the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—into eighteen allotments, for there were two hundred cavalrymen among them. He allotted each cavalryman three shares: one for himself and two for his horse. The cavalry contingent thus received six hundred shares, while the others received twelve hundred. This is what is established in the authentic hadiths (1), and it is the position of most scholars, including Mālik, al-Shāfiī, Ahmad, and others. Another group held that each cavalryman was allotted two shares and that there were three hundred horses, as maintained by some of the followers of Abū Hanīfah.

As for Alī, there is no doubt that a number of the earliest forerunners fought alongside him, including Sahl ibn Hunayf and Ammār ibn Yāsir. Yet those who did not fight alongside him were of greater merit. Sa‘d ibn Abī Waqqās did not fight alongside him, and after Alī no Companion remained who was better than he. The same applies to Muhammad ibn Maslamah of the Ansār (2). It is related in the hadith (3): “The civil strife will do him no harm.” (4) He therefore kept aloof. This has been cited as evidence that the fighting was a conflict of civil strife undertaken on the basis of interpretation, not an instance of either obligatory or recommended jihad.

Alī and those with him were nearer the truth than Muāwiyah and his companions. It is authentically reported that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“A renegade faction will secede against the best group among the Muslims; whichever of the two parties is nearer the truth will kill them.” (5)

This hadith thus indicates that Alī was nearer the truth than those who fought him, for he was the one who killed the Kharijites when the Muslims split, with some siding with him and others opposing him. Nevertheless, those who fought him were not forsaken; rather, they remained (6)