This excerpt is taken from Sheikh Hafiz Mubashir Hussain Lahori's book Signs of the Day of Judgment in the Light of Authentic Hadiths.
Sign of the Day of Judgment: The Emergence of the Kharijites
وعن أبى سعيد رضى الله عنه قال : بينا النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم يقسم جاء عبد الله بن ذى الحويصرة التميمي فقال : اعدل يا رسول الله : فقال : ويلك من يعدل إذا لم أعدل ، قال عمر بن الخطاب : دعني أضرب عنقه قال : دعه فإن له أصحابا يحقر أحدكم صلاته مع صلاته وصيامه مع صيامه يمرقون من الدين كما يمرق السهم من الرمية ينظر فى قذذه فلا يوجد فيه شيء ، ثم ينظر فى نصله فلا يوجد فيه شيء ، ثم ينظر فى رصافه فلا يوجد فيه شيء ، ثم ينظر فى نضيه فلا يوجد فيه شيء ، قد سبق الفرث والدم آيتهم رجل إحدى يديه أو قال ثدييه مثل ثدي المرأة ، أو قال مثل البضعة تدردر ، يخرجون على حين فرقة من الناس ، قال أبو سعيد رضى الله عنه : أشهد سمعت من النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم وأشهد أن عليا قتلهم وأنا معه حين قتل الرجل على النعت الذى نعته النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم ، فنزلت فيهم ومنهم من يلمزك فى الصدقات
Hazrat Abu Saeed (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was distributing wealth when Abdullah bin Zhi al-Khuwaysirah al-Tamimi came and said: O Messenger of Allah! Be just. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Alas, if I do not do justice, then who will?" Upon this, Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Allow me to strike his neck. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: No, he will have some companions whose prayers and fasts you will consider insignificant, but they will leave the religion just as an arrow leaves an animal. If the feathers, ears, shaft, and wood of the arrow are examined, no sign (of blood) is visible because the skin, dung, and blood of the animal have all come out ahead (clean). (Similarly, those people will leave pure Islam.) Their sign will be a man whose one hand will be like a woman's breast or, as it was said, like fleshy, soft lumps of meat. These people will emerge at the time of discord among the Muslims.
Reference: Bukhari: Book of Repentance of Apostates and Rebels and Fighting Them: Chapter on Those Who Abandon Fighting the Kharijites for Reconciliation: 6933 Muslim: 1063
Hazrat Abu Saeed (may Allah be pleased with him) says that I testify that I heard this hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and I testify that Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) fought them (in Nahrawan) and I was with him in that battle. One of those people was captured as a prisoner, and he had the same signs that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had described.
The narrator said: This blessed verse was revealed about those people:
"Among them are some who criticize your distribution of alms."
عن على رضى الله عنه عن النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم قال : سيخرج قوم فى آخر الزمان أحداث الأسنان سفهاء الأحلام يقولون من خير قول البرية ، لا يجاوز إيمانهم حناجرهم يمرقون من الدين كما يمرق السهم من الرمية فأينما لقيتموهم فاقتلوهم فإن فى قتلهم أجرا لمن قتلهم يوم القيامة
Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The last times are near when such people will emerge among the Muslims who will be immature and foolish (lacking intellect). Outwardly, they will recite the best of all creations' speech (i.e., the Quran and Hadith), but in reality, the light of faith will not descend below their throats. They will leave the religion just as an arrow passes through a hunted animal. Wherever you find these people, kill them without hesitation because killing them will earn you reward on the Day of Judgment."
Reference: Bukhari: Book of Repentance of Apostates: Chapter on Killing the Kharijites and Apostates after Establishing the Proof: 2930 Muslim: 1065
Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) considered the Kharijites the worst of Allah's creation and used to say that these people would attribute the verses revealed about disbelievers to the Muslims.
Reference: Bukhari: Book of Repentance of Apostates: Chapter on Killing the Kharijites Muslim: Book of Zakat: Chapter on Kharijites as the Worst of Creation: 1067 contains a Marfu Hadith that Kharijites are the worst of creation.
