then everyone who assumed authority after Muāwiya and whom Muāwiya surpassed in merit would have to be killed. This contradicts the mass-transmitted Sunnah of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—forbidding the killing of rulers and fighting them, as explained above.

Moreover, the Muslim community unanimously agrees on the contrary: it did not kill everyone who assumed authority over it, nor did it deem such killing lawful. Furthermore, this would cause corruption and bloodshed greater than the rule of any unjust ruler. How, then, could the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—command (1) something whose commission would cause greater harm than its omission?

As for his words:

“He is a freed captive, the son of a freed captive.”

This is not a description of reproach. The freed captives were the Muslims of the Conquest [those who embraced Islam in the year Mecca was conquered] (2). The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—set them free, and they numbered approximately two thousand men. Among them were some who became among the finest Muslims, such as al-Hārith ibn Hishām, Sahl ibn Amr (3), Safwān ibn Umayya, Ikrima ibn Abī Jahl, Yazīd ibn Abī Sufyān, Hakīm ibn Hizām, Abū Sufyān ibn al-Hārith [ibn Abd al-Muttalib] (4)—the Prophet’s paternal cousin, who had formerly satirized him but later became an excellent Muslim—and Attāb ibn Asīd, whom the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—appointed over Mecca when he conquered it (5), as well as others whose commitment to Islam became excellent.