Allah, I saw as though a bucket had been lowered from heaven. Abū Bakr came and took hold of its two crosspieces, but drank only a little. Then ʿUmar came, took hold of its two crosspieces, and drank his fill. Then ʿUthmān came, took hold of its two crosspieces, and drank his fill. Then ʿAlī came and took hold of its two crosspieces, but the bucket lurched (1), and some water splashed (2) onto him from it (3).” (4)

It is related from al-Shāfiʿī and others that they said:

“The caliphs are three: Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān.”

Everything conveyed by authentic prophetic reports is true. The complete caliphate (5), upon which the Muslims were unanimous, through which the unbelievers were fought and the religion was made manifest, was the caliphate of Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān. As for ʿAlī’s caliphate, the people of the qibla were divided over it. It brought no increase in strength to the Muslims, [nor any subjugation] (6) or weakening of the unbelievers. Yet this does not detract from the fact that ʿAlī was an upright and rightly guided caliph. Rather, he did not attain the same effective authority as the others, nor did the Muslim community obey him as it obeyed them. Thus, the complete and universal caliphate was not realized during his time as it had been during the time of the three, even though he was one of the upright and rightly guided caliphs.

As for those who said that Muʿāwiya—may Allah be pleased with him—was correct in fighting him (7),