the people’s division over him. Ahmad even said:
“Whoever does not recognize ‘Alī as the fourth caliph is more astray than his family’s donkey.”
He also forbade intermarrying with such a person. This recognition is agreed upon among the jurists, scholars of the Sunnah, and people of spiritual knowledge and Sufism; it is also the position of ordinary Muslims.
Only certain followers of desires among the speculative theologians and others disagree with them: the Rāfida, who impugn the caliphate of the first three; the Kharijites, who impugn the caliphate of the two sons-in-law from Banū ‘Abd Manāf, ‘Uthmān and ‘Alī; certain Nāsiba—those hostile to ‘Alī—who deny his caliphate; and some ignorant, self-professed Sunnis who withhold judgment concerning it.
The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died in Rabī‘ al-Awwal, in the eleventh year after his migration. Thirty years later, the Messenger of Allah’s grandson, the noble leader al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī, reconciled two groups of believers by relinquishing authority in Jumādā al-Ūlā of the year 41 AH. That year was called the “Year of Unity,” because the people united under Mu‘āwiya, who was the first king.
In the hadith narrated by Muslim:
“There will be a prophetic and merciful caliphate, then kingship with mercy, then kingship with coercion, then oppressive kingship.”
And he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in the well-known, authentic hadith recorded in the Sunan:
“Whoever among you lives after me will see much disagreement. Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs who come after me. Hold firmly to it and cling to it with your molar teeth. Beware of newly introduced matters, for every religious innovation is misguidance.”