In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

This is the settlement (1) upon which ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, Commander of the Believers, has agreed.

ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ said, “Write his name and his father’s name; he may be your commander, but he is not ours.”

Al-Aḥnaf replied, “Write nothing except ‘Commander of the Believers.’”

ʿAli said, “Erase ‘Commander of the Believers’ (2) and write: ‘This is the settlement upon which ʿAli ibn Abi Talib has agreed.’” He then cited the incident (3) of al-Hudaybiyah, when the people of Mecca objected to the phrase, “This is what Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, has agreed upon,” and the polytheists said, “Write instead: ‘This is what Muhammad son of ʿAbd Allah has agreed upon.’”

So the scribe wrote: “This is what ʿAli ibn Abi Talib and Muʿawiya ibn Abi Sufyan have mutually agreed upon. ʿAli represents the people of Iraq and those with them from among his followers and the Muslims, while Muʿawiya represents the people of Syria and those with him from among the believers and the Muslims. We submit to the judgment of Allah and His Book, revive whatever Allah—exalted is He—has revived, and abolish whatever Allah has abolished. Whatever the two arbitrators—Abu Musa al-Ashʿari and ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ—find in the Book of Allah, they shall act upon; and whatever they do not find in the Book of Allah, the just, comprehensive, unifying Sunnah shall determine (4).

“The two arbitrators then took from ʿAli, from Muʿawiya, and from both armies pledges and covenants (5) that they themselves and their families would remain secure, that the ummah would assist them in whatever verdict they reached (6), and that all the believers and Muslims of both parties were bound by Allah’s covenant and pledge to uphold what is contained in this document. They postponed the final judgment until Ramadan, though, should they both wish, they could delay it further by mutual consent. The document was written on Wednesday, the thirteenth of Ṣafar in the year 37 AH, stipulating that ʿAli and Muʿawiya would meet the arbitrators at Dūmat al-Jandal in Ramadan, each arbitrator accompanied by four hundred of his companions. If they failed to assemble then, they would meet the following year at Adhruḥ.

“Al-Haytham [ibn ʿAdī] relates in his Book on the Khārijites that when al-Ashʿath ibn Qays brought the document to Muʿawiya, it read: ‘This is what the servant of Allah, ʿAli, Commander of the Believers, and Muʿawiya ibn Abi Sufyan have agreed upon.’ Muʿawiya said, ‘Had he been Commander of the Believers, I would not have fought him. Instead, let his name be written, and let it precede mine in recognition of his merit and earlier service.’ Al-Ashʿath returned to ʿAli, and the document was drafted as Muʿawiya requested.

“Al-Haytham further notes that the people of Syria refused (7) to place ʿAli’s name before Muʿawiya’s, or the name of the people of Iraq before their own, until two separate documents were produced: one for them in which Muʿawiya’s name preceded ʿAli’s, and another for the Iraqis in which ʿAli’s name was given precedence.”