did not agree upon a single position, whereas they did agree that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—does not leave an inheritance.

The second is that no explicit texts concerning these issues were transmitted to them comparable to those transmitted concerning the Prophet’s inheritance—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

The third is that the disagreement here concerns a single event that cannot recur, whereas the disagreements over these issues encompass many different kinds of cases. Moreover, the bulk of the disagreement over those matters is [a dispute] over(1) a small amount of wealth: should it belong exclusively to certain individuals?

Abū Bakr and Umar gave those people, from Allah’s wealth, many times the value of what the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had left behind. Even if it were assumed that it constituted an inheritance—although this is false—all that was taken from them was one village, and not a large one; neither a city nor a great village was taken from them.

Scholars have disagreed over questions of inheritance and other matters, and their disputes over the inheritances of the Hāshimites and others may involve many times the wealth of Fadak. Yet those who disagree over such matters are not accused of injustice when their positions are based on independent reasoning.

Thus, even if it were assumed that the caliphs exercised independent reasoning and awarded an inheritance to someone not entitled to it, matters many times greater than this occur among scholars exercising independent reasoning, who rank below the imams, without thereby impugning their religion—even if they are assumed to have been mistaken in reality, for they spoke on the basis of their independent reasoning. What, then, of the rightly guided and rightly directed caliphs—may Allah be pleased with them all?