Who are Khavarej? What were their characteristics? Why did Imam Ali (as) fight with them?

Khawareej are those who hate Mola Ali a.s

The prophet (saw) refrained from killing him and said: “from his lineage and from his children will be people who recite Qur’an very well, but it will never reach their throats, and they will kill the Muslims, and will not fight the mushrikeen, and they will leave the deen like the arrow from the bow. If I meet them I will kill them the way the ‘Aad were killed.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

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Khavarej wereTauheed parast means monotheist, they believe in Only ONE Wahid Allah, they degarde all Prophets and Imams and tried to reach direct to Allah. Khawarej were best Qaariay e Quraan. Khawareej recite Quran with beautiful soft voice, but all is in vain, all is useless.

Without maarfat of Aal e Muhammad a.s every worship of Allah is useless.

They were extremist Muslims, Bani Ummayads are responsible in the history for the creation of Khawareej.

Few links are given below, check in detail

http://www.al-islam.org/polarization-around-charac...

http://www.al-islam.org/polarization-around-charac...

http://www.shiachat.com/forum/topic/23385-why-didn...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khawarij

They were too extreme and sometimes they much annoying. They were present at the time of Muhammad(PBUH), there the people or part of the people whom killed Usman (rali) and boosted war between Ali(rali) and Muaawiya(Rali); not that much know the history. As I heard somewhere. I hope someone explain bater with authentication.

The Khawaarij (Kharijites) are one of the deviant sects, as is proven by the texts and by scholarly consensus. Al-Bukhaari (6934) and Muslim (1068) narrated that Yusayr ibn ‘Amr said: I said to Sahl ibn Hunayf: Did you hear the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say anything about the Khawaarij? He said: I heard him say – and he gestured with his hand towards Iraq –: “From there will emerge people who recite the Qur’an, but it will not go past their collarbones. They will pass out of Islam as an arrow passes out of the prey.”

Ibn Maajah (173) narrated that Ibn Abi Awfa said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The Khawaarij are the dogs of Hell.”

Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The Khawaarij who deviated, whom the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) enjoined us to fight, and whom Ameer al-Mu’mineen ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), one of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs fought, and whom the leading scholars of Islam among the Sahaabah, Taabi‘een and those who came after them were unanimously agreed upon fighting, were not described as disbelievers by ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib, Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqaas and others among the Sahaabah; rather they regarded them as Muslims even though they fought them, and ‘Ali did not fight them until they shed blood unlawfully and raided the property of the Muslims; then he fought them in order to ward off their wrongdoing and aggression, not because they were disbelievers. Hence he did not take their womenfolk captive and he did not seize their wealth as booty. End quote from Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 3/282

Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan ibn Saalih al-Mahmoud (may Allah preserve him) was asked: Are the Khawaarij kaafirs (disbelievers)?

He replied:

The scholars differed as to whether they are disbelievers, but the correct view is that they are not to be regarded as disbelievers. ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about them: Are they disbelievers? He said: They fled from disbelief, but they fell into the innovation of labelling others as disbelievers; we will not fall into the innovation of labelling others as disbelievers and thus label them as such. This is the correct view, in sha Allah, even though their innovations may be described as innovations that constitute kufr.

End quote from Lam‘at al-I‘tiqaad, 7/26

Among their innovations are the following:

- They think that faith does not increase or decrease

- They think that failing to do something obligatory constitutes disbelief.

- They think that committing a major sin constitutes disbelief.

- They believe in fighting those Muslims who disagree with them.