the imamate, or believed that they were [the infallible imams of the ummah] (1). This is a lie about those men.

Yet whether that claim were true or false, Allah will judge between the two parties if they are in dispute:

“Say, ‘O Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen, You will judge between Your servants concerning that wherein they differed.’” [Sūrat al-Zumar: 46].

If the grievance is directed against certain rulers who disputed with these men over authority or wealth, there is no doubt that Allah will judge between them all, just as He judges between all other disputants. Indeed, disputes among the Shīah themselves are more numerous than those among the various groups of [Ahl al-]Sunnah (2).

A measure of warfare occurred among Banū Hāshim themselves, and warfare also occurred (3) between the descendants of al-Hasan and those of al-Husayn, of the kind that occurs between their counterparts in these times. The wars in later times between some members of Banū Hāshim and other groups have been more numerous than the wars that occurred in the earliest period between some members of Banū Umayyah and some members of Banū Hāshim. This was not because those people possessed a nobler lineage, since (4) Banū Hāshim have the nobler lineage, but because the best generation is the generation in which the Prophet—peace and blessings of Allah be upon him—was sent, then those who followed them, [then those who followed them] (5). Good was more abundant in those generations, whereas evil is more abundant thereafter.