All this, even though Muāwiyah was not among the earliest forerunners. Rather, it has been said that he was one of those who embraced Islam at the conquest of Mecca, while it has also been said that he embraced Islam before then. He himself acknowledged that he (1) was not among the most eminent Companions. Yet such was his conduct despite the vast extent of his rule, which stretched from Khurāsān to the lands of Ifrīqiyah in the Maghrib, and from Cyprus to Yemen.

It is known by the consensus of the Muslims that he was not close in rank to Uthmān and Alī, let alone Abū Bakr and Umar. How, then, can those who were not Companions be compared to them? Can the conduct of any king be found comparable to that (2) of Muāwiyah—may Allah be pleased with him—(3)?

The point is that the civil strife within the Muslim community and the sins committed by its members after the time of the Companions were more numerous and more serious. Nevertheless, the means by which sins are expiated were available to them. As for the Companions, the majority of them—and the majority of their most eminent members—did not become involved in any civil strife.

Abd Allāh, son of [Imam] Ahmad (4), said: My father narrated to us: Ismāīl—meaning Ibn Ulayyah—narrated to us: Ayyūb, [meaning] al-Sakhtiyānī (5), narrated to us from Muhammad ibn Sīrīn, who said:

“When the civil strife erupted, there were ten thousand Companions of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—yet not even one hundred of them took part in it (6); indeed, their number did not even reach (7) thirty.”

This chain of transmission is