may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“This son of mine is a leader, and through him Allah will reconcile two great groups of Muslims.”

Thus, one of the reasons the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, praised and commended his son al-Hasan was that Allah Most High reconciled two great groups of Muslims through him. This occurred when he handed authority over to Mu‘āwiya, after each had marched against the other with great armies. Since the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, praised al-Hasan for bringing about reconciliation and abandoning fighting, this indicates that reconciling those two parties was more beloved to Allah Most High than their fighting. It therefore indicates that their fighting was not commanded. Had Mu‘āwiya been an unbeliever, appointing an unbeliever to authority and handing power over to him would not have been something Allah and His Messenger loved. Rather, the hadith indicates that Mu‘āwiya and his followers were believers, just as al-Hasan and his followers were believers, and that al-Hasan’s action was praiseworthy in the sight of Allah Most High, beloved and pleasing to Him and His Messenger.

This accords with what is established from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the two Sahīh collections, in the hadith of Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī, that he said:

“A breakaway faction will emerge at a time of division among the people, and the one of the two parties with the greater claim to the truth will kill them.” In another wording: “Those closest to the truth will kill them.”

This authentic hadith is evidence that both warring parties—‘Alī and his followers, and Mu‘āwiya and his followers—had truth on their side, and that ‘Alī and his followers were closer to the truth than Mu‘āwiya and his followers. For it was ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib who fought the breakaway faction: the “Harūrī Kharijites,” who had been among ‘Alī’s supporters, then rebelled against him, declared him and those who supported him unbelievers, showed hostility towards him, and fought him and those with him. It is they about whom the Prophet spoke