The third group was Māriqīn. Māriq means an apostate. For calling this group as Māriq, it is said that they ran away from the religion like an arrow flying from a bow! Imagine how an arrow flies away when you put it in a bow and draw the bow. This group ran away from the religion in the same manner. For sure, they were only adhered to the trappings of religion and talked about it. These were the Khawārij; a group which had based the basis of their deeds upon the deviant understandings and misconceptions – which are dangerous things. They had not learned the religion from ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib (P.B.U.H.) who was the interpreter of the Holy Qur’an and a knowledgeable person; they learned it according to their own wrong tastes. However, the formation and organization of their group or cabal–as it is said in today’s terminology–needed a wise policy. This policy was formulated elsewhere. The important thing is that this cabal whose members recited a verse of the Qur’an if one had said something to them, whose members came in the middle of the congregational prayers of Imam ‘Alī (P.B.U.H.) and recited a verse of the Qur’an with a hint of irony about the Commander of the Faithful (P.B.U.H.), whose members stood up and recited a verse of the Qur’an with a touch of irony about the Imam (P.B.U.H.) whenever he was delivering a sermon from the pulpit, whose members’ creed was “There rule is only for Allah”–i.e. we do not accept your rule and we are people of Allah’s rule, whose members had such manners were organized and established with the guidance and advice of the elders of Qāsiṭīn and figures of Shām–i.e. ‘Amr b. al-‘Āṣ and Mu‘āwīya! These people were associated with them. Ash‘ath b. Qays, as the Qur’an refers to, was one of the impurities and a group of feeble-minded and unfortunate people followed in their footsteps. Therefore the third group, which the Commander of the Faithful (P.B.U.H.) faced with and for sure defeated, was Māriqīn. In the Battle of Nahrawān, the Imam (P.B.U.H.) decisively routed this group yet they were living in the community and this finally led to the martyrdom of this great Imam (P.B.U.H.).
You should not confuse the meaning of Khawārij. Some have likened Khawārij to the sanctimonious but it is not true. Indeed, it is not the matter of being “sanctimonious” or “puritan”. A puritan is sitting somewhere praying and supplicating. This does not mean Khawārij. In fact, Khawārij is an agent who is seeking a rebellion, causing a crisis, taking actions [against the Imam (P.B.U.H.)], seeking to fight with ‘Alī (P.B.U.H.) and indeed, is fighting with the Imam (P.B.U.H.). Their basis was wrong; their fighting with the Imam (P.B.U.H.) was wrong; the means were wrong, the goal was wrong. These were the three groups which the Commander of the Faithful (P.B.U.H.) faced with.
