He—may Allah have mercy on him—was also asked:

Regarding “rebels and Kharijites”: are these synonymous terms with the same meaning, or is there a distinction between them? Does the Sharia distinguish between them in the rulings applicable to them? If someone claims that the leading scholars unanimously agreed that there is no difference between them except in name, while another disputes this, citing the fact that the Commander of the Faithful, ‘Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—distinguished between the people of Syria and the people of Nahrawān, which of them is correct: the claimant or his opponent?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. The claim that the leading scholars unanimously agreed that there is no difference between the two except in name is false, and whoever makes it speaks recklessly. Denying any distinction is merely the position of a group of scholars among the followers of Abū Hanīfa, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad and others, including many who have written on “fighting rebels.” They may classify Abū Bakr’s fighting against those who withheld zakat, ‘Alī’s fighting against the Kharijites, his fighting against those at the battles of the Camel and Siffīn, and other instances of fighting against those who profess Islam, under the heading of “fighting rebels.”