Punishment of Apostacy in Islam — Page 70
70 had repudiated Islam, nor did Hazrat Ali call them apostates. At pages 61 and 62 of Vol. II of Minhajus Sunnah, one of the books of Sheikh Ibn Taimiyyah, it is recorded: Ashari has said that though the Khawaraj were all agreed that Hazrat Ali was a disbeliever, yet Hazrat Ali declared clearly that they were Muslims and not disbelievers or hypocrites…One reason for holding that the Companions did not consider the Khawaraj disbelievers is that they joined them in the salat and met them and mingled with them and addressed them as Muslims…The Muslims also treated them in the same way and did not consider them apostates as those against whom Hazrat Abu Bakr had fought…The Companions and those who followed them did not consider them apostates nor transgressed against them in any way by word or deed, but treated them righteously with justice. It is well established that Hazrat Ali’s fighting the Khawaraj was for the purpose of suppressing rebellion and disorder and not on account of any difference of doctrine. This is clear from the following: Hazrat Ali spoke to the leaders of the Khawaraj and undertook that the Khawaraj would not be denied admission to mosques, would be given their share out of war booty and would not be fought against unless they started disorders. They left him in parties and held a caucus at Madaen. Hazrat Ali sent an emissary to them asking them to return, but they declined and they said they would not return unless he confessed that having agreed to arbitration he had become a disbeliever, and unless he repented. Thereupon Hazrat Ali sent to them a second time but they persisted in their refusal to return and were at one time