, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, had explicitly, unequivocally, and unmistakably designated ‘Alī as caliph, and the claim of others that he had designated the family of al-‘Abbās.

They also recognized the fabrications transmitted by the Rāfidah and Nāsibah, such as the accounts of “military campaigns” attributed to ‘Alī that have no basis in fact, as related by lying itinerant storytellers—like their fabricated embellishments of the tales of ‘Antar and al-Battāl. For they knew all the campaigns of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and knew that fighting occurred in only nine of them. In none of the campaigns involving combat did either the Muslims or the enemy number twenty thousand.

The same applies to the “virtues” reported concerning Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiyah and others like him; the hadiths that many of the Karrāmiyyah narrate concerning the doctrine of irjāʾ and similar matters; and the hadiths that many ascetics narrate concerning prayers for the days of the week and prayers for the days of the three months. Likewise, there are the hadiths they narrate about the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, attending listening sessions with his Companions, his displaying ecstasy, his cloak falling from his outer garment, his tearing the garment, and Gabriel taking a piece of it and ascending with it to heaven; about the People of the Bench fighting alongside the unbelievers and hearing his intimate communion on the night of the Night Journey; and the reports concerning the Lord’s descent to earth on the Day of ‘Arafah and the morning at Muzdalifah, and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, seeing Him on earth with his own eyes.

There are many other fabricated hadiths of this kind, which would take too long to describe. Indeed, none but Allah Most High can enumerate these fabrications, for falsehood arises little by little, unlike the truth