taimiya - (36)

Huquq Al al-BaytIbn Taimiya

So ʿAli and his companions killed them. The Commander of the Believers was overjoyed at their demise and fell in prostration to Allah in gratitude when the sign foretold about them appeared: the man with the shriveled hand, upon which was a small lump of flesh with a few hairs. All the Companions therefore agreed that fighting them was lawful, and many—such as Ibn ʿUmar—later regretted not having taken part alongside the Commander of the Believers. This stands in stark contrast to what happened at the Battles of the Camel and Ṣiffīn, for the Commander of the Believers was pained by those engagements, complained about what had occurred, and would discuss the matter back and forth with his son al-Ḥasan, who reminded him that his own view had been not to fight.

Hence, the affair that filled the heart of the Commander of the Believers and his companions with joy—and for which those absent envied them, supported as it is by mass-transmitted reports from the Prophet ﷺ—cannot be placed on the same footing as that which grieved the heart of the best of his household, the Prophet’s beloved, about whom he said, “O Allah, I love him, so love him, and love those who love him.” Even so, the Commander of the Believers was closer to the truth than those who fought him in all his wars.

Likewise, the slain are not the same: those over whom he offered the funeral prayer and called “our brothers” differ from those over whom he did not pray. Indeed, when he was asked, “Who are the people whose efforts have been wasted in this worldly life while they thought they were doing good?” he replied, “They are the people of Ḥarūrāʾ.”

This distinction that the Commander of the Believers drew—by word and deed during his caliphate—between the people of Ḥarūrāʾ and others, in full accord with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet, is the correct course from which no rightly guided person should depart. Many scholars, early and later, have failed to recognize this criterion, treating all the combatants alike: either they fall short in censuring, cursing, punishing, and executing the Kharijites as they deserve, or they go to excess and inflict on others more than is their due.

فقتلهم علي ﵁ وأصحابه, وسر أمير المؤمنين بقتلهم سرورا شديدا وسجد لله شكرا, لما ظهر فيهم علامتهم وهو المخدج اليد, الذي على يده مثل البضعة من اللحم, عليها شعرات, فاتفق جميع الصحابة على استحلال قتالهم, وندم كثير منهم كابن عمر وغيره على ألا يكونوا شهدوا قتالهم مع أمير المؤمنين, بخلاف ما جرى في وقعة الجمل وصفين, فإن أمير المؤمنين كان متوجعا لذلك القتال, مشتكيا مما جرى, ويتراجع هو وابنه الحسن القول فيه, ويذكر له الحسن أن رأيه ألا يفعله. فلا يستوي ما سر قلب أمير المؤمنين وأصحابه وغبطه به من لم يشهده, مع ما تواتر عن النبي ﷺ, وساء قلب أفضل أهل بيته, حب النبي ﷺ, الذي قال فيه: "اللهم إني أحبه فأحبه, وأحب من يحبه". وإن كان أمير المؤمنين هو أولى بالحق ممن قاتله في جميع حروبه. ولا يستوي القتلى الذين صلى عليهم وسماهم وإخواننا, والقتلى الذين لم يصل عليهم, بل قيل له: من الذين ضل سعيهم في الحياة الدنيا وهم يحسبون أنهم يحسنون صنعا؟ فقال: هم أهل حروراء. فهذا الفرق بين أهل حروراء وبين غيرهم الذي سماه أمير المؤمنين في خلافته بقوله وفعله موافقا فيه لكتاب الله وسنة نبيه هو الصواب الذي لا معدل عنه لمن هدى رشده, وإن كان كثير من علماء السلف والخلف لا يهتدون لهذا الفرقان, بل يجعلون السيرة في الجميع واحدة. فإما أن يقصروا بالخوارج عما يستحقونه من البعض واللعنة والعقوبة والقتل, وإما أن يزيدوا على غيرهم ما يستحقونه من ذلك.