Khalīfah (1) reported that Abū al-Yaqẓān said:

“When ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—set out from Dhī Qār, the banner was carried by his son Muḥammad.”

Ibn Saʿd (2) narrated: Abū Nuʿaym told us, Fitr told us, from Mundhir al-Thawrī, who said:

“I was with Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah when he declared, ‘I do not attest to anyone’s ultimate salvation, nor that he is definitely among the people of Paradise, after the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—not even my own father.’

“The people gazed at him, so he added, ‘Who among mankind is like ʿAlī? For him such-and-such has already been decreed, such-and-such has already been decreed.’ ”

Abū Shihāb al-Ḥannāṭ related: from Layth, from Muḥammad al-Azdī, from Ibn al-Ḥanafiyyah, who said:

“Two Arab households are treated by the people as rivals to Allah: we, and these cousins of ours”—meaning the Umayyads (3).

Abū Nuʿaym reported: ʿAbthar Abū Zubayd told us, from Sālim ibn Abī Ḥafṣah, from Mundhir Abū Yaʿlā, from Muḥammad, who said:

“We are two households from Quraysh whom people take as rivals to Allah: we, and the Umayyads (4).”

Abū Nuʿaym narrated: Ismāʿīl ibn Muslim al-Ṭāʾī told us, from his father, who said:

“ʿAbd al-Malik wrote: ‘From ʿAbd al-Malik, Commander of the Believers, to Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī.’

“When Muḥammad read the address he exclaimed, ‘We belong to Allah!—the freed captives and the ones who revile the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, from the pulpits! By Him in whose hand is my soul, these are matters whose foundation has never settled.’ (5)

“I (the author) say: He had written to court his favour (6). After Ibn al-Zubayr was killed and matters were consolidated for ʿAbd al-Malik, Muḥammad pledged allegiance.”