Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him—an unbeliever when he accepted arbitration”(1), though they differ as to whether his unbelief constituted polytheism or not.”

Immediately after the foregoing passage, he said at 1/157:

“They unanimously agreed that every grave sin(2) constitutes unbelief, except the Najadāt, who do not hold that view.”(3) “They also unanimously agreed that Allah will punish those who commit grave sins with an everlasting punishment, except the Najadāt, the followers of Najda.”

Likewise, the Mu‘tazila differed from all other groups(4) in their distinctive doctrine of the station between the two stations, and in their assertion that those who commit grave sins will abide eternally in the Fire and are neither believers nor unbelievers. For(5) this is the doctrine on account of which they were called the Mu‘tazila, and those Zaydīs who later agreed with them on it took it from them.

Indeed, even the groups affiliating themselves(6) with the People of the Sunnah and the Community each differ as a group(7) from the rest of the People of the Sunnah and the Community in their own distinctive doctrines. Thus, the Kullābīs differed from everyone else in their doctrine(8) that speech is a single meaning, or several distinct meanings(9): four or