Hadith On Khawarij
This is a typical anti Khawarij hadith that was forged in the later period and retrojected to the Prophet (pbuh). Notice how it specifies excessive devotion as a characteristic of the Kharajites. For this to be understood, you need to consider the Kharjite creed in which, if you commit a sin, you leave the fold of Islam and in order to become a Muslim, you have to renew your faith. For this reason, many Kharjites were zealots. In some anti Khawariji hadiths, you will even find “sunken eyes, prominent cheek bones, and elevated forehead, thick beard, shaven head, tucked up loincloth” being used for the physical description of Kharijites . The Kharijtes were also known for holding the Quran as the ultimate arbitrator in case of conflict between people. The Prophet (pbuh) wasn’t known for giving such specific description of future events/groups in the manner of a soothsayer. Anyways we know the Kharjites did not belong to a specific tribal group, this in itself proves the inauthenticity of the hadith but there’s a bigger problem with this narration. The Prophet (pbuh) would never kill people who claim to be his followers, he didn’t even harm the hypocrites who lived in Medina during his lifetime. The hadith is also against the manner in which Ali (ra) ( who the Kharjites planned to assassinate ) interacted with Kharjites by offering reconciliation, peace talks and dialogue. This led many of them to renounce kharjite mentality. However, some remaining Kharjites were obstinate on assassinating Muslim leaders and when all dialogue failed, Ali(ra) was forced to confront them at the battle of Nahrawan.