The virtue of one who kills the Haruriyyah

Asim bin Kulayb narrates from his father that the people's places of gathering used to be the mosques, until they returned from (the Battle of) Siffin and declared themselves free of the arbitration; then the people began to regard (the importance of the mosques) lightly and to sit in the streets and lanes exchanging news. Meanwhile, while we were sitting with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), a man suddenly stood up and said: "Give me permission to speak," but he (may Allah be pleased with him) was busy with some task of his. We asked the man: "What do you want to ask the Commander of the Believers about?" He said: "I went for Umrah and visited Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her). She asked who those people are who have gone out (in rebellion) from your side and are called Harura' (the Khawarij). Then she asked: 'Were you present at the time of their destruction (on the battlefield)? Know well! If Ali bin Abi Talib wished, he could tell you their story.'" When Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was free from his task he asked: "Where is that man?" The man told him the whole story, and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said aloud 'La ilaha illallah' (There is no god worthy of worship except Allah) and 'Allahu akbar' (Allah is the Greatest). Then he said: "I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) when there was no one with him except Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me: 'O son of Abu Talib! How will you be when such and such a people (appear)?' I said: 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'A people will come out from the direction of the east who will recite the Qur'an, but it will not go beyond their throats; they will pass out of the religion as an arrow passes through the game. Among them will be a man whose hand will be deficient (like a lump of flesh), as though his hand were the breast of an Abyssinian woman.'" Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said (to the people present there): "I ask you by Allah, had I not told you earlier that this man would be among them? But you said that he was not among them, then you brought him to me, dragging him?" The people said: "O Allah (be witness), yes (so it happened)." Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) again said aloud 'La ilaha illallah' (There is no god worthy of worship except Allah) and 'Allahu akbar' (Allah is the Greatest).
The chain of this hadith is hasan (good), and the basis of its essential parts is found in the two Sahihs (al-Bukhari and Muslim); Imam al-Hakim declared it sahih (authentic) according to his condition.

Asim bin Kulayb narrates from his father that he said: I was sitting with Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) while he was busy settling some of the people's affairs. Meanwhile a man came wearing travelling clothes and called out: "O Commander of the Believers!" But Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) remained occupied with those public affairs of the people in which he was engaged. My father (Kulayb) said: I asked that man: "What is your story?" He replied: "I had gone for Hajj or Umrah, and I passed by Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her). She asked me about those people who have rebelled among you and are called 'Haruriyyah'. I said that they had come out from a place called 'Harura', and for that reason they are called 'Haruriyyah'. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: 'Glad tidings to the one who witnesses their destruction and ruin.' Then she said: 'By Allah! If Ibn Abi Talib (Ali, may Allah be pleased with him) wished, he could give you the full news about them.' So it is for this reason that I have come here to ask him about it." The narrator says: When Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was free from his task he asked: "Where is the questioner?" The man stood up before him and narrated the whole incident. Hearing this, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) raised the cry of 'La ilaha illallah' (There is no god worthy of worship except Allah) and called out 'Allahu akbar' (Allah is the Greatest) two or three times; then he mentioned the same details about these Khawarij as are narrated in the other reports.
And at the end of that speech he said: "You will drag him (the slain Dhu al-Thudayyah) in, exactly as I described his features and characteristics to you." Then he (may Allah be pleased with him) said three times: "Allah and His Messenger have spoken the truth."
I (Ibn Hajar) say: The basis of the story of the man with the deformed hand (mukhdaj) is found in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and other books of hadith, but the hadith scholars did not record it with this particular context, nor from the narration of Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her).
Also, Imam Abu Ya'la narrated it through Abu Bakr bin Abi Shaybah.
And Abu Hisham narrated the like of it from Ibn Fudayl.
Also, Imam al-Bazzar narrated it in the same way.

It is narrated from Habib bin Abi Thabit; he said: I came to Abu Wa'il while he was in the mosque of his neighbourhood, and we sat apart in a corner of the mosque. I said to him: "Will you not tell me about those people (the Khawarij) whom Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) killed? Over what did they part from him, on what basis did they join him when he called them, and then, when they separated from him, why did he consider fighting them lawful?" He said: When we were at Siffin, the killing became fierce among the people of Sham, then he narrated the whole story.
