11. Before Al Qaeda or ISIS, There Were These Horrific Extremists
Long before the horrific depredations of Al Qaeda and ISIS there were the even more horrific Khawarij, whose name means “Outsiders” in Arabic. Centuries before Osama bin Laden was in diapers, the Khawarij were a radical fundamentalist faction of early Islamic dissenters who appeared on the scene after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. They came up with the concept of Takfir, whereby Muslims who disagreed with them were deemed apostates and kafirs (infidels). That gave them license to get around the Islamic prohibition against killing fellow Muslims.
As such, the Khawarij established the philosophical foundations for modern terrorists such as the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS. They emerged when a succession dispute erupted between those who believed that leadership after Muhammad’s demise should be confined to Muhammad’s family and bloodline, and those who thought it should be open to whomever the Muslim community chose. The former, a minority, coalesced around Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib and became known as the Shiites, or faction, of Ali. The latter, the majority, became known as the Sunnis.
