The response is that all of this falls into one of two categories: either it is false reporting, or it disparages what is right. Some of it is known to be false, while some has not been shown to be true. As for what is known to be true, it contains nothing that warrants criticizing Umar—may Allah be pleased with him. Rather, it is counted among his virtues and noble deeds with which Allah brought his life’s work to a close.

Yet, because of their extreme ignorance and their subservience to their desires, these people turn facts on their heads, whether in matters of transmitted report or rational judgment. They come to events that occurred and are known to have occurred and say, “They never occurred.” They then come to things that did not occur and are known not to have occurred and say, “They occurred.” They come to matters that are good and sound and say, “They are corrupt,” and to matters that are corrupt and say, “They are good and sound.” Thus, they have no (1) reason and no transmitted evidence. Rather, they come under His words:

“And they will say, ‘Had we listened or reasoned, we would not have been among the companions of the Blaze.’”

[Surah al-Mulk: 10]

As for the Rāfidī’s statement:

“He left the matter after him to consultation, thereby opposing those who preceded him.”

The response is that differences are of two kinds: differences involving contradiction and differences involving variation. The first is when one person declares something obligatory while another declares it forbidden. The second includes the variant Quranic readings, each of which is permissible, even though one person may choose one reading and another may choose a different one. As established in the authentic hadith collections—and indeed widely reported from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—he said: