men and not acting according to the Book of God. Most of them had earlier forced Ali to accept the arbitration, but afterward exclaimed that the right to judgment belonged to God alone. Twelve thousand of the dissenters defected from the army and settled at a place near Kufa called Harura, becoming known as the Harurites. Ali, after some time, visited the Harura camp and persuaded the defectors to abandon their protest and return to Kufa. According to some accounts, they returned on the condition that the war against Mu'awiya be resumed after six months and Ali acknowledge his mistake, which he did on general and ambiguous terms. Nevertheless, Ali refused to denounce the arbitration and the proceedings continued. In March 658, he sent his arbitration delegation headed by Abu Musa Ash'ari to carry out the talks. Consequently, the Kharijites decided to leave him. In order to avoid being detected, they moved out in small groups and went to a place by the Nahrawan Canal on the east bank of the Tigris. Some five hundred of their Basran comrades were informed and they also joined them in Nahrawan. Following this exodus, they were called as Khawarij, those who leave. Prelude The Kharijites denounced Ali as caliph, declared him, his followers, and the Syrians as infidels, and instead elected Abd Allah ibn Wahb al-Rasibi as their caliph. They declared the blood of such infidels to be licit. In the meantime, the two arbitrators announced that Uthman had been killed unjustly by the rebels. After this verdict, which strengthened the Syrian's support for Mu'awia, the arbitration process collapsed. At that point, Ali denounced the arbitrators as contrary to Quran and mobilized his supporters to renew the war against Mu'awiya. He summoned the Kharijites to join him. They refused, unless he acknowledged that he had gone astray and repent. Ali decided to depart for Syria without them. When Ali's forces voiced their concern about the threat of Kharijites, Ali persuaded them in a speech that the war against Mu'awiya was more important and ordered his troops to depart for Syria. According to W. Madelung, around this time, the Kharijites started the practice of interrogating civilians about their views on Uthman and Ali, and executing those who did not share their views. They are alleged to have disemboweled a farmer's pregnant wife, cut out and killed her unborn infant, before beheading the farmer. Ali