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57

SERMON 57

Addressing the Kharijites, Amir
al-mu'minin said:

Storm may overtake you
while there may be none to prick you (for reforms). Shall I be
witness to my becoming heretic after acceptance of Faith and
fighting in the company of the Prophet?! "In that case I
shall be misguided and I shall not be on the right path."
(Qur'an, 6:56). So you should return to your evil places, and get
back on the traces of your heels. Beware! Certainly you will meet,
after me, overwhelming disgrace and sharp sword and tradition that
will be adopted by the oppressors as a norm towards you. (1)

As-Sayyid ar-Radi
says: In the words "wala baqiyah minkum abirun" used by
Amir al-mu'minin the "abir" has been related with
"ba'" and "ra'" and it has been taken from the
Arab saying "rajulun abirun" which means the man who
prunes the date-palm trees and improves them. In one version the
word is "athir" and its meaning is "relator of good
news." In my view this is more appropriate, as though Amir
al-mu'minin intends to say that there should remain none to carry
news. In one version the word appears as "abiz" with
"za'" which means one who leaps. One who dies is also
called "abiz".

(1).
History corroborates that after Amir al-mu'minin, the Kharijites
had to face all sorts of ignominy and disgrace and wherever they
raised their heads for creating trouble, they were met with swords
and spears. Thus Ziyad ibn Abih, Ubaydullah ibn Ziyad, al-Hajjaj
ibn Yusuf, Musab ibn az-Zubayr and al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufrah
left no stone unturned in annihilating them from the surface of
the globe, particularly al-Muhallab chased them for nineteen
years, routed them thoroughly and rested only after completing
their destruction.

At-Tabari writes that
when ten thousand Kharijites collected in Silla wa sillibra (the
name of a mountain in Ahwaz) then al-Muhallab faced them so
steadfastly that he killed seven thousand Kharijites, while the
remaining three thousand fled towards Kirman for life. But when
the Governor of Persia noticed their rebellious activities he
surrounded them in Sabur and killed a good number of them then and
there. Those remained again fled to Isfahan and Kirman. From there
they again formed a contingent and advanced towards Kufah via
Basrah. Al-Harith ibn Abi Rabiah al-Makhzumi and Abd ar-Rahman
ibn Mikhnaf al-Azdi stood up with six thousand combatants to stop
their advance, and turned them out of Iraq's boundaries. In this
way successive encounters completely trampled their military power
and turning them out of cities compelled them to roam about in the
deserts. Afterwards also, when they rose in the form of groups
they were crushed. (at-Ta'rikh, Vol. 2, pp. 580-591); Ibn
al-Athir, Vol. 4, pp. 196-206).