may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who commanded that the Khawārij who depart from the Sunnah be fought, while commanding patience with the injustice and oppression of rulers and praying behind them despite their sins. He testified that one of his Companions who persisted in certain sins loved Allah and His Messenger, and forbade cursing him. Yet he said of Dhū al-Khuwaysirah and his followers—despite their worship and scrupulousness—that they would pass out of Islam as an arrow passes through its quarry.

Allah Most High says in His Book:

“But no, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you judge in their disputes, then find within themselves no resistance to your judgment and submit completely.”

Thus, concerning everyone who departs from the Sunnah and law of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, Allah has sworn by His own holy Self that they do not believe until they accept the judgment of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in all their religious and worldly disputes, and until no resistance to his judgment remains in their hearts. The Quran contains abundant evidence for this principle. This, too, is what the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the practice of his rightly guided caliphs teach.

In the two Sahih collections, Abū Hurayrah reported:

“When the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, and those Arabs who apostatized had done so, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb said to Abū Bakr, ‘How can you fight the people when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. When they do so, they render inviolable to me their lives