“Then a man—who was not my equal; whose kinship did not match mine, whose knowledge did not match mine, whose prior merit did not match mine—snatched it, while I was more entitled to it than he.”

They said to him, “Tell us about your fighting the two men—meaning Ṭalḥah and al-Zubayr.” He replied, “They pledged allegiance to me in Medina and then revoked it in Basra. Had any one of those who had given the pledge to Abū Bakr and ʿUmar renounced it, we would have fought him.”

Al-Jarīrī transmitted a similar account from Abū Naḍrah.

Abū ʿAttāb al-Dallāl said: Mukhtār ibn Nāfiʿ al-Taymī narrated to us; he said: Abū Ḥayyān al-Taymī narrated to us, from his father, from ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “May Allah have mercy on Abū Bakr: he married his daughter to me, conveyed me to the Abode of Migration, and emancipated Bilāl. May Allah have mercy on ʿUmar: he speaks the truth even when it is bitter; the truth left him with hardly a friend. May Allah have mercy on ʿUthmān: the angels feel shy before him. May Allah have mercy on ʿAlī; O Allah, make the truth turn with him wherever he turns.”

Ismāʿīl ibn Rajāʾ narrated, from his father, from Abū Saʿīd, that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say, “Among you is one who will fight for the interpretation of the Quran just as I fought for its revelation.” Abū Bakr asked, “Is it I?” He replied, “No.” ʿUmar asked, “Is it I?” He replied, “No; rather, it is the one repairing the sandal,” and he had given ʿAlī his sandal to mend.

I say: He later fought the Khārijites, who interpreted the Quran according to their own opinion and in ignorance.

Khārijah ibn Muṣʿab narrated, from Salām ibn Abī al-Qāsim, from ʿUthmān ibn