partisan passions—such as Qays and Yemen—fight one another, they must be reconciled, for the verse was revealed concerning situations of this kind. If reconciliation fails, the ruler and the Muslims must fight the transgressing group, because they are capable of doing so and must therefore fulfil this duty. This shows why the position adopted at the outset is preferable. In the first situation, there was neither full capacity to fight nor manifest transgression; in the second, transgression had occurred, while the inability to act had become more severe. His was, without qualification, the party more entitled to the truth and closer to it, whereas the other was described as transgressing, as stated in the authentic hadith narrated by Abū Sa‘īd cited earlier.

Mu‘āwiyah, al-Mughīrah and others used the following saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recorded in both Sahīh collections, as evidence for the superiority of the Syrian party:

“A group of my community will continue to uphold Allah’s command, unharmed by those who oppose them or abandon them, until the Hour comes.”

Mālik ibn Yukhāmir then stood up and said, “I heard Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal say, ‘They are in Syria.’” Mu‘āwiyah said, “Here is Mālik ibn Yukhāmir stating that he heard Mu‘ādh say, ‘They are in Syria.’”

This report appears in both Sahīh collections through Mu‘āwiyah. Both also contain a similar report through al-Mughīrah ibn Shu‘bah, in which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“A group of my community will continue to prevail upon the truth until Allah’s command comes, while they remain in that state.”

They use this as evidence for the superiority of the people of Syria in two ways. The first is that they were the ones who prevailed, gained victory, and assumed authority after the fighting and turmoil. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Those who oppose them will not harm them.”

This implies