some of them refrain from declaring anyone mistaken, just as they refrain from censuring or disparaging him, withholding comment on the disputes that arose among them. This resembles the view of those who regard both sides as correct.

The imams of the Sunnah and the hadith scholars had no doubt that ‘Alī had a greater claim to the truth and was closer to it, as the transmitted text indicates, even if they had doubts about describing the other side as unjust or rebellious. Those who described it as unjust and rebellious—on the basis of the hadith concerning ‘Ammār—regarded anyone exercising independent judgment in that matter as acting on an interpretation.

There remains the following objection: Allah Most High commanded that the rebellious group be fought, so fighting it alongside ‘Alī would have been obligatory. Yet those who abstained from fighting included a number of leading Companions, such as Sa‘d, Zayd, Ibn ‘Umar, Usāmah, Muhammad ibn Maslamah, and Abū Bakrah. They narrated texts from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, concerning abstaining from fighting during civil strife, including his saying:

“The one who sits during it is better than the one who stands; the one who stands is better than the one who moves toward it; and the one who moves toward it is better than the one who rushes headlong into it.”

And his saying:

“Soon the best property a Muslim possesses will be sheep that he takes to the mountain peaks and places where rain falls, fleeing civil strife to safeguard his religion.”

They also narrated his instruction to someone possessing a sword during civil strife “to take a wooden sword,” and the hadith that Abū Bakrah related to al-Ahnaf ibn Qays when he intended to go and fight alongside ‘Alī, namely the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him:

“When two Muslims confront one another with their swords, both the killer and the one killed are in the Fire.”

And the remainder of the hadith.

His following saying is also cited as evidence for this:

“Do not revert after me to disbelief, striking one another’s necks.”

This is the position of the hadith scholars and the majority of the imams of the Sunnah, so much so that he said: “Our scholars do not differ over the fact that ‘Alī’s refraining from fighting would have been better