في فكر الخوراج الكتاب و السنة في شعار "لا حكم إلا لله"

Abstract EN

This article puts forward a new interpretation of the Kharijites' slogan "laa hukma illaa li-llaah".

The traditional interpretation views the slogan as a determined call for the arbitration in the conflict between 'Ali and Mu'awiya to be placed with the Qur'an, not with people.

The article argues, in contrast, that the slogan's tune of rejection was not directed as much against the appointment of people to arbitrate in that conflict as against introducing the sunna as a basis for arbitration alongside the Qur'an.

In defending this understanding of the slogan, the article starts by asserting that the Iraqi opposition to the central government was centered around 'Uthman's policies of dealing with the revenues of the conquests.

Then, the article invokes certain materials in the Sunna of both the Prophet and 'Umar b.

al-Khattab, in order to demonstrate that this Sunna did include what may have given legitimacy to measures taken by 'Uthman for dividing the revenues of the conquests but utterly condemned as illegitimate by the Kharijites, who thence constituted the hard line stream within the opposition.

Now, since the arbitration was to end up with a verdict telling whether 'Uthman had been justifiably or unjustifiably killed and thereby deciding the fate of all those involved in his killing, the referral to the Sunna would not be welcomed by the Kharijites; therefore, they naturally demanded that the Qur'an be the only basis for arbitration, as the articles concludes.