that he burned to death the extremist Rāfidah who believed him to be divine.

It is reported from him through good chains of transmission that he said:
“If anyone is brought before me who ranks me above Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, I will flog him with the prescribed penalty for slander.”

It is also reported that, when he learned that ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sabaʾ had reviled Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, he sought him out to kill him, but he fled from him. ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, ordered that a man who ranked him above Abū Bakr be flogged for doing so. When ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, suspected Sabīgh ibn ʿIsl of belonging to the Khawārij, he said to him:
“Had I found your head shaved, I would have struck off your head.”

Such was the practice of the Commander of the Faithful, ʿAlī. Others, too, ordered that the three categories of Shia be punished. The least extreme of them are those who rank ʿAlī above Abū Bakr and ʿUmar; both he and ʿUmar ordered that they be flogged.

The Muslims agree that the extremists are to be put to death. These are those who ascribe divinity and prophethood to ʿAlī and others, such as the Nusayriyyah and the Ismāʿīliyyah, who are called the House of Sād and the House of Sīn. They also include those deniers who have joined their ranks and deny the existence of the Creator, deny the Resurrection, or deny the outward prescriptions of the Sharia, such as the five daily prayers, fasting the month of Ramadan, and pilgrimage to the Sacred House. They interpret these as knowing their secrets, concealing their secrets, and visiting their shaykhs. They hold that wine is lawful for them and that they may marry women within the prohibited degrees.

All these unbelievers are greater in unbelief than the Jews and Christians. If any one of them does not openly manifest