any greater evil (1) than what resulted from the fighting. The fighting did not end this division, nor did they unite under a single imam. Rather, blood was shed, enmity and hatred intensified, and the faction nearer to the truth—ʿAlī’s faction—was weakened. They came to seek from the other faction the peaceful settlement that the latter [had been] (2) seeking at the outset.

It is well known that an action whose benefit outweighs its harm produces more good than results when it is not performed (3). Yet no benefit resulted from the fighting in this case. Rather, the situation without fighting (4) was better and more advantageous than it was after the fighting. [ʿAlī] and his army [were more numerous] and stronger (5), while Muʿāwiyah and his companions were more inclined to agree with him, make peace with him (6), and reconcile with him. If independent judgment of this kind may be forgiven, then ʿUthmān’s independent judgment is even more deserving and fitting to be forgiven.

As for Muʿāwiyah and his supporters, they say:

“We fought ʿAlī only in defense of ourselves and our lands. He initiated (7) the fighting against us, so we repelled him by fighting. We neither initiated it against him nor transgressed against him.”

If it is said to them:

“He is the imam whom you were obligated to obey and pledge allegiance to, and you were obligated not to fracture Muslim unity,”

they say:

“We do not know that he is an imam whose obedience is obligatory, because according to the Shiʿa, that can be known only through an explicit designation, and nothing has reached us from the Prophet—may Allah bless him