[384] Wellhausen, Das Arabische Reich und sein Sturz, p. 38.
[385] I.e., the main body of Moslems—Sunnís, followers of the Sunna, as they were afterwards called—who were neither Shí‘ites nor Khárijites, but held (1) that the Caliph must be elected by the Moslem community, and (2) that he must be a member of Quraysh, the Prophet's tribe. All these parties arose out of the struggle between ‘Alí and Mu‘áwiya, and their original difference turned solely of the question of the Caliphate.
[386] Brünnow, Die Charidschiten unter den ersten Omayyaden (Leiden, 1884), p. 28. It is by no means certain, however, that the Khárijites called themselves by this name. In any case, the term implies secession (khurúj) from the Moslem community, and may be rendered by 'Seceder' or 'Nonconformist.'
[387] Cf. Koran, ix, 112.
[388] Brünnow, op. cit., p. 8.
[389] Wellhausen, Die religiös-politischen Oppositionsparteien im alten Islam (Abhandlungen der Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1901), p. 8 sqq. The writer argues against Brünnow that the oldest Khárijites were not true Bedouins (A‘rábí), and were, in fact, even further removed than the rest of the military colonists of Kúfa and Baṣra from their Bedouin traditions. He points out that the extreme piety of the Readers—their constant prayers, vigils, and repetitions of the Koran—exactly agrees with what is related of the Khárijites, and is described in similar language. Moreover, among the oldest Khárijites we find mention made of a company clad in long cloaks (baránis, pl. of burnus), which were at that time a special mark of asceticism. Finally, the earliest authority (Abú Mikhnaf in Ṭabarí, i, 3330, l. 6 sqq.) regards the Khárijites as an offshoot from the Readers, and names individual Readers who afterwards became rabid Khárijites.
[390] Later, when many non-Arab Moslems joined the Khárijite ranks the field of choice was extended so as to include foreigners and even slaves.
[391] Ṭabarí, ii, 40, 13 sqq.
[392] Shahrastání, ed. by Cureton, Part I, p. 88. l. 12.
[393] Ibid., p. 86, l. 3 from foot.