[6] By “Satan of the pit” the reference is to Dhu’th-Thudayyah (whose full name already mentioned in footnote no. 5) who was killed in Nahrawān by the stroke of lighting from the sky, and there was no need to kill him by sword. The Holy Prophet had foretold his death. Therefore, after the annihilation of the Khārijites at Nahrawān, Amīr al-mu’minīn came out in search, but could not find his body anywhere. In the meantime, ar-Rayyān ibn Ṣabirah saw forty to fifty bodies in a pit on the bank of the canal. When they were taken out the body of Dhu’th-Thudayyah was also found among them. He was called Dhu’th-Thudayyah because of a mass of flesh on his shoulder. When Amīr al-mu’minīn saw his body he said, “Allāh is Great, neither I spoke lie nor was I told wrong.” (Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadīd, vol. 13, pp. 183—184; aṭ-Ṭabarī, vol. l, pp. 3383—3384; Ibn al-Athīr, vol. 3, p. 348)

[5] Amīr al-mu’minīn, Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī, Jābir ibn ‘Abdullāh al-Anṣārī, ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas‘ūd, ‘Ammār ibn Yāsir, Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī and ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Abbās narrated that the Holy Prophet commanded ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib to fight those who are pledge-breakers (nākithīn), deviators from truth (qāsiṭīn) and those who have left the faith (māriqīn). (al-Mustadrak, vol. 3, p. 139; al-Isti‘āb, vol. 3, p. 1117; Usd al ghābah, vol. 3, pp. 32-33; ad-Durr al-manthūr, vol. 6, p. 18; al-Khaṣā’iṣ. al-kubrā, vol. 2, p. 138; Majma‘ az-zawā’id, vol. 5, p. 186; vol. 6, p. 235; vol. 7, p. 238; Kanzal-‘ummāl, vol. 6, pp. 72, 82, 88, 155, 215, 319, 391, 392; Tārīkh Baghdād, vol. 8, p. 340; vol. 13, pp. 186-187; at-Tārīkh, Ibn ‘Asākir, vol. 5, p. 41; at-Tārīkh, Ibn Kāthīr, vol. 7, pp. 304-306; ar-Riyāḍ an-naḍarah, vol. 2, p. 240; Sharḥ al-mawāhib al-ladunniyyah, vol. 3, pp. 316-317; Muwaḍḍaḥ al-awhām, vol.l, p.386) Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadīd says: “It has been proved (by right ascription) from the Holy Prophet that he said to ‘Alī عليه السلام: You will fight after me those who are pledge-breakers, deviators from truth and those who have gone out of the faith. “The pledge-breakers were the people of Jamal, because they broke their allegiance with him. The deviators from truth were the people of Syria (ash-Shām) at Ṣiffīn. Those who have gone out of the faith were the Khārijites at an-Nahrawān. Regarding these three groups, Allāh says (about the first one): Verily, those who swear their fealty unto thee do but swear fealty unto Allāh; the hand of Allāh is above their hands; so whosoever violateth his oath, doth violate it only to the hurt of his (own) self;... (Qur’ān, 48:10) (About the second group) Allāh says: And as for the deviators, they shall be for the hell, a fuel. (Qur’ān, 72:15)” Concerning the third group, Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadīd has referred to the following tradition (ḥadīth) that al-Bukhārī (in aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, vol. 4, pp. 166—167, 243), Muslim (in aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, vol. 3, pp. 109—117), at-Tirmidhi (in al-Jāmi‘ aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, vol. 4, p. 481), Ibn Mājah (in as-Sunan, vol. 1, pp. 59—62), an-Nasā’ī (in as-Sunan, vol. 3, pp. 65—66), Mālik ibn Anas (in al-Muwaṭṭa’, pp. 204—205), ad-Dār’quṭnī (in as-Sunan, vol. 3, pp. 131—132), ad-Dārimī (in as-Sunan, vol. 2, p. 133), Abū Dāwūd (in as-Sunan, vol. 4, pp. 241—246), al-Ḥākim (in al-Mustadrak, vol. 2, pp. 145—154; vol. 4, p. 531), Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (in al-Musnad, vol. 1, pp. 88,140,147; vol. 3, pp. 56, 65) and al-Bayḥaqī (in as-Sunan al-kubrā’, vol. 8, pp. 170—171) have narrated through a group of the companions of the Holy Prophet that he said about Dhu’l-Khuwayṣirah (the surname for Dhu’th-Thudayyah Ḥurqūṣ ibn Zuhayr at-Tamīmī, the chief of the Khārijites): From this very person’s posterity there will arise people who will recite the Qur’ān, but it will not go beyond their throat, they will kill their followers of Islam and will spare the idol-worshippers. They will glance through the teaching of Islam as hurriedly as the arrow passes through its prey. If I were to ever find them I would kill them like ‘Ād. Then Ibn Abi’l-Ḥadīd continues: This is the sign for his (Holy Prophet’s) prophethood and his prophecy of the secret knowledge. (Sharḥ Nahj al-balāghah, vol. 13, p. 183)