In one narration, a man with a thick beard stood up whose eyes were lustful, cheeks prominent, forehead broad, and head shaved. He said: Fear Allah, O Muhammad! The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If I disobey Allah, then who will obey Him? Will He (the One on the Throne) call me trustworthy and you deny it?" Then the man left. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "From his progeny will emerge a people who will recite the Quran, but the Quran will not go down their throats. They will fight the Muslims instead of the polytheists and will leave Islam just as an arrow leaves the hunted animal. If I live to see them, I will kill them like the people of 'Aad (in some narrations, Mahmud)."
In one narration, Hazrat Khalid bin Walid (may Allah be pleased with him) said: O Prophet, allow me to strike his neck. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: No, perhaps he is a praying person.
Reference: Muslim: Book of Zakat: Chapter on Mentioning the Kharijites and Their Characteristics: 1064
Hazrat Abu Saeed (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "My Ummah will be divided into two groups, then a third group will emerge from them which will be killed by the group closer to the truth."
Reference: Muslim: 1065
Benefits:
In the Battle of Siffin, the armies of Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Amir Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) were engaged in combat, and despite thousands of casualties, the battle remained inconclusive. Suddenly, Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) devised a military strategy and, while keeping the enemy busy, detached a reasonable portion of his army and sent it under the command of Ashtar Nakha'i to attack the enemy from the rear. Ashtar attacked like lightning and storm, breaking and pushing through the ranks until he reached the heart of Amir Muawiyah's army, even killing the standard-bearer. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was very pleased and satisfied to see Ashtar's successful attack, while Amir Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) was equally disturbed and confused. Amr bin As (may Allah be pleased with him) advised Amir Muawiyah's son to order the people to immediately raise the Quran on their spears and loudly proclaim هذا كتاب الله بيني وبينكم "This is the Book of Allah; it is the judge between us and you." This was done. When Hazrat Ali's army saw the Quran raised on the spears, they ceased fighting. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) advised the people not to be negligent and to continue fighting, assuring them that victory was near. However, the people of Banu Bakr, Banu Hamdan, and Banu Tamim, who later came to be called Kharijites, refused to fight, saying that they could not remain believers by rejecting the judgment of the Quran. They forced Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) to agree to the arbitration of the Quran. But when Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) accepted the agreement and began the return journey, these people came to him demanding to break the agreement and attack Amir Muawiyah's army. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) refused to accept this breach of agreement, so they left the army saying that the only judge can be Allah alone. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) had committed disbelief (seeking refuge in Allah) by appointing a human (Abu Musa al-Ash'ari) as judge, so they should repent after acknowledging their disbelief; otherwise, they would not support him. These people separated from Hazrat Ali's army and settled in Harura, appointing Abdullah bin al-Kawa as their Imam and Shith bin Rubai as their commander. Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) convinced many of them through debate and repentance. Then Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) went to them and said: "You had pledged allegiance to me; what caused you to leave the pledge?" The leader of the Kharijites (Ibn Kawa) replied: "Because of your unjust authority." Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "By Allah, I was not in favor of stopping the fighting, but because of you, I had to stop the fighting and reluctantly agree to the arbitration decision. However, both sides took an oath to decide according to the Quran, so if their decision contradicts the Quran, we will never accept it. We did not appoint men as judges; the Quran is the judge, and men only announce the Quran's decision." But the Kharijites insisted on their views and kept raising objections. They also declared Amir Muawiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) an unbeliever and said that both are deserving of killing, and anyone who disagrees with their views is also deserving of killing. Instead of spreading their beliefs through preaching, the Kharijites adopted coercion and violence, forcing ordinary Muslims to accept their beliefs. If someone accepted, they included him among their companions and did not kill him. Similarly, when the Kharijites killed Abdullah bin Khabbab and his family, Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) took aggressive action against them and thoroughly exterminated them at Nahrawan, hence it is called the "Battle of Nahrawan." Just as the Kharijites attacked Muslims, they also disrupted Islam due to their erroneous beliefs and doctrines. They declared a major sinner a disbeliever, nullified the punishment of stoning, made prayer obligatory on a menstruating woman, called one who abandons enjoining good and forbidding evil dead, etc.
Reference: (For details see: Al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya: 2907 Fath al-Bari: 285/12)
