The Kharijites in Early Islamic Historical Tradition: Heroes and Villains

Why are stories told about the Khārijites? The Islamic tradition portrays Khārijism as a heretical movement of militantly pious zealots, a notion largely reiterated by what little there is of modern scholarship on the Khārijites. Hannah—Lena Hagemann moves away from the usual studies of Khārijite history ‘as it really was’ and instead examines its narrative function in early Islamic historiography. From the Khārijites’ origins at the Battle of Ṣiffīn in 657 CE until the death of the caliph ...