[Chapter Four: Continuation of the Rāfidī’s discussion of Ali’s virtues—may Allah be pleased with him—and the response to it]

Chapter Four
(1)

The Rāfidī said (2): “It is reported from Muhammad ibn Ka‘b al-Qurazī that Talha ibn Shayba, of the Banū Abd al-Dār, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, [and Ali ibn Abī Tālib] (3) vied with one another in boasting.

Talha ibn Shayba said, ‘I hold the keys to the House, and if I wished, I could spend the night inside it.’

Abbas said, ‘I am in charge of providing water to the pilgrims and oversee it; if I wished, I could spend the night in the Mosque.’

Ali (4) said, ‘I do not know what the two of you are talking about. I prayed toward the qibla six months before anyone else, and I am the one who wages jihad.’

Allah Most High then revealed:

“Do you consider providing water to the pilgrims and maintaining the Sacred Mosque equal to believing in Allah and the Last Day and striving in the cause of Allah? They are not equal in the sight of Allah, and Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.”

[Surat al-Tawbah: 19].”

The response is as follows: This wording is not known in any of (5) the authoritative hadith collections. (* Rather, the indications (6) that it is fabricated are evident. Among them is the fact that no person named Talha ibn Shayba ever existed. The custodian of the Kaaba was in fact Shayba ibn Uthmān ibn Abī