THE FORMATION OF KHARIJITE STATES IN NORTH AFRICA

At the peak of the spread of intellectual and political movements in early Islamic history, particularly during the period when power was being transferred form the Umayyads to the Abbasids, an influential sect, often known as the Khrijites, managed to muster support for its ideas in a number of peripheral territories at distant corners of the Muslim World. One such place was North Africa where Arab and non-Arab Kharijites succeeded to win over part of the Berber population and establish several states after going through the three stages of missionary work, organizing temporary rebellions, and finally widening the extent of such rebellions.