the Emigrants and the Helpers, who were needier and better than they were. On similar grounds, the Khawārij attacked the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

The first of them said to him, “O Muhammad, be just, for you have not been just!” He also said, “This is a distribution that was not intended to seek the countenance of Allah Most High.” The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, then said:

“Woe to you! Who would be just if I were not just? You would indeed be lost and ruined if I were not just.”

One of the Companions said to him, “Let me strike this man’s neck.” He replied:

“From this man’s offspring will emerge people whose prayer, fasting and recitation will make any of you consider his own insignificant by comparison. They will recite the Quran, but it will not go beyond their throats. They will pass out of Islam as an arrow passes through its quarry. Wherever you encounter them, kill them, for whoever kills them will have a reward with Allah on the Day of Resurrection.”

Another narration states:

“If I live to encounter them, I will certainly kill them as ‘Ād were killed.”

These people rebelled during the rule of the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib, may Allah be pleased with him. He killed all those among them who fought him, despite their abundant fasting, prayer and recitation. They were thus excluded from the Sunnah and the Muslim community. They were people of worship, scrupulousness and asceticism, but without knowledge. This led them to hold that grants should go only to those in need, and that giving to wealthy chiefs who commanded obedience was not proper for any purpose other than Allah’s sake, as they claimed.

This arose from their ignorance, for grants are to be allocated according to what serves Allah’s religion. The more obedient a person is to Allah and the more beneficial he is to Allah’s religion, the more deserving he is of a grant. And a grant