Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Droves of people had accepted Islam after it had reached the west. However, full
attention was not paid to instructing them in the Dīn so as to firmly ground it
in their hearts. Hence it is not strange to learn that many of the Berber tribes
remained confused and hesitant regarding fully accepting it, and thus apostatised,
up to twelve times, as is alleged. 1
ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz 2 had thus tried to remedy this situation and sent ten jurists
to the people of the west to instruct them in the Dīn. 3 As noble as his endeavour
was, it did not produce the desired results due to him passing away before it could
fully bear its fruits.
Analysed from another perspective, the Berber Muslims are generally described
as ‘the best people in terms of peace and obedience’, but due to their governors
ruling exclusively over them and oppressing them their hearts became
overwhelmed with hatred for the Khilāfah itself and they began to assume that it
does not represent the actual Islam.
At precisely this time the Bidʿah of the Khawārij began to spread gradually, i.e.
during the initial period of the second century of Hijrah, via the Khawārij of Iraq
who were fleeing from the Umayyad Empire after having failed to stand their
ground against it. These people did not fall short of exploiting the recent and
fairly new Islam of these people to spread their dogma within them.
As a result, the actual emergence of the Khawārij to the surface collectively was
in the year 123 A.H. 4
1 Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn 6/144; Muqaddamah Ibn Khaldūn p. 164; al-Istiqṣā li Akhbār Duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā 1/156.
2 ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Marwān al-Umawī, Abū Ḥafṣ al-Madanī al-Dimashqī. The rightly guided
Khalīfah. He was born in 61 A.H. He was appointed as the Khalīfah by his cousin Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd
al-Malik. His conduct and mannerisms were similar to those of his grandfather ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb
I. Unfortunately he was not blessed with a long period of rulership. He passed away in Dayr Samʿān
in 101 A.H. His narrations are narrated in the six books. Tārīkh Madīnah Dimashq 45/126; Tahdhīb al-
Kamāl 21/432; Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 5/114; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 9/192.
3 Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb 1/424, 2/68, 6/74, 153; al-Istiqṣā li Akhbār Duwal al-Maghrib al-Aqṣā 1/157.
4 Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn 3/213.
202