He said: Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) returned to Kufah, and the Khawarij said about him what they said, and they camped at the village called "Harura'", and they were somewhat more than ten thousand. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) sent a message to them, adjuring them by Allah Almighty: "Return to your Caliph. What do you resent in him? Is it the distribution of wealth, or a judgement?" They said: "We fear that we may fall into a fitnah (trial)." He said: "Do not hasten into this year's misguidance out of fear of next year's fitnah." So they went back and said: "Let him be (watched) from our side: if he accepts the (arbitration) decision, we will fight him on the same basis on which we fought the people of Sham at Siffin, and if he breaks it, we will fight alongside him." Then they marched until they crossed Nahrawan, and a group of them broke away and began killing people. Their companions said: "It was not for this that we separated from Ali." When news of their deed reached Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), he stood up and said: "Will you march against your enemy (the people of Sham), or will you turn back to these people who have stayed behind you in your lands (causing havoc)?" The people said: "Rather, we will turn back to them (the Khawarij)." The narrator said: At that point Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A group will emerge from the direction of the east at a time of disagreement among the people. They will regard your jihad as nothing compared with their jihad, your prayer as nothing compared with their prayer, and your fasting as nothing compared with their fasting. They will pass out of the religion as an arrow passes through the game. Their sign will be a man whose upper arm is like a woman's breast (a lump of flesh). They will be killed by whichever of the two groups is closer to the truth."
Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) advanced against them and fought them fiercely. The horsemen of Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) held back before them, so he said: "O people! If you are fighting them only for my sake, then by Allah, I have nothing to tell you; but if you are fighting only for the sake of Allah Almighty, then your fighting should not be like this (weak)." So they fell upon them and killed them all. Then he said: "Search for him (the marked man)." They searched for him but he was not found. Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) mounted his riding animal and reached a hollow in the ground where the slain lay heaped one upon another. He was pulled out from beneath them and dragged by his foot so that the people could see him. Then Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I will not go on any campaign this year." Then he returned to Kufah and (some time later) he was martyred there.
Then the people made Sayyiduna al-Hasan bin Ali (may Allah be pleased with them both) the Caliph. Sayyiduna al-Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) sent his pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him), and al-Hasan also wrote about this to Qays bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with them both). Qays bin Sa'd (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up among his companions and said: "O people! Two matters have come before you, and you must take one of them: either entering into fitnah, or being killed without an imam." The people asked: "What is this matter?" He said: "Al-Hasan bin Ali has given his pledge of allegiance to Mu'awiyah." So the people went back and pledged allegiance to Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah's (may Allah be pleased with him) only concern now was those who remained at Nahrawan. They began coming over to him one by one and pledging allegiance to him, until only three hundred and some of them remained, and they were the people of al-Nukhaylah.
I (Ibn Hajar) say: Its chain is sahih (authentic).
Abu Bakr also narrated it from Abdullah bin Numayr, from Abd al-Aziz bin Siyah, with the same chain.
Abu Ya'la also narrated it from Abu Bakr bin Abi Shaybah, with the same chain.
The original marfu' part of this hadith is in Sahih Muslim and elsewhere. I have quoted it here because it contains additions over the routes that the authors of the six books and Imam Ahmad also recorded.

It is narrated from Qays bin Abbad that Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) held back from fighting the people of Nahrawan (the Khawarij) until they themselves committed some act of fitnah and mischief. Then those people set out and came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Khabbab (may Allah be pleased with him), who was staying in a village of his and had completely withdrawn from the fitnahs. The Khawarij seized him. The narrator said: Meanwhile they saw a date fall from a date palm; one of them picked it up and put it in his mouth. His companions rebuked him and said: "This is a date belonging to the people of the covenant (the non-Muslim subjects of the Islamic state); how could you take it without paying its price?" So he immediately spat it out of his mouth (lafazaha, meaning "he spat it out"). Then they passed by a pig, and one of them struck it with his sword and killed it. Again his companions objected: "You have (wrongfully) killed one of the pigs of the people of the covenant?" Then Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Khabbab (may Allah be pleased with him) said to them: "Shall I not tell you about one whose right and sanctity over you is far greater than this date and this pig?" They asked: "Who is that?" He said: "It is I." (The narrator thinks he also said:) "Since I reached maturity I have never left a single prayer, nor missed a fast of Ramadan," and he listed several other good deeds of his. But those wrongdoers seized him, slaughtered him and martyred him. When this news reached Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), he ordered his companions to advance against them, and he demanded of the Khawarij: "Give us retaliation (qisas) for the blood of Abdullah bin Khabbab." They replied: "How can we give you retaliation for him when all of us together killed him?" On hearing this, Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) called out loudly, "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is the Greatest), and said to his companions: "Attack them! By Allah, not even ten of you will be killed, and not even ten of them will escape." And so it happened (that is, the Khawarij were completely wiped out). After that Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Search for a man whose bodily signs are such and such." The people searched for him but did not find him; then they searched again and found him. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "Who recognises him?" No one recognised him. One man said: "I saw this man at al-Najaf, and he was saying: I want to go to this city, where I have no kin and no one who knows me." Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "You have spoken the truth; he was one of the jinn."
