widespread among Mu‘āwiyah’s followers.

For this reason, ‘Alī and his companions had a greater claim to the truth and were closer to it than Mu‘āwiyah and his companions. As reported in the two Sahīh collections, Abū Sa‘īd narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“A renegade faction will emerge at a time of division among the Muslims, and the one of the two factions with the greater claim to the truth will kill them.”

Another wording reported in the Sahīh reads: “The one of the two factions closer to the truth.”

Reviling and cursing ‘Alī were among the acts of rebellion by which that faction deserved to be called “the rebellious faction.” Thus, al-Bukhārī reports in his Sahīh, through Khālid al-Hadhdhā’, that ‘Ikrimah said:

“Ibn ‘Abbās said to me and to his son ‘Alī, ‘Go to Abū Sa‘īd and listen to his hadith.’ We went and found him tending a garden. He took his cloak and wrapped it around his back and drawn-up knees. He then began relating hadith to us, until, when ‘Alī arrived, he mentioned the building of the mosque, saying, ‘We used to carry one brick at a time, while ‘Ammār carried two at a time. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saw him and began brushing the dust off him, saying, “Poor ‘Ammār! The rebellious faction will kill him. He calls them to Paradise, while they call him to the Fire.”’ He said, ‘‘Ammār would say, “I seek refuge in Allah from tribulations.”’”

Muslim also reports it from Abū Sa‘īd, who said:

“Someone better than I—Abū Qatādah—told me that, when ‘Ammār began digging the trench, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, began stroking his head and saying to him, ‘Poor son of Sumayyah! A rebellious faction will kill you.’”

Muslim also reports from Umm Salamah that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“The rebellious faction will kill ‘Ammār.”

This also indicates the legitimacy of ‘Alī’s leadership and the obligation to obey him, and that whoever calls people to obey him calls them to Paradise, while whoever calls them to fight him calls them to the Fire—even if acting on an interpretation—and this is