— Harura, with a long final alif, is a village on the outskirts of Kufa; some say it lies two miles away. The Khawarij who rebelled against Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, settled there and were subsequently named after it. (1) Nafi ibn al-Azraq al-Haruri: one of the principal leaders of the Khawarij, after whom the Azariqa faction is named. He rebelled in the closing years of Yazid ibn Muawiya’s reign and was killed in 65 AH. See Lisan al-Mizan 6/144. His followers constituted the most violent and numerous branch of the Khawarij. Among their doctrines: they deemed all Muslims who disagreed with them to be polytheists, anathematized some Companions, and considered it lawful to kill the women and children of their opponents. See Al-Farq bayn al-Firaq, p. 62; Al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa-l-Nihal 5/52; Al-Ansab 1/122. (2) In manuscript Ṭ: “and they drove him away.” (3) From manuscript Ṭ. (4) Najda ibn Amir al-Haruri was another leading Kharijite who deviated from the truth. He rose in al-Yamama after the death of Yazid ibn Muawiya, marched on Mecca, and held well-known views; his followers later died out. He was killed in 69 AH. See Lisan al-Mizan 6/148; al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, Events and Deaths 61–80 AH, p. 260. His adherents are called the Najdat al-Adhiriyya because they excuse ignorance in secondary legal matters; for them, the perpetrator of a major sin is not a disbeliever. They also maintained that taqiyya (dissimulation) is permissible in every word and deed, even killing, and claimed that people never truly need an imam unless they themselves deem it necessary to establish one to secure mutual justice.