the Islamic ummah. The very first group to adopt this vile doctrine—that of declaring Muslims to be unbelievers—were the Khārijites. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us that they would dart out of Islam as an arrow pierces and exits its prey; that they would recite the Quran yet it would not go past their throats; and that they would pray, give charity, and read the Quran so much that a Companion would think his own prayer insignificant beside theirs. Yet—Allah protect us—they branded the Muslims as disbelievers and deemed their blood, property, and women lawful to them. We ask Allah for safety.

That attitude has endured to this very day, for there is still a misguided, innovating off-shoot that, following its own whims, excommunicates those whom neither Allah nor His Messenger have deemed disbelievers, crying, “This one is a kāfir, that one an innovator, the other a flagrant sinner,” and so on.

What, then, became of those Khārijites who had broken away from Islam? They initially joined forces with ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him), the fourth of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, to fight the people of Syria, and they agreed on that course. Fierce battles were fought and much blood was shed. Later, ʿAlī made peace with the Syrians to spare Muslim lives. The Khārijites then said to him, “You are a disbeliever! Why did you make peace with them? You have become just as unbelieving as they are.” They rebelled against him and fought him, but—praise be to Allah—the outcome was in ʿAlī’s favor: he slew them utterly, like the destruction visited upon ʿĀd and Iram, wiping them out completely.

Yet their malignant creed still lingers among some Muslims, leading them to deem the blood, wealth, and honour of their fellow Muslims—despite their sacredness—permissible, and they say