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15. Al Qaeda and ISIS’ Medieval Predecessor (Part 1)
The Khawarij (“Outsiders”) were radical fundamentalist early Islamic dissenters. Their concept of Takfir, whereby Muslims who disagreed with them were deemed apostates and thus not covered by the prohibition against killing fellow Muslims, furnished the philosophical foundations for modern terrorists such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda and ISIS. They emerged during a succession dispute after the Prophet Muhammad’s death, between those who believed that leadership should be confined to Muhammad’s family and bloodline, and those who thought it should go to whomever the Muslim community chose. The former, a minority, coalesced around Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law Ali, and became known as the Shiites, or faction, of Ali. The latter, the majority, became known as the Sunnis. Muslims elected the first three Caliphs, or successors of the Prophet, from outside Muhammad’s family, bypassing Ali each time.
On the fourth try, following the murder of the third Caliph, Ali was finally elected. However, the third Caliph’s relatives accused Ali of complicity in the murder, and engineered the election of another Caliph, Muawiya. The rival Caliphs went to war, but before the issue was settled in battle, Ali agreed to arbitration. The Khawarij, who until then had supported Ali, opposed arbitration. Viewing the Caliphate as the collective property of the Muslim community, they argued that Ali had no authority to make a decision regarding who gets to be Caliph. Election by the community was the sole legitimate process for bestowing the Caliphate, argued the Khawarij, and the Muslim community had already elected Ali. By accepting arbitration to decide who would be Caliph, Ali was overstepping his boundaries and usurping a power of decision that was not his. So the Khawarij turned on Ali.