in word and in deed; just as those who have veered away from him hurl at him disparaging, fabricated labels—convinced of their truth because of their corrupt creed—so too do they treat the clear-sighted followers who are the people most closely connected to him in life and after death, both inwardly and outwardly.

As for those who align with him inwardly yet are unable to establish the outward forms, those who align with him outwardly yet fall short in the inward realities, or those who follow him both outwardly and inwardly as far as humanly possible: it is inevitable that the people who deviate from his Sunnah will imagine some flaw in them [with which to censure them] and will brand them with invented names, even while thinking those names to be accurate. An example is the Rafidi who declares, “Whoever does not hate Abu Bakr and ‘Umar has in fact hated ‘Ali, for loyalty to ‘Ali exists only through disavowing the two of them.” On that basis he brands anyone who loves Abu Bakr and ‘Umar a Nasibi, resting on this spurious entailment that he either believes to be correct or stubbornly persists in—as is usually the case.