1244—Abū Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Makhlad al-Attār also narrated to us, saying: Abū ⦗1786⦘ Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishāq al-Sāghānī narrated to us, saying: Salm ibn Qādim narrated to us, saying: Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us, from Shubah, from Alqamah ibn Marthad, from a man, from Suwayd ibn Ghafalah, who said: Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—said, “Had I been placed in authority, I would have done what Uthmān did”—meaning with regard to the codices.

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—said: One of the soundest proofs and clearest arguments against every Rāfidī who opposes Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him—is that Alī—may Allah honor his countenance—continued to recite according to the codex of Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with him. He never changed a single letter of it, placed no letter before or after another, and neither added anything to it nor omitted anything from it. Nor did he say, “Uthmān did something regarding this codex, but I have the right to do otherwise.” Nothing of this sort is known to have been transmitted from him—may Allah be pleased with him.

Likewise, his descendants—may Allah be pleased with them—continued to recite according to the codex of Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—until they departed this world. Likewise, the companions of Alī—may Allah be pleased with them—continued to teach the Muslims to recite according to the codex of Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with him. No one may claim otherwise. Whoever does so has lied and advanced a claim contrary to the position of the Muslims.

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn—may Allah have mercy on him—⦗1787⦘ said: Our purpose here is to show that Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him—continued to follow what Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with them—had established. He followed them, disliking what they disliked and loving what they loved, until Allah—Mighty and Majestic—took him as a martyr. None but a God-fearing believer loves him, and none but a wretched hypocrite hates him.