one who gives ‘Alī precedence, then a reviler, then an extremist, and finally a denier and negationist. This is why the “leaders of heretical unbelief”—the Ismā‘īlīs, Nusayrīs, and their various offshoots among the Qarmatians, Bātinīs, Druze, and similar groups of heretical unbelief and hypocrisy—joined the Rāfidah.
Disparaging the best generation, who accompanied the Messenger, amounts to disparaging the Messenger himself, peace be upon him. As Mālik and other leading scholars said:
“These people attacked the Companions of Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. They attacked his Companions only so that someone would say: ‘He was an evil man with evil companions. Had he been righteous, his companions would have been righteous.’”
Moreover, these were the people who transmitted the Quran, Islam, and the laws taught by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. They were also the ones who transmitted the merits of ‘Alī and others. Disparaging them necessarily undermines trust in what they transmitted of the religion. Consequently, no merit could be established for ‘Alī or anyone else.
The “Rāfidah” are ignorant people who possess neither reason nor transmitted evidence, neither religion nor worldly success. If a Nāsibī—someone who hates ‘Alī and regards him as a sinner or an unbeliever, such as the Khārijites and others—were to demand that they establish ‘Alī’s faith and merit, they would be unable to do so. Indeed, the Khārijites would prevail over them in argument. For ‘Alī’s merits were transmitted only by the Companions whom the Rāfidah disparage. Thus, on their own principles, no known merit of his can be established with certainty.
If they attack some of the caliphs by fabricating allegations that they sought leadership and fought for it, then similar accusations against ‘Alī by the Khārijites, and accusations many times more severe, would be more plausible than such allegations against those who were obeyed without fighting. But the Rāfidah are ignorant followers of heretical unbelievers.