Page 369 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

330 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

regarded in the light of supporters of usurpa­
tion and tyranny, and that they could not

accept an Imam of their choice. AH refusing
to listen to them, they departed from him ;

hence the derivation of the name of Khuwa-
rijites—that is “ seceders.” Their first step
was to appoint an Imam of their own, main­

taining that Ali resigned his right to that
office by allowing his pretensions to be de­

cided upon by those who were not Imdms, and
thus rendered it lawful for the Khuwarijites

to do the same. They likewise charge AH
with the slaughter of many of their sect, and

that he died without repentance, since he
exhibited none of the evidences which are
considered necessary corroborations of such

a state. Of two of these requisite proofs, viz.,
restitution and reparation, he certainly made

no manifestation, nor did this sect ever suffer
their faith to depend upon him, nor do they

shape either their faith or their notions of
right by the example of the great doctors, but

from the harmonious concurrence of the
“ Book.”
Respecting Harut and Marht, to whom con­

siderable allusion is made in the religious