And every believer is of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as Abraham, Allah’s close friend, said:

“Whoever follows me is of me.”

And it is said:

“Whoever does not taste it is of me.”

They narrated this view from ‘Alī himself, but it is also reported from him, through a stronger chain of transmission, that he said: “Whoever said this has lied.” Ibn Abī Hātim cited the following report from Husayn ibn Zayd al-Tahhān: Ishāq ibn Mansūr narrated to us; Sufyān narrated to us, from al-A‘mash, from al-Minhāl, from ‘Abbād ibn ‘Abd Allāh, who said: “‘Alī said: ‘There is no one among Quraysh about whom a verse has not been revealed.’ He was asked: ‘What, then, was revealed about you?’ He replied:

“‘And a witness from Him follows it.’”

This is certainly a lie attributed to ‘Alī. Even if the transmission from this ‘Abbād is established, he narrates objectionable reports from ‘Alī, such as the statement: “I am the greatest of the truthful; I embraced Islam seven years before anyone else.”

They have also narrated from ‘Alī something that contradicts this. Ibn Abī Hātim said: My father narrated to us; ‘Amr ibn ‘Alī al-Bāhilī narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Shawwās narrated to us; Sa‘īd ibn Abī ‘Arūbah narrated to us, from Qatādah, from ‘Urwah, from Muhammad ibn ‘Alī—meaning Ibn al-Hanafiyyah—who said: “I said to my father: ‘Father, concerning “And a witness from Him follows it,” people say that you are that witness.’ He replied: ‘I wish I were. But it is his tongue?’”

Ibn Abī Hātim said: “Something similar was also narrated from al-Hasan and Qatādah.”

I say: It has already been reported from his son al-Husayn that the “witness from Him” is Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The scholars of the Prophet’s household only stated that it was Muhammad in refutation of those ignorant people who said that it was ‘Alī. For this surah was revealed in Mecca, and ‘Alī was