CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE KHAWĀRIJ, OR THEOCRATIC FACTION, REBEL
AGAINST ʿALĪ
37 A.H. 657–658 A.D.
Arab faction caught by appeal to Ḳorʾān.The quick sagacity of ʿAmr had never been turned to better account than when he proposed that the Ḳorʾān should be the arbiter between the contending parties. To be judged by the Book of the Lord had been the cry of the democrats from the beginning. The sacred text gave countenance neither to the extravagant pretensions of Ḳoreish, nor to their rule of favouritism and tyranny. Its precepts were based on the brotherhood of the faithful; and the Prophet himself had enjoined the absolute equality of all. No sooner, therefore, was the Ḳorʾān proclaimed than, as ʿAmr anticipated, the Arab chiefs, caught in the snare, took up the cry and pledged themselves thereto.
Dissatisfied.Reflection soon tarnished the prospect. They had forgotten how narrow was the issue which the umpires had to decide. The Bedawīn and democrats were fighting not for one Caliph or the other, but against the pretensions of Ḳoreish at large. It was this that nerved them to the sanguinary conflict. "If the Syrians conquer," cried one of their chiefs, "ye are undone. Again ye will be ground down by tyrants like unto the minions of ʿOthmān. They will seize upon the conquests of Islām as if, forsooth, they were theirs by inheritance, instead of won by our swords. We shall lose our grasp both of this world and the next." Such were the alleged evils for which they had slain ʿOthmān, and from which they had been fighting for deliverance. By
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