So, regarding the disputes that broke out among these men and their peers, each deed attributed to any one of them must be placed in one of three categories: a praiseworthy effort, a sin that has been forgiven, or an ijtihad (independent judgment) whose error has already been excused. Hence one of the firmly established principles of the scholars is that no one may speak of those Companions in a way that undermines their uprightness or their religious integrity. On the contrary, it is known that they are righteous and approved, may Allah be pleased with them and grant them His good pleasure—especially since most of what is reported about them of grave offences is a fabricated lie. Thus a group of ʿUthmān’s partisans accused ʿAlī of ordering—or at least aiding in—ʿUthmān’s murder, and some of those who fought ʿAlī believed that charge. It was one of the pretexts on which they went to war against him, but it is a baseless suspicion.
ʿAlī would swear—truthful and devout as he was—“I did not kill ʿUthmān, nor did I assist in killing him,” and he would pray, “O Allah, scatter the killers of ʿUthmān on land and sea, on the plain and the mountain.” Yet his opponents counted his refusal to surrender ʿUthmān’s killers as another argument for fighting him.
At that time ʿAlī was unable to carry out everything he wished—such as enforcing the prescribed penalties—because people were divided and affairs were confused. Even his troops and their commanders did not obey every order he gave. Division and dissension breed such evil, corruption, and suspension of legal rulings as is well known to anyone familiar with the texts that extol unity and concord in Islam.
Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiyah, for his part, committed several reprehensible acts, among them the massacre of al-Ḥarra. In an authentic report related by ʿAlī, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Madinah is a sanctuary between ʿĀthir and such-and-such. Whoever commits an offence therein or shelters an offender, upon him is the curse of Allah, the angels, and all people; Allah will accept from him neither an obligatory act nor a voluntary one.” He also said: “Whoever intends the people of Madinah with evil, Allah will cause him to dissolve the way salt dissolves in water.”
For this reason someone asked Imām Aḥmad, “Will you write hadith from Yazīd?” He replied, “No—and no honor to him! Was he not the one who did what he did to the people of al-Ḥarra?” It was also said to him, “Some people claim, ‘We love Yazīd.’” He answered, “Can anyone who believes in Allah and the Last Day love Yazīd?” They asked, “Then why do you not curse him?” He responded, “And when have you ever seen your father curse anyone?”