from the straight path follows his own conjecture and the desires of his soul. {Who is more astray than one who follows his own desire without guidance from Allah? Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.}

This is the condition of those who follow religious innovations that contravene the Book and the Sunnah. They follow nothing but conjecture and what their souls desire; thus, they are marked by ignorance and wrongdoing. This is especially true of the Rāfidah, for they are the most ignorant and unjust of all followers of caprice. They show enmity toward the best of Allah’s allies [Most High] (1) after the prophets: the foremost and first among the Emigrants and the Helpers (2), and those who followed them with excellence—Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. Yet they ally themselves with unbelievers and hypocrites from among the Jews, Christians, polytheists, and various classes of heretics, such as the Nusayris, the Ismailis, and other misguided people (3).

Thus, whenever two opposing parties—the believers and the unbelievers—dispute concerning their Lord, and people differ over what the prophets brought, with some believing and others disbelieving—whether the disagreement takes the form of words or deeds, such as the wars between the Muslims and the People of the Book and the polytheists—you will find them—or many of them—assisting the polytheists and the People of the Book against the Muslims, the people of the Quran.

People have experienced this from them on more than one occasion, such as when they aided the polytheists (4) among the Turks and others against the Muslims in Khurāsān, Iraq, the Jazīrah, Syria, and other—