It is also established in the Sahīh that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said of al-Hasan:

“This son of mine is a leader, and through him Allah will reconcile two great groups of Muslims.”

He thus praised and commended al-Hasan for the reconciliation Allah would bring about through him between the two parties: the followers of ‘Alī and the followers of Mu‘āwiya. This shows that refraining from fighting was better, and that fighting was neither obligatory nor recommended.

As for “fighting the Kharijites,” it is established that he commanded and urged it. How, then, can one equate what he commanded and urged with something for which he praised and commended those who refrained from it?

Whoever equates the fighting among the Companions at the battles of the Camel and Siffīn with fighting against Dhū al-Khuwaysira al-Tamīmī and others like him—the Kharijites who pass out of Islam and the transgressing Harūriyya—speaks like those guilty of ignorance and manifest injustice. This position necessarily places its advocate alongside the Rāfida and Mu‘tazila, who declare those who fought at the Camel and Siffīn to be disbelievers or flagrant sinners, just as similar judgments are made concerning the Kharijites who pass out of Islam. The early generations and the leading scholars held two well-known positions on whether these Kharijites were disbelievers, while agreeing that the Companions who fought at the Camel and Siffīn should be praised and that one should refrain from discussing the disputes that arose among them. How, then, can the two be compared?

Moreover, “the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—commanded that the Kharijites be fought before they engaged in fighting.” As for “the rebels,” Allah Most High said concerning them:

“And if two groups of believers