The Rāfidah, however, are [worse](1) than either of those two groups. They hate Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthmān and revile them; indeed, they may even declare them unbelievers. Thus, mentioning these men and their virtues constituted a refutation of the Rāfidah.

When they rose to power under Khudābanda—for whom this Rāfidī had composed the present book(2)—they sought to make the Rāfidī doctrine prevail and extinguish the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah. They raised the banners of strife, gave innovation free rein, and brought forth such evil and corruption as none but the Lord of all servants knows.

One of their stratagems was to ask someone affiliated with the Sunnah for a legal ruling on mentioning the caliphs in the sermon:

“Is it obligatory?”

Someone then issued the ruling that it was not obligatory—either because he was ignorant of their purpose or because he feared them and practiced dissimulation before them(3).

Their sole aim was to prevent the caliphs from being mentioned. They then replaced that with the mention of Alī and the eleven whom they claim are infallible(4). Thus, if the mufti knows that the purpose of the person on whose behalf the ruling is sought(5) is to omit mention of the caliphs, to mention(6) the Twelve, and to proclaim, “Come(7) to the best of deeds,” thereby invalidating the call to prayer transmitted by recurrent mass transmission since the time of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and to prohibit the reading(8) of the established, authentic hadiths from the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and replace them with hadiths fabricated by