men and women alike—a great many people. Monday did not afford enough time for all of this together with washing and shrouding him. Rather, they prayed over him on Tuesday, and he was buried on Wednesday.
Furthermore, the fighting that occurred during Ali’s time was not over the imamate. Those who fought at the Camel, Siffīn, and Nahrawān did not fight to appoint an imam other than Ali. Nor did Mu‘āwiyah say, “I (1) am the imam rather than Ali,” and neither Talhah nor al-Zubayr said this.
None of those who fought Ali before the two arbiters (2) had appointed an imam and fought out of obedience to him. Thus, none of this fighting arose from any of the disputed principles of the imamate. No combatant fought to challenge the caliphate (3) of the three, to claim that someone else had been explicitly designated, or to challenge the legitimacy of Ali’s caliphate.
As for the question of the imamate over which people disputed—as in the disputes of the Rāfidah, the dissident Khārijites, and others—no Companion ever fought over it at all. None of them said, “The explicitly designated imam is Ali,” or, “The imamate of the three was invalid.” Nor did any of them say that Uthmān, Ali, and everyone loyal to them were disbelievers.
The claim that the first sword drawn among the people of the qiblah was drawn over the disputed principles of the imamate is therefore manifestly false. Anyone acquainted with what occurred can recognize its falsity upon the slightest reflection.