through the patronage of ignorant oppressors (1) are among the most ignorant and unjust of people. What demonstrates the merit of scholars, however, is the knowledge for which they have become renowned among the people and what is manifest in the legacy of their teachings and books.

Has anyone ever known one (2) of the eminent followers of al-Shāfi'ī, Ahmad, or [the followers of] Mālik (3) to have been a Rāfidī? Or is it not known (4) as a matter of necessity that every eminent scholar among them is (5) among the staunchest of people in repudiating Rāfidism?

Some followers of the imams have indeed been accused of inclining toward a form of Mu'tazilism, but none of them is known to have been accused of Rāfidism (6), because Rāfidism (7) is so remote from the way of learned people. Although the doctrines of the Mu'tazilites contain (8) reprehensible innovations, they possess a measure of knowledge (9) and religious commitment, employ scriptural and rational proofs, and refute adherents of other religions and heretics whose views are even further removed from Islam [than their own] (10). Indeed, they have even produced refutations of the Rāfidīs. This led groups of learned and religious people to join them, even though they were affiliated (11) with the school of one of the four imams, such as Abū Hanīfa or another. By contrast, the Rāfidīs are among the most ignorant