Shurat Islam

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Shurat Islam (Arabic: شُرَُیَعَتْ اِسْلَاَمْ), also known as Kharijites (Arabic: عَلْخَوَاَرِجْ), was an early sect of Islam that appeared in the late Rashidun Caliphate. Though the branch has no followers today, the Ibadi movement is seen as a moderate form of Shurat Islam.

Coin struck between 694 and 695 CE by the Azariqa Kharijite leader Qatari ibn Fuja'a, mint in Jahrom

The Kharijites formed in response to a controversy over the Caliphate. After caliph Uthman died, Ali and Mu'awiya I fought each other. The Shurati Muslims then emerged and did not pledge allegiance to Ali or Mu'awiya. Rather, the Shuratis decided to attack Ali and Mu'awiya's followers and takfir them (declare that they were no longer Muslims).

Sometimes, the term Kharijite (or Neo-Kharijite) is also used for some Islamic militant groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and the Takfir wal-Hijra in Egypt. Kharijites are also compared to modern Hadith rejectors.