“I came to Abū Wāʾil in the mosque of his clan to ask him about those people whom ʿAlī killed at Nahrawān—why they had first obeyed him, why they had later deserted him, and on what basis he deemed fighting them lawful. He said:

‘We were at Ṣiffīn. When the battle became fierce for the Syrians they took refuge on a hill, and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ said to Muʿāwiyah, “Send a copy of the Qur’an to ʿAlī and invite him to the Book of Allah, for he will not refuse you [when you summon him to the Book of Allah].”

A man [from their side] duly brought it and said, “Between us and you is the Book of Allah: ‘Have you not considered those who were given a share of the Scripture? They are invited to the Book of Allah so that it may judge between them, yet a party of them turns away in aversion’ (Āl ʿImrān 3:23).”

ʿAlī replied, “Indeed—I have the stronger claim to that. Between us and you is the Book of Allah.”

Then the Khārijites—at that time we called them al-qurrāʾ, the ‘reciters’—came to him with their swords across their shoulders and said, “Commander of the Faithful, why are those people on the hill being spared? Let us march against them with our swords until Allah judges between us and them.”

Sahl ibn Ḥunayf spoke up and said, “People, scrutinise yourselves! I saw us on the day of al-Ḥudaybiyah”—meaning the truce (1) that was concluded between the Messenger of Allah and the idolaters—“and had we perceived any call to fighting we would have fought. ʿUmar came to the Messenger of Allah and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, are we not upon the truth while they are upon falsehood?’ He answered, ‘Yes,’” and he related the rest of the report as recorded in its proper place.

He also mentioned the raising of the Qur’ans by the Syrians (2). When the Qur’ans had been hoisted, the Iraqis said, “We answer the call to the Book of Allah and return to it.”

Abū Mikhnaf (3) said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Jundub al-Azdī related to me from his father that ʿAlī said,

“Servants of Allah, press on toward your right, your sincerity, and the fight against your enemy. Muʿāwiyah, ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, Ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, Ḥabīb ibn Maslamah, Ibn Abī Sarḥ, and al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays are not men of religion or of the Qur’an. I know them better than you do: I kept company with them as children and as men, and they were the worst of boys and the worst of men. Woe to you! By Allah, they did not raise the Qur’an because they read it or live by it; they raised it only as a trick, a stratagem, and a ruse [to deceive you, demoralise you, blunt your edge, and halt your assault—nothing remained but their defeat, their flight, and your victory over them].”

They said to him, “It is not permissible for us to be summoned to the Book of Allah and then refuse to accept it.”

He replied, “I am fighting them only so that they submit to the judgement of the Book. They have disobeyed Allah in what He commanded them, broken His covenant, and cast aside His [command and] Book.”

Misʿar ibn Fadakī al-Tamīmī and Zayd ibn Ḥuṣayn al-Ṭāʾī—later al-Sabāʾī—together with a band of the reciters who afterwards became Khārijites, said to him, “ʿAlī, agree to arbitration by the Book of Allah when you are called to it; otherwise we will hand you over, every last man of you, to the enemy, or we will do with you what we did with Ibn ʿAffān. He overpowered us and refused to act according to the Book of Allah, so we killed him. By Allah, you will do it or we will do it to you.”

He said, “Then note well my prohibition to you and remember what you have said to me. As for me, if you obey me, then fight; but if you defy me, do whatever you wish.”

They said, “Send word to al-Ashtar so that he may come to you and desist from the fighting.” So ʿAlī sent orders to him to desist.’