—namely, from someone they regarded as truthful and reliable—is not as you have claimed.

376 – He said, “Leave that aside.”
377 – I asked one of them, “Do you know that, during his caliphate, Abū Bakr distributed the stipends, giving the freeman and the slave equal shares and treating the grandfather as a father (in inheritance)?”
378 – He replied, “Yes.”
379 – I said, “So they accepted that distribution from him and did not contest his ruling about the grandfather while he was alive?”
380 – He answered, “Yes—and what if you were to claim that they actually opposed him at the time?!”
381 – I responded, “Then he intended to issue a judgment even though others disagreed with him?!”
382 – He said, “Yes, though I am not asserting that!”
383 – I continued, “Then ʿUmar came, graded the stipends according to lineage and precedence in Islam, excluded the slaves from any share, and allowed the grandfather to inherit alongside the brothers—is that correct?”
384 – He said, “Yes.”
385 – I said, “And when ʿAlī assumed authority, he once again treated everyone equally in the distribution?”
386 – He replied, “Yes.”
387 – I said, “So, according to you, these reports about all three of them are transmitted by the general body of narrators?”
388 – He said, “Yes.”
389 – I said, “Then say about them whatever you wish.”
390 – He retorted, “And what do you say about them?”
391 – I answered, “I say that when there is no explicit text in the Book or the Sunnah on a matter, once the qualified scholars have exerted their ijtihād, each of them—God willing—has room to act and to speak according to what he believes to be the truth; that runs counter to what you have claimed. Now, say whatever you like.”