*THE SIGNS WHICH HAVE OCCURRED AND ARE ONGOING, OR WHICH OCCURRED ONCE AND MAY BE REPEATED*
3- Al-Fitan (Tribulations, Turmoil)
*(2) Examples of tribulations*
(ii) The fitnah of the Khawaarij
In Sunan Abi Dawood, Sunan ibn Maajah, Mustadrak al-Haakim and Musnad Aḥmad it’s narrated that Anas (رضي الله عنه) associated: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
There will be differences and divisions among my ummah. There will be people who will speak well but behave badly. They will recite the Qur’an but it will not go any deeper than their collar-bones. They will pass through the religion as (swiftly as) an arrow passes through its prey, and they will not come back until the arrow comes back to the bow (i.e., never)
.
They are the most evil of people and of creation. Glad tidings to the one who kills them and they kill him. They will call people to the Book of Allah, but they will have nothing to do with it. Whoever fights them is closer to Allah than them, and their sign is that they shave their heads.”
This group appeared on the time of the Sahaabah. They denounced the Sahaabah as kaafirs and shed the blood of the Muslims, they usually triggered nice tribulation within the ummah. [Saheeh al-Jaami, 3/217]
