A muʿāhad is a non-Muslim who is granted safe-conduct enabling him to enter Muslim lands; he remains under the Muslims’ protection until he returns to his own country.
Ransoming captives means rescuing a Muslim prisoner from the enemy’s hands. It ranks among the most meritorious acts of devotion, and it is permissible to spend even zakāt funds on it, for Allah says: “…and for the freeing of slaves” (Q 2:177).
4 – With respect to the Prophet’s words, “The believers’ blood is of equal worth,” the meaning is that all believers and Muslims are equal when it comes to blood money and legal retaliation; no one enjoys superiority over another—whether by lineage, ethnicity, or madhhab. In this right and obligation they all stand on the same footing.
5 – His words, “and the most humble of them may grant protection on their behalf,” mean that if a single Muslim gives an unbeliever safe-conduct, that pledge becomes binding upon the whole Muslim community. It must be honored, and it is unlawful to violate the covenant he has made. The Prophet ﷺ said to Umm Hāniʾ, “We have granted security to whomever you have granted security.”
6 – As for his words, “and they are a single hand against all others,” this signals that the Muslims speak with one voice and stand united against their enemies. They do not splinter or abandon one another; rather, they form one brotherhood, their stance against the foe entirely unified. Allah the Exalted says, “Hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of Allah and do not be divided” (Q 3:103), and He says, “And do not quarrel, lest you falter and your strength depart” (Q 8:46).
These clear, self-evident rulings upon which the great majority of Ahl al-Sunnah agree are precisely what is recorded in the document carried by ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib—may Allah honor him.
As for the fabrications of the Rāfiḍah and their baseless allegations—things that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah honor him, would never countenance—such as their claim that the Prophet ﷺ gave ʿAlī a scroll seventy cubits long by the Prophet’s own cubit, dictated to him directly while ʿAlī wrote at his right side, containing a thousand chapters, each chapter opening onto another thousand chapters and enclosing every lawful and unlawful matter; or their claim that ʿAlī was given the jafr, the lore of Adam, and the knowledge of the two Houses,