The Shiʿah’s Ignorance of Imam ʿAli’s Position:
It is firmly established that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever among you lives long after me will witness great disagreement. So hold fast to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs who come after me; cling to it with your molars. Beware of newly introduced matters, for every innovation is misguidance.” 1

His freedman Safīnah narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The caliphate will last thirty years, after which it will turn into kingship.” 2 The completion of those thirty years occurred when the Prophet’s grandson al-Hasan ibn ʿAli—may Allah be pleased with him—handed authority over to Muʿāwiyah.

Muʿāwiyah was the first of the kings, and in his time kingship was blended with mercy, as is related in the hadith: “Prophetic caliphate will be, then there will be kingship accompanied by mercy, then there will be domineering kingship, then there will be biting hereditary kingship.” 3

It is authentically reported from the Commander of the Believers ʿAli—may Allah be pleased with him—through several chains that when he fought the People of the Camel, he did not take their offspring captive, did not seize their wealth as booty, did not finish off the wounded, did not pursue those who fled, and did not kill prisoners. He also offered the funeral prayer for the dead of both sides at the battles of the Camel and Ṣiffīn, declaring, “Our brothers have transgressed against us.”