relief to the heart that, whenever I am asked about something I do not know, I can say, “Allah knows best.”

Khaythamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān reported that ʿAlī said: “Whoever wishes to be just with people in relation to himself should love for them what he loves for himself.”

ʿAmr ibn Murrah, on the authority of Abū al-Bakhtarī, related: A man once came to ʿAlī and praised him, although ʿAlī had already heard certain things about the man. ʿAlī replied, “I am not as you say, yet I am above what you harbor in your own mind.”

Muḥammad ibn Bishr al-Asadī—who is reliable—said: Mūsā ibn Muṭayr—who is weak—narrated to us from his father, from Ṣaʿṣaʿah ibn Ṣawḥān, who said: When ʿAlī had been struck we visited him and said, “Appoint a successor.” He answered, “If Allah intends good for you, He will set the best of you over you, just as He intended good for us and set Abū Bakr over us.”

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUmārah narrated, from al-Ḥakam, from Abū Wāʾil: It was said to ʿAlī, “Will you not make a bequest?” He said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not make a bequest, so why should I? Yet if Allah wills good for the people, He will gather them behind their best, just as He gathered them after their Prophet behind their best.”

The same report is also transmitted with another chain from al-Shaʿbī, from Abū Wāʾil.

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Salaʿ al-Hamdānī narrated, from ʿAbd Khayr, from ʿAlī, who said: “Abū Bakr became caliph and acted in accordance with the practice and sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ …” (the report continues).

Al-Aʿmash narrated, from Sālim ibn Abī al-Jaʿd, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sabʿ, that he heard ʿAlī say: “This [my beard] will surely be stained with the blood of this [my head], and only a wretched man is waiting to do it.” They said, “Commander of the Faithful, tell us who he is so that we may eliminate his clan.” He replied, “I adjure you by Allah—let no one be killed except my killer.” They said, “Then appoint a successor over us.” He said, “No; rather I leave you to that which…"