Musaddad recorded this narration in his Musnad (al-Matalib al-'Aliyah: 4440). Its chain includes eminent, trustworthy (thiqah) imams such as Yahya bin Sa'id al-Qattan and Sulayman al-Taymi, which strengthens the historical and scholarly standing of this incident.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that among us there was a young man who was extremely devoted to worship, abstinent and hard-striving. We mentioned him to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), but he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not recognise him; then we described his qualities, and still he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not recognise him. Meanwhile he was seen coming towards us, so we said to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Here he is!" On seeing him, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Indeed, I see on his face a mark of Satan and a glimpse of his ill omen." Then the man came near and gave the greeting of salam, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him: "Have you settled it in your heart that in this whole gathering there is no one better than you?" He replied: "Allahumma na'am" (O Allah, yes). Then he turned his back and entered the mosque. At this the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: "Who will kill this man?" Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I." He went in and saw that he was standing in prayer, and he thought: "Shall I kill a man who is praying, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has forbidden us from striking those who pray?" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) again asked: "Who will kill this man?" Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), I." He entered the mosque and saw that he was in prostration. He too thought as Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had thought, and he added: "I will certainly go back, for one who is better than me has gone back." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Umar, stop," and then he related the whole matter. He (peace and blessings be upon him) again asked: "Who will kill this man?" Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "I." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "You will kill him, provided you find him." When Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) entered the mosque, he found that he had already left. Then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Listen! By Allah, had you killed him, he would have been the first and the last of these mischief-makers, and after that not even two people in my Ummah would have disagreed."
Imam Abu Ya'la narrated it through the chain of Abu Bakr bin Abi Shaybah, and (also) Amr bin al-Dahhak bin Makhlad from his father, and Muhammad bin al-Faraj Abu Ja'far in Baghdad from Muhammad bin al-Zibriqan, all of them through the chain of Musa bin Ubaydah, in the same way.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that in the blessed time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) there was a man who used to take part in campaigns with us. When he returned (from jihad) and unloaded his riding animal, he would at once head for the mosque and busy himself with prayer there. He would prolong his prayer so much that some of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) began to think that he had some superiority and merit over them. One day he passed by while the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting with his Companions, and one of his (peace and blessings be upon him) Companions said: "This is that man (whose worship was mentioned)." Then either he (peace and blessings be upon him) sent for him, or he came towards him of his own accord. When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw him coming towards him, he said: "By the One in whose Hand is my soul! Between his two eyes there is indeed a mark of Satan (the trace of pride and arrogance)." Then when he came and stopped by the gathering, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked him: "Did you just think in your heart that in this whole gathering no one is better than me?" He replied: "Yes (that is what I thought)." Then he turned away from there, went to a corner of the mosque, drew a line with his foot, then lined up his ankles and stood up to pray, then the narrator mentioned the whole hadith.
This narration has also passed in the Book of Qadar from the hadith of Zayd bin Aslam, also narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him). Imam al-Bazzar (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated with his chain from Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that we were in the gathering of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when a man appeared who was outwardly very quiet and dignified; then he narrated something similar. Imam al-Bazzar said: We do not know of this narration being narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) through any chain other than this route. Whereas I (Ibn Hajar, the author of the book) say: I know that this hadith has other chains and routes as well.