Then he advanced and came upon ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿUmar, reproaching and rebuking them (1) and exhorting them. They have transmitted some of his words to them—words in which there was a certain severity; Allah knows best.

Imam Aḥmad (2) said: “Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us; Shuʿbah related to us from ʿAmr ibn Murrah. I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn Salamah say: ‘I saw ʿAmmār on the Day of Ṣiffīn, an elderly man—dark-skinned and tall—holding a spear (3) in his hand while that hand was trembling. He said,

‘By Him in whose hand is my soul, I have fought under this banner with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on several occasions, and this is the fourth. By Him in whose hand is my soul, if they were to strike at us until they drove us to the palm-groves (4) of Hajar, I would still know that our reformers are upon the truth, and that they are upon misguidance.’”

And Imam Aḥmad (5) said: “Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us; Shuʿbah related to us—and Ḥajjāj likewise, who said, ‘Shuʿbah related to me.’ He said: ‘I heard Qatādah narrating from Abū Naḍrah.’ Ḥajjāj said: ‘I heard Abū Naḍrah, from Qays ibn ʿUbad, who said:

‘I said to ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, “Your fighting alongside ʿAlī—was it simply a judgment (6) you yourselves arrived at? For a judgment may be right or wrong. Or was it a covenant the Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed in your charge?”

‘He replied, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not entrust us with anything that he did not entrust to the people at large.”’”

Muslim (7) also transmitted this through the isnād of Shuʿbah, with an additional portion in which ʿAmmār reports from Ḥudhayfah regarding the hypocrites.

This accords with what has been established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs and elsewhere (8) from a number of the Successors, among them al-Ḥārith ibn Suwayd,