about which there could be any confusion that might cause him to err. Thus, whoever transmitted it from him either lied deliberately or was mistaken. Nor does the disparagement of Alī by those who hate him among the Kharijites, the fanatical partisans of the Banū Marwān, and others cause us to doubt his truthfulness, righteousness, and fear of Allah. Likewise, neither the Rāfidah’s disparagement of Abū Bakr and Umar nor, indeed, the Shiites’ disparagement of Uthmān causes us to doubt what we know of their truthfulness, righteousness, and fear of Allah. Rather, we are certain that none of them would deliberately lie about the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, nor about anything of lesser consequence.

Accordingly, when what is reported from someone concerns a matter about which he could not have been mistaken(1), and we know it to be false, we conclude with certainty that the transmitter conveyed a falsehood, whether deliberately or by mistake.

One example is the report that Abd Allāh narrated in al-Manāqib (Merits)(2): Yahyā ibn Abd al-Hamīd(3) narrated to us; Sharīk narrated to us, from al-Amash, from al-Minhāl ibn Amr(4), from Abbād ibn Abd Allāh, from Alī. Abū Khaythamah also narrated to us; al-Aswad(5) ibn Āmir narrated to us; Sharīk narrated to us, from al-Amash, from al-Minhāl ibn Amr(6), from Abbād ibn Abd Allāh al-Asadī: “From Alī, who said: When the verse ‘And warn your closest kindred’ (Sūrat al-Shuarā: 214) was revealed, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, summoned men from his household. A single man among them could eat a whole young sheep and drink an entire faraq (a large liquid measure).” … to the end of the hadith.