The Nāsibī replies:

“This too is established through mass-transmitted reports about Abū Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthmān, Mu‘āwiya, ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ās, and other Companions, yet you consider them unbelievers or transgressors.”

He also says to him:

“You say that ‘Alī held it permissible to practise taqiyya (dissimulation) and to outwardly profess the opposite of what he inwardly believed. Someone who holds this view could outwardly profess Islam while inwardly harbouring hypocrisy.”

If the Rāfidī says to the Nāsibī:

“I knew this through the Prophet’s praise of him—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and his testimony that he was a believer and destined for Paradise, as in his words:

‘I shall surely give the banner to a man who loves Allah and His Messenger, and whom Allah and His Messenger love,’

and his words:

‘Are you not content to stand in relation to me as Aaron did to Moses?’

and other similar statements.”

The Nāsibī replies:

“Many times as much has been transmitted concerning Abū Bakr, ‘Umar, and ‘Uthmān, yet you challenge those reports or say that they apostatized after his death. If what you say about these men is true, what assurance do you have that the same was not true of ‘Alī?”