Al-Khirit ibn Rashid's revolt (38–39 AH)

خبر الخرّيت بن راشد وبني ناجية

658 CE · 38 AH

The Najid Khariji who walked out on Ali after Nahrawan — 'your man's imamate and your conduct alike displease me; I side with those who call for shura'. His night-battle with Ziyad ibn Khasafa bent swords and hamstrung horses; he drew the Banu Najiya and Ahwazi tax-resisters around him until Ma'qil ibn Qays's four-thousand-man expedition demanded 'ten for every one of them' 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Rashidun Caliphate
Region
Levant & Iraq · Persia & Central Asia
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

In time

650660670
The Rashidun Caliphate · The Umayyad Period

Civil wars and revoltsSects and schools

Overview

Al-Kharrit ibn Rashid al-Najji broke with Ali after Nahrawan. Ibn al-Athir gives his answer to Ziyad ibn Khasafa when he asked what he resented: their companions had not been content with an imam, nor was their conduct a conduct, so he decided to withdraw and be with those who called for consultation. 2

Fighting

The two sides fought hard with spears and then swords; Ziyad was wounded, and night separated them. Al-Kharrit then marched to al-Ahwaz, where the Banu Najiya and some non-Arab people of al-Ahwaz who wanted to break the land tax joined him, about two hundred in all. 2

Ali's dispatch

Maqil ibn Qays told Ali that the men sent against them should be ten for each one of them. Ali sent two thousand men with him and wrote to Ibn Abbas to send the same number. When the fighting grew fierce, al-Kharrit told his companions: fight for your women and your children. 2

The account belongs to the years 38 and 39 AH. The end of the fighting is not given in the sources and needs an additional source.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
al-Khirit ibn Rashid al-Naji· Ma'qil ibn Qays al-Riyahi

People and things also explored

الخوارج· The massacre of the Batinis at Wasit (601 AH)· The Shi'i–Sunni war at Wasit (406–407 AH)· al-Khirit ibn Rashid al-Naji· Hasan ibn Ali· Husayn ibn Ali· Ma'qil ibn Qays al-Riyahi· Zaynab bint Ali

Sources

  1. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir, p. 715-716
  2. al-Kamil fi'l-Tarikh of Ibn al-Athir, p.715-716
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Khirit ibn Rashid's revolt (38–39 AH)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/khirit-revolt-38/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.

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Wing

People

Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story.
Related

الخوارج

The Khawarij — a sect whose doctrine turns on kufr and iman like the Murji'a but in the opposite direction; per al-Ash'ari's Kitab al-Farq, what unites them is takfir of Ali, Uthman, the people of the Camel and the two arbitrators, and the duty of rising against unjust rulers.