5. Islam’s First Vicious Anarchists
The most extreme Kharijite faction, the Azariqah in southern Iraq, separated themselves from the entire Muslim community and declared death to all sinners – defined as all who did not share the Azariqah’s puritanical beliefs – and their families. Their rebellion was eventually crushed, but embers remained. The Kharijites became the anarchists of Islam’s first centuries, an ever present irritant and horrific menace. They rejected the Caliphate’s authority, and pursued a campaign of terror and assassinations, combined with a low level insurgency in backcountry regions, that flared up every generation or two into a major rebellion that required considerable expense and effort to beat down.
