Anarchism and kharijism: Comparative analysis of political philosophy

With the death of the prophet of Islam, there existed a gap in the sense of leading the society and guiding the community. The first two caliphs chosen to fill this gap did not face serious difficulties in dealing with their administration and the election of their Caliph. In the caliphate of the third Caliph Othman, social problems arose and these problems resulted in the death of the caliph. These events, which took place during the Caliph Othman period, led to the discussion of political concepts such as the caliph, the legitimacy of the caliph and the administration in the social field. This separation occurred with the two groups in the Islamic society, and after a while, with the famous arbitrator event, the society was divided into three main groups. These three groups are the followers of the Caliph Ali, the followers of the Muaviye and the Khawarij who left from Caliph Ali. Therefore, Kharijism is a political movement whose origins are based on dissatisfaction with the economic, social and management in the period of the Caliph Othman. The main focus of this thesis is on Kharijism and the question of whether or not anarchism and Kharijism have similar values, will be asked. Khawarij manifested their attitude with the slogan, "Huqm belongs to only Allah". This statement is noteworthy because its meaning that it is only Allah who can adjudicate, therefore it is a stand against the use of authority by people in the affairs of Allah. They defended anti-authoritarianism in the social structures they established with the effect of this statement. If we look at the origins of the word anarchy; the term consists of the combination of the words "an" which means absence and "arkhe" which means administration. Thus, we can define the anarchism simply as a society or state without a ruler. But this simple meaning, though it's true, is also insufficient to understand anarchism. Therefore, the definition to be used in this study will be developed with the parameters that anarchist philosophers agree on. These parameters (which will also be examined briefly) can said to be freedom, use of violence, attitudes towards property, conduct of community affairs etc. Finally, in this study, the basic philosophical principles of the anarchists will be considered together with the management and society approaches of Kharijism and thus, the similarities of the Kharijism with the anarchism will be examined in philosophical context. Keywords: Anarchy, Kharijism, Equality, Justice, Liberty