Muljam(1) dealt him the fatal blow, he said, “If I survive, I have authority over my own blood.” He did not regard Ibn Muljam as an apostate for killing him.(2)

As for those at the Battle of the Camel, it has been recurrently transmitted from Alī that he forbade(3) pursuing their fugitives, finishing off their wounded, killing their captives, taking their property as spoils, and taking their families captive. If these texts meant that they were disbelievers, Alī was the first(4) to reject them; they would therefore have to conclude that Alī was a disbeliever.

Likewise, regarding the people of Siffīn, he would perform the funeral prayer over their dead and say, “Our brothers rebelled against us; the sword purified them.” Had he regarded them as disbelievers, he would not have performed the funeral prayer over them, called them his brothers, or deemed the sword a purification for them.(5)

Overall, we know with certainty from Alī’s conduct—may Allah be pleased with him—that he did not declare those who fought him to be disbelievers. Nor did the majority of Muslims, the three caliphs, al-Hasan, or al-Husayn declare(6) any of these people to be disbelievers; nor did Alī ibn al-Husayn or Abū Jafar. If these people were disbelievers, then the first to contravene the texts were Alī and his household. They could have done as the Khawārij did—withdrawn to an abode other than the abode of Islam [N, M: “the Muslims”], even if they were unable to fight, and pronounced(7) the inhabitants of the abode of Islam disbelievers and apostates, as many Rāfidah shaykhs do; and it would have been incumbent