This ḥadīth (1).
The defect of this report is Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā, the blind Kindī Himyarī; Ibn Maʿīn said, “He is worthless.”
[Report] Concerning the departure of the Khārijites from Kūfa, their public opposition to ʿAlī, his combat against them, and the narrations related to that.
When ʿAlī sent Abū Mūsā and the contingent with him to Dūmat al-Jandal, the affair of the Khārijites intensified. They went to extremes in denouncing ʿAlī and openly pronounced him an unbeliever. Two of them—Zarʿah ibn al-Burj (the Ṭāʾī) (2) and Ḥurqūs ibn Zuhayr al-Saʿdī—came to him and said, “Judgment belongs only to Allah.”
ʿAlī replied, [Yes,] judgment belongs only to Allah.
Ḥurqūs then said, “Repent [to Allah] of your sin [abandon your decision] and come with us to our enemy so that we may fight them until we meet our Lord.”
ʿAlī answered, “I had wanted that from you, but you refused. In addition, we have drawn up between ourselves and those people a [document and] set of covenants, and Allah Most High has said, ‘And fulfil the covenant of Allah when you have pledged it’ (an-Naḥl 16:91).”
Ḥurqūs retorted, “That is a sin for which you must repent.”
ʿAlī replied, “It is not a sin; it was merely weak judgment. I had already forewarned you of what would happen and forbade you from it.”
Zarʿah ibn al-Burj said, “By Allah, O ʿAlī, if you do not abandon submitting the Book of Allah to the arbitration of men, I will fight you, seeking thereby the mercy and good pleasure of Allah.” (3)
ʿAlī said, “Woe to you—how wretched you are! I can almost see you slain, the wind scattering dust over you.”
He answered, “I would that it had already happened.”
ʿAlī responded, “If you were in the right, death would indeed be a relief from this world; but Satan has led you astray.” They then left him to decide [their affair], and that attitude spread among them. They proclaimed it openly to the people, accosted ʿAlī during his sermons, and assailed him with insults, revilement, and insinuations drawn from Qur’anic verses.
On one occasion ʿAlī rose to address a gathering, mentioned the Khārijites, and censured and criticized them. A group of them stood, each saying, “Judgment belongs only to Allah.” One man stood with his fingers in his ears, reciting: “Indeed, it has been revealed to you and to those before you: If you associate others with Allah, all your deeds will surely come to nothing, and you will surely be among the losers” (az-Zumar 39:65).
While on the pulpit ʿAlī moved his hands this way and that and said, “We await Allah’s judgment concerning you.”
He then declared, “We guarantee that we will not bar you from [our mosques so long as you do not rise against us; we will not withhold your share of this fayʾ so long as your hands remain with ours, and we will not fight you] unless you fight us.”
Abū Mikhnaf (5) reports from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abī Ḥirrāh (6) that when ʿAlī dispatched Abū Mūsā to carry out the arbitration, they gathered