sins, while failing to take the unbelievers and hypocrites to task for their disbelief and hypocrisy—and perhaps even praises and venerates them—this proves (1) that he is among the most ignorant and unjust of people, unless his ignorance and injustice carry him into disbelief and hypocrisy.

Another indication of their inconsistency is that he mentioned Muawiya and Muhammad ibn Abī Bakr, claiming that they called the former “the maternal uncle of the believers” but did not call the latter “the maternal uncle of the believers.” Yet he failed to mention the others who shared this distinction with them (2), though they were superior to both, such as Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattāb and others like him. We have already explained that Ahl al-Sunnah do not single out Muawiya—may Allah be pleased with him—for this title. These (3) Rāfidis, however, singled out Muhammad ibn Abī Bakr to set against him, even though he did not come close to Abdullah ibn Umar in his deeds or religion. Indeed, he was not even the equal of his own brother Abd al-Rahmān, for Abd al-Rahmān was a Companion and a man of virtue.

Muhammad ibn Abī Bakr was born at Dhū al-Hulayfa in the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage. The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—instructed his mother, Asmā bint Umays, to perform the ritual bath before entering ihram even though she was experiencing postnatal bleeding, and this became an established Sunnah. He lived during the Prophet’s lifetime for only five nights of Dhū al-Qada, then Dhū al-Hijja, Muharram, Safar, and the first days of Rabī al-Awwal—a total of less than four months. His father, Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—died when he was under three years old. Thus, he had no Companionship with the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—nor, through his father, any special proximity in standing beyond what a child his age would have. After Abū Bakr’s death, Ali married his mother, Asmā bint Umays, making him Ali’s stepson. His close attachment to Ali arose for this reason.