Lessons Learned from the Companions – Muawiya Ali and the Kharijites!

After the Battle of Nahrawan, many Kharijites went to Makkah and sought sanctuary in the Kaaba. However they discovered that Muawiya’s troops had come and forced the people to give allegiance to Muawiya. They remained in the Kaaba and were in refuge there when Ali’s troops arrived and got the people to give their allegiance back to him. The Kharijites felt sore that in this way the sanctity of the process of oath taking was violated, and instead of establishing the kingdom of God on earth, the parties were trying to establish their own kingdoms. According to their view all those who were fighting for power had committed sin and had ceased to be Muslims. Fanatics as they were, they had the conviction that they would be serving the cause of God, if they murdered all such persons who were the principal characters in the struggle for power. They singled out three men for such murder: Ali, Muawiyah and ‘Amr b Al-A’as.