and his own recitation compared with theirs. They recite the Quran, but it does not pass beyond their throats. They pass out of Islam as an arrow passes through its quarry. If I encounter them, I shall surely kill them as ʿĀd were killed. If those who fight them knew what reward awaits them, as declared by Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, they would cease striving. They kill the people of Islam and leave the idolaters alone. They recite the Quran, thinking that it supports them, whereas it stands against them. They are the worst of those slain beneath the sky; the best of those slain are those whom they kill.”

These people first emerged during the time of the Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him. Their prayer, fasting, recitation, worship, and asceticism exceeded those of the Companions in general. Yet they had departed from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and from the Muslim community. They killed a Muslim named ʿAbdullāh ibn Khabbāb and raided the Muslims’ livestock.

These people, by contrast, prayed and fasted less. We found neither a copy of the Quran on their mountain nor anyone among them who recited it. All they had were their doctrines, through which they contradicted the Book and the Sunnah and deemed the Muslims’ blood lawful to shed. Moreover, they shed blood and seized wealth in quantities known only to Allah Most High.

If, then, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib permitted his army to plunder what was in the camp of the Khawārij, even though he killed them all, these people were all the more deserving of having their property seized. These people are not