Yet despite all this (1), even assuming that Ali claimed infallibility, such a claim could only be accepted if Ali had actually said it—and far be it from him to have done so.

This is a fifth response (2): if (3) the only proof of infallibility is the infallible person’s statement, “I am infallible,” then we are content to take Ali at his word on this matter. Yet no one (4) can relate through an established chain of transmission that he ever said such a thing. Rather, the reports mass-transmitted from him establish that he did not consider himself infallible.

This is a sixth response: his allowing his judges (5) to rule contrary to his opinion proves that he did not consider himself infallible.

It has been established through an authentic chain of transmission that Ali said:

“Umar and I agreed that slave women who had borne children to their masters should not be sold. I have now come to the view that they should be sold.”

His judge, Abīda al-Salmānī, said to him:

“Your opinion together with Umar’s [when you were united] (6) is dearer to us than your opinion alone in dissent.”

Shurayh would rule according to his own independent legal reasoning, without referring matters back to Ali or consulting him, and Ali allowed him to continue doing so. Ali would say:

“Continue judging as you used to judge.”

He would also issue fatwas and judgments on the basis of his independent legal reasoning, and would later revise his position through further independent reasoning, just as his peers among the Companions did. These statements of his, transmitted through authentic chains, are extant.