a prayer missed due to sleep or forgetfulness may be made up after its appointed time has elapsed, whereas the noon prayer can under no circumstances be offered before the sun passes its zenith.

Likewise, in most matters you will find the innovations of the former more reprehensible than those of the latter. None of the latter spoke of Abū Bakr and Umar except with love, praise, and reverence. Nor has it reached us that any of them declared Alī an unbeliever, as did the Khawārij—those of his own followers who rebelled against him. At most, anyone among them who assails (1) Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—says, “He was unjust.” They also say, “He was not one of the caliphs,” and narrate reports about him alleging that he helped bring about Uthmān’s killing, secretly counselled it, and approved of it.

All of this is falsely ascribed to Alī—may Allah be pleased with him. He swore—though his truthfulness needed no oath—that he neither killed Uthmān nor conspired in his killing; indeed, he did not even approve of it, and he used to curse Uthmān’s killers.

The adherents of the Sunnah know this about him independently of his own statement. His fear of Allah was too great for him to assist in Uthmān’s killing or approve of it.

What Alī’s partisans said about Uthmān was therefore graver than what Uthmān’s partisans said about Alī. Many of them declared Uthmān an unbeliever, whereas Uthmān’s partisans did not declare Alī an unbeliever. Those who did not declare Uthmān an unbeliever nevertheless reviled and hated him more intensely than Uthmān’s partisans hated Alī.

The adherents of the Sunnah give their allegiance to both Uthmān and Alī, and they disavow partisan factionalism and division in religion that require allegiance to one of them and hostility toward the other. The settled position of the adherents of the Sunnah is that these men are attested to be among the people of Paradise, as are Talhah, al-Zubayr, and others