The second (1) group of the Zaydiyya is the Sulaymāniyya, the followers (2) of Sulaymān ibn Jarīr. They maintain that the imamate is a matter of consultation; that it may be validly established (3) through an appointment made by two of the best Muslims; and that it may be vested in a less meritorious candidate (4), although the more meritorious candidate is always preferable. They affirm the imamate of the two Shaykhs, Abū Bakr and Umar. It has also been said that this was a mistake, though the one responsible for it is not deemed a transgressor because of his interpretive judgment (5).
The third group is (6) the Butriyya, the followers of Kuthayyir al-Nawwā. It is said (7) that they were named the Butriyya because Kuthayyir (8) was nicknamed al-Abtar. They maintain that Alī is the best of all people (9) after the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the one most entitled to the imamate; that pledging allegiance to Abū Bakr and Umar was not a mistake, because Alī relinquished it to them; and they withhold judgment concerning Uthmān and his killing, but do not go so far as to declare him an unbeliever, as is reported of the Sulaymāniyya. This group is the best of the Shia, [and they are also called
(1) M and N read: “the third [group].”
(2) M alone reads: “They are the Sulaymāniyya, the followers of …”
(3) M alone reads: “and that the imamate may be validly established …”
(4) B and A read: “in a less meritorious candidate.”
(5) The Sulaymāniyya, also known as the Jarīriyya, were the followers of Sulaymān ibn Jarīr al-Raqqī, who was active during the reign of al-Mansūr. Among their other views, in addition to those mentioned by Ibn Taymiyya, were the following: Sulaymān criticized ʿUthmān—may Allah be pleased with him—for the innovations he had introduced and declared him an unbeliever on that account. He likewise declared ʿĀʾisha, al-Zubayr, and Talha—may Allah be pleased with them—unbelievers for undertaking to fight ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him. Sulaymān also criticized the Imāmī Rāfida on several issues. On Sulaymān and the Sulaymāniyya, or Jarīriyya, see: al-Nawbakhtī, *Firaq al-Shīʿa*, pp. 30, 85–87; *Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn*, 1/68, 70, 71–72, 73; *al-Farq bayn al-Firaq*, p. 24; *al-Milal wa-l-Nihal*, 1/141–142; *Nashʾat al-Fikr al-Falsafī*, 2/186–188.
(6) M alone reads: “And the fourth [group].”
(7) B and A read: “The Kuthayyiriyya, the followers of Kuthayyir al-Tawassul”; N and M read: “The Butriyya: the followers of al-Nawāqīl.”
(8) B alone reads: “They were called the Abtariyya because Kuthayyir was one of them.” This is an error.
(9) ʿA alone reads: “that ʿAlī was the best of all people.”