by anyone else, whereas ‘Alī’s virtues are shared by others. For his words:

“If I were to take an intimate friend from among the people of the earth, I would take Abū Bakr as an intimate friend”; his words, “Every small doorway into the mosque must be blocked up, except Abū Bakr’s doorway”; and his words, “The person most generous to me in his companionship and wealth is Abū Bakr”—these establish three distinctions that no one else shared with him.

First: None of them had supported him through companionship and wealth as Abū Bakr had.

Second: His words, “Every small doorway into the mosque…” single him out to the exclusion of all the others. Some liars sought to transmit a similar report concerning ‘Alī, but a fabricated report cannot stand against an authentic one.

Third: His words, “If I were to take an intimate friend,” explicitly establish that no human being but him deserved this intimate friendship, had it been possible. If anyone else had been superior to him, that person would have been more entitled to it, were such a friendship to occur.

Likewise, his command that he lead the people in prayer throughout his illness was one of his distinctive merits. So too was his appointment of him in Medina to lead the pilgrimage, to establish the sunnah and eradicate the vestiges of pre-Islamic ignorance. This was another distinction unique to him. Likewise, his words in the authentic hadith:

“Call your father and your brother, so that I may write a document for Abū Bakr.”

There are many such hadiths showing that none of the Companions was his equal.

As for his words, “You are of me, and I am of you,” he said them to others as well: he also said them to Salmān and the Ash‘arīs. Allah Most High said:

“They swear by Allah that they are indeed of you, but they are not of you.”

And his words—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“Whoever cheats us is not of us, and whoever bears arms against us is not of us,” imply that whoever refrains from