Chapter: Fighting Ahl al-Baghy—Khawarij and other rebels

When a faction rises up against the ruler in armed rebellion without any legitimate pretext, the just ruler must fight them, either with the whole Muslim community or with a force sufficient for the task. Before engaging he summons them to obedience and to re-enter the Muslim body; if they refuse reconciliation and return, they are fought. Their captives are not executed, those who flee are not pursued, the wounded are not finished off, and neither their dependants nor their property are treated as war booty.

If a rebel kills a loyalist, or a loyalist kills a rebel who is his legal heir, neither inherits from the other; in every case, a deliberate killer is barred from inheritance. Some have maintained—by analogy with retaliation—that the loyalist does inherit from the rebel.

Any life or property the Khawarij rebels have destroyed and later repented of is not exacted from them, but whatever remains in their possession must be restored in its very form. All of this applies to those who revolted on the basis of a plausible interpretation.

Should they gain control of a town, collect the ṣadaqāt (obligatory alms), enforce the ḥudūd (prescribed penalties), and pass judgments among the people, neither those alms nor the penalties are invalidated, and none of their rulings are overturned—save what contradicts the Quran, the Sunnah, or scholarly consensus—just as judgments issued by the legitimate authorities are overturned when they conflict with these sources.