2 – The creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamāʿah concerning the fighting and turmoil that arose among the Companions:

The cause of the strife was a Jewish conspiracy against Islam and its people. They planted a devious, malicious man who falsely claimed to be Muslim—ʿAbd Allah ibn Sabaʾ, a Jew from Yemen. This Jew began to spew his hatred and poison against the third of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, Uthman ibn ʿAffan (may Allah be pleased with him), fabricating accusations against him. Gathered around him were those short-sighted, weak in faith, and fond of sedition who had been deceived by him. The conspiracy culminated in the wrongful murder of the Caliph Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). In the aftermath of his assassination differences arose among the Muslims, the flames of discord were stoked by that Jew and his followers, and armed conflict broke out among the Companions, each party acting on its own considered judgment.

The commentator on al-Tahawiyyah said: “The very root of Rafidism is always introduced by a hypocritical heretic whose aim is to undermine the religion of Islam and impugn the Messenger ﷺ, as the scholars have noted. When ʿAbd Allah ibn Sabaʾ outwardly professed Islam, he sought—through his cunning and malice—to corrupt the religion of Islam, just as …”