, and their leaders were more diligent in discharging what was obligatory and firmer in inner serenity: no fitnah broke out, for they were, in effect, representatives of the middle category.

Yet toward the end of ʿUthmān’s caliphate and during the rule of ʿAlī, the third category grew numerous; longing and doubtful notions mingled with faith and religion, appearing in some governors and in some of the governed, and then spreading even further. Out of that mixture the turmoil arose, caused— as noted earlier—by the failure of both parties to purify their piety and obedience, and by their admixture, on each side, with a measure of passion and disobedience. Each faction construed its position as enjoining right and forbidding wrong, as standing with truth and justice; yet within that very interpretation lay a trace of desire, for it rested on conjecture and what souls incline toward—though one of the two parties was closer to the truth than the other.

Hence a believer must seek Allah’s help, rely on Him to keep his heart upright and free from deviation, to make him steadfast upon guidance and piety, and never to follow caprice, as the Exalted has said:

“So to that, invite—and remain steadfast as you have been commanded; do not follow their whims. Say, ‘I believe in whatever Book Allah has sent down, and I have been commanded to deal justly between you. Allah is our Lord and your Lord.’” (Surah al-Shūrā 42:15)

This is equally the situation of the ummah in every matter over which it has splintered and disagreed, whether in doctrines or acts of worship. Such issues greatly intensify the trial that confronts believers, for they need two things: first, to repel from themselves the tribulation—religious or worldly—that has afflicted their peers even while its causes remain, for they still carry within them souls—