by Sunnis and distinguishes them from (* the Rāfidah serves (1), in some respects, to uphold the welfare of cities and their inhabitants. As for the principle which the Rāfidah share and by which they are distinguished from *)(2) Sunnis, it cannot uphold the welfare of even a single city or village. You will not find (3) the inhabitants of any city or village among whom Rāfidism predominates without their having to seek assistance from others—either Sunnis or unbelievers.
The Rāfidah, on their own, can never sustain their affairs [at all] (4), just as the Jews (5), on their own, can never sustain theirs. Sunnis are different: in many Sunni cities, the inhabitants manage their religious and worldly affairs without Allah—glorified and exalted—making them dependent upon an unbeliever or a Rāfidī.
The three caliphs conquered the great cities and made the religion prevail throughout the eastern and western reaches of the earth, without a single Rāfidī among them.
Indeed, after them, the Umayyads—despite the hostility of many of them toward Ali and the fact that some of them cursed him—gained control of every city in the Islamic realm, from the easternmost to the westernmost reaches of the earth. Islam was far stronger during their time than it was thereafter. After their universal state came to an end, unity was never restored. When the Abbasid dynasty overtook them, Abd al-Rahman ibn Hisham—who entered the Maghreb and is known as the Falcon of Quraysh—made his way west. He and his successors took control of the western lands and made Islam prevail there