(31) باب فِي قِتَالِ الْخَوَارِجِ
Salamah b. Kuhail said:
Zaid b. Wahb al-Juhani told us that he was in the army which proceeded to (fight with) the Khawarij in the company of `Ali. `Ali then said: O people! I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: there will appear from among my community people who recite the Qur'an, and your recitation has no comparison with their recitation, and your prayer has no comparison with their prayer, and your fasts have no comparison with their fasts. They will recite the Qur'an thinking that it is beneficial for them, while it is harmful for them. Their prayer will not pass their collar-bones. They will swerve from Islam as an arrow goes through the animal shot at. If the army that is approaching them knows what (reward) has been decided for them at the tongue of their Prophet (ﷺ), they would leave (other good) activities. The sign of that is that among them there will be a man who has an upper arm, but not hand; on his upper arm there will be something like the nipple of a female breast, having white hair thereon. Will you go to Mu`awiyah and the people of Syria, and leave them behind among your children and property? I swear by Allah, I hope these are the same people, for they shed the blood unlawfully, and attacked the cattle of the people so go on in the name of Allah. Salamah b. Kuhail said: Zaid b. Wahb then informed me of all the halting places one by one, (saying): Until we passed a bridge. When we fought with each other, `Abd Allah b. Wahb al-Rasibi, who was the leader of the Khawarij, said to them: Throw away the lances and pull out the swords from their sheaths, for I am afraid they will adjure you as they had adjured on the day of Harura. So they threw away their lances and pulled out their swords, and the people pierced them with their lances. They were killed (lying one on the other). On that day only two persons of the partisans (of `Ali) were afflicted. `Ali said: Search for the man with the crippled hand. But they could not find him. Then `Ali got up himself and went to the people who had been killed and were lying on one another. He said: Take them out. They found him just near the ground. So he shouted: Allah is Most Great! He said: Allah spoke the truth, and His Apostle has conveyed. `Ubaidat al-Salmani stood up to him, saying: Commander of the Faithful! Have you heard it from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)? He said: Yes, by him, there is no God but He. He put to swear thrice and he swore.
Reference: Sunan Abi Dawud 4768
In-book reference: Book 42, Hadith 173
English translation: Book 41, Hadith 4750