to the first of them(1): “Woe to you! Who would act justly if I did not?”(2) “I would indeed fail and suffer loss if I did not act justly.”(3)
They are therefore ignorant people who departed from the Sunnah and the community out of ignorance(4).
As for the Rāfidis, the root of their innovation lies in hypocrisy. This is why they harbor forms of heretical unbelief not found among the Khārijites.
Al-Ash‘arī said in al-Maqālāt(5):
“This is an account(6) of the adherents of hadith and the People of the Sunnah. The sum of what the adherents of hadith and the People of the Sunnah hold(7) is: affirming belief in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, all that came from Allah(8), and all that trustworthy narrators transmitted from the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him. They reject none of it. They affirm that He is God(9)—One, Unique, the Eternal Refuge; there is no deity besides Him. He has taken neither consort nor child; Muhammad is His servant and messenger; Paradise is true; the Fire(10) is true; and the Hour
(1) The words “to the first of them” are omitted in (A), (B), (M), and (S).
(2) (A) and (B) read: “Woe to you! If I do not act justly, who will?”
(3) This hadith forms part of a lengthy hadith concerning the Khārijites, narrated from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī and Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh—may Allah be pleased with them both—with variations in wording. See *al-Bukhārī*, 4/200 (Book of Merits, chapter “Signs of Prophethood”); *Muslim*, 2/744–745 (Book of Zakat, chapter “Mention of the Khārijites and Their Characteristics”); *al-Musnad* (al-Halabī ed.), 3/65, 68, 73, 353, 354–355. See also *Sunan Ibn Mājah*, 1/60–61 (Introduction, chapter “A Report concerning the Khārijites”); Ibn al-Athīr, *Jāmiʿ al-Usūl*, 10/436–440.
(4) (A) and (B) read: “ʿalā” (upon).
(5) Vol. [0–9], p. [0–9]20.
(6) (B) alone reads: “This is a creed.” In *al-Maqālāt*: “This is an account of the general statement of…”
(7) *Al-Maqālāt* reads: “The sum of what the People of Hadith and the Sunnah hold…”
(8) (N) and (M) read: “and what he brought from…”
(9) *Al-Maqālāt* reads: “and that Allah—Glorified is He—is God…”
(10) (N) and (M) read: “and the Fire…”