في إخبار آخر عن هذه الفترة المضطربة، يروي أبو سعيد الخدري رضي الله عنه أن النبي ﷺ قال: «تمرق مارقة عند فرقة من المسلمين، يقتلها أولى الطائفتين بالحق».299

In another foretelling of this turbulent period, Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī  narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “A dissenting faction will splinter at a time of disunity between the Muslims, and they will be fought by the more correct of the two parties.”299

مرة أخرى، كان جيش الكوفة (بقيادة عليّ)، لا جيش الشام (بقيادة معاوية)، هو الذي قاتل الخوارج المتمردين في النهروان سنة 37هـ، فكان هو الطائفة «الأولى بالحق» و«غير المعتدية». أما عن جذور الخوارج، فقد اتُّهم النبي ﷺ مرةً من قِبَل منافق يُعرف بذي الخُويصرة بالجَور. فقال النبي ﷺ لمن أراد أن يعاقب هذا الرجل على إهانته: «دعوه، فإنه سيكون له أصحاب يحقر أحدكم صلاته مع صلاتهم، وصيامه مع صيامهم، يقرؤون القرآن لا يجاوز حناجرهم، يمرقون من الدين كما يمرق السهم من الرمية، ينظر في نصله فلا يوجد فيه شيء، ثم ينظر في رصافه فلا يوجد فيه شيء، ثم ينظر في قِدحه فلا يوجد فيه شيء، ثم ينظر في نضيه فلا يوجد فيه شيء، ثم ينظر في قُذَذه فلا يوجد فيه شيء، سبق الفرث والدم».

Again, it was the army of Kufa (led by ‘Alī), not Shām (led by Mu‘āwiyah), who fought the Khārijite rebels at Nahrawān in 37H, making them the “more correct” and non-transgressing party. Regarding the roots of the Khārijites, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was once accused by a hypocrite known as Dhul Khuwayṣirah of inequity. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told those seeking to punish this man for his insult, “Leave him be. He will certainly have fellows who will cause you to belittle your own prayer when compared to their prayer, and his fasting compared to their fasting. They will recite the Qur’an, but it will not pass beyond their throats [to their hearts]. They will exit the religion as an arrow passes through a game animal, whereby one would look at the arrowhead and not see any traces on it; one would look at the binding which fastens the arrowhead to the rod and not see any traces on it; one would look at the rod itself and not see any traces on it; one would look at the feathers and not see any traces on them. It would go straight through the bowels and the blood.

Their sign will be a black man whose limbs will appear like a woman's breasts, or like a disfigured lump of flesh. They will emerge at a time when the people are disunited. The narrator, Abū Saʿīd, adds, "I testify that I heard this hadith directly from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and I testify that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib fought them, and that I was with him. He instructed that we search for this man. He was eventually found and brought to ʿAlī, and I saw that that man appeared exactly as the Prophet ﷺ had described him." Arabic: علامتهم رجلٌ أسود، إحدى يديه مثل ثدي المرأة، أو مثل البضعة تَدَرْدَرُ. يخرجون على حين فُرقة من الناس. قال أبو سعيد: أشهد أني سمعتُ هذا الحديث من رسول الله ﷺ، وأشهد أن عليَّ بن أبي طالب قاتلهم وأنا معه، فأمر بذلك الرجل فالتُمس، فوُجد، فأُتي به، فنظرتُ إليه على نعت النبي ﷺ الذي نعته.300

Their sign will be a black man whose limbs will appear like a woman’s breasts, or like a disfigured lump of flesh. They will emerge at a time when the people are disunited.” The narrator, Abū Sa‘īd , adds, “I testify that I heard this hadith directly from the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم, and I testify that ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib fought them, and that I was with him. He instructed that we search for this man. He was eventually found and brought to ‘Alī, and I saw that that man appeared exactly as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had described him.”300