Between Faith and Disbelief : The Progress of the Early Khārijites Attitudes towards their Opponents through their Speeches and Correspondences

Abstract

This study deals with the issue of ‘Takfir’ amongst the Khārijites, which represents one of many aspects of violence  this group had inflicted upon their opponents all along their history. I tried to trace back this issue since the emergence of this group, which is linked by historical narratives with the battle of ‘Ṣiffīn’ in 37 AH, until around the sixth decade in the first century AH, when this group began to splinter into numerous bands, chief amongst them was “Al-azariqa’’ band which had an important impact upon the Khārijites thinking, especially with regard to setting the limits of faith and disbelief, according to the principles this band espouses.