Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

However, in a very short time they became extremely weak and their innovations
almost vanished in the time of Yazīd ibn Ḥātim 1 who reconquered the West and
continuously subdued its people till they became obliging. At the same time
he had done away with many of the leaders of the Khawārij. 2 His brother 3 had
continued in his footsteps after his demise. Despite all of this, a group of the
Khawārij still managed to subsist, but not like before in terms of strength and
public appearance. 4
Ibn Khaldūn says:
ثم لم يزل أمرهم في تناقض إلى أن اضمحلت ديانتهم وافترقت جماعتهم،‏ وبقيت آثار نحلتهم في أعقاب
البربر الذين دانوا بها أول المر
Thereafter they continued retrogressing till eventually their dogma
faded away and their people became scattered. The effects of their dogma
only then remained in the progenies of those Berbers who had initially
embraced it. 5
Now, hereunder I am going to briefly highlight some of the loci of Naṣb in the
West, for covering all of them is extremely difficult; especially when considering
that Yāqūt al-Ḥamawī has stated that around Sarūs 6 alone there were more than
three villages all of which were Khawārij. 7
1 Yazīd ibn Ḥātim ibn Qabīṣah al-Azdī. A leader from the children of al-Muhallab ibn Abī Ṣufrah. He
was well known for his generosity and bravery and was the governor of Jaʿfar al-Manṣūr over Egypt
for a period of seven years. Thereafter when the problem of the Khawārij intensified in the West,
Manṣūr sent him as the governor where he subsequently ruled for fifteen years and three months. He
passed away during the era of Hārūn al-Rashīd in 170 A.H. See: Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 8/233; al-Wāfī bi
al-Wafayāt 28/48; Mirʾāt al-Jinān 1/361; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/111.
2 Al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 5/197; al-ʿIbar fī Akhbār man Ghabar 1/224; al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 10/113;
Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn 7/18.
3 Rūḥ Ibn Ḥātim. See: al-Kāmil fī al-Tārīkh 5/282.
4 Miḍmār al-Khalāʾiq 1/54.
5 Tārīkh Ibn Khaldūn 3/213.
6 Sarūs or Sharūs is a great city which is in the centre of the Nafūsah mountain range (which are
today known as the Western mountain range). In fact it is the central village therein and is very large
and populated. See: Muʿjam al-Buldān 3/217; al-Rawḍ al-Miʿṭār fī Khabar al-Aqṭār p. 216.
7 Muʿjam al-Buldān 3/217.
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