HARIGITI. — An heterodox Muslim sect, formed by a group of followers of the caliph 'ALI who separated from him when he accepted arbitration with his rival Mu'awijah. The name H. (Arabic hāriġ, pl. hawāriġ) is the active participle of the root hṛg “to go out,” and has generally been interpreted as “those who go out (from the camp),” i.e., those who withdraw. Recently M. Guidi, basing himself on the meaning of the root in surah 9 of the Qur’an, has understood it instead as “those who go out (into the field),” i.e., those who, in accordance with the duties of good Muslims, engage in battle against the enemy, considered an infidel.
Defeated by 'Ali at Nahrawān (658), the H. continued to foment periodic disturbances under the Umayyad caliphate, and then gradually died out. However, a moderate branch of theirs, the Ibāḍites, spread into 'Omān, Zanzibar, and North Africa, forming also political groupings. Ibāḍite communities still remain in those regions.
For their religious and political doctrines, V. 1824.