to have the legal status of Muslims. They inherited from one another, did not enslave one another’s offspring, and did not seize as spoils any property that the others had not brought into battle. Indeed, they offered funeral prayers for one another and prayed behind one another.

This was one of the things the Khawārij held against ‘Alī. On the day of the Battle of the Camel, his herald proclaimed:

“No fleeing man is to be pursued, and no wounded man is to be finished off.”

He did not seize their property as spoils, nor did he enslave (1) their offspring. Ibn ‘Abbās was sent to the Khawārij and debated this matter with them.

Abū Nu‘aym related, through an authentic chain of transmission (2), from Sulaymān ibn al-Tabarānī (3), from Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh; and Sulaymān related from ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, from Abū Hudhayfah (4) and ‘Abd al-Razzāq, who both said: ‘Ikrimah ibn ‘Ammār narrated to us that Abū Zumayl al-Hanafī narrated to us from Ibn ‘Abbās (5), who said:

“When the Harūriyyah withdrew, I said to ‘Alī, ‘O Commander of the Believers, delay the prayer, so that I might go (6) to these people and speak to them.’

“He said, ‘I fear they may harm you.’

“I said, ‘No, Allah willing.’ So I put on the finest [I could obtain] (7) of these Yemeni garments (8), then went in to see them while they were taking their midday rest at the height of (9)