there will be a caliphate of prophethood and mercy, then there will be kingship and mercy(1), then there will be kingship.”(2)
No king who ever assumed power was better than Muāwiyah. He was the best of Islam’s kings, and his conduct was better than that of every king who came after him. Alī was the last of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, whose(3) rule was a caliphate of prophethood and mercy. Each of the four caliphs—may Allah be pleased with them—is affirmed to be among(4) the best of the God-fearing friends of Allah.(5) Indeed, these four are the best of Allah’s creation after the prophets.(6)
But if a detractor comes and says of Abū Bakr and Umar that they were unjust aggressors(7), seeking leadership and withholding people’s rights; (and that they were among those most eager for leadership)(8); that they—and those who assisted them—wronged the rightful caliph who had been expressly designated by the Messenger; that they deprived the Prophet’s Household of their inheritance; and that they were among those most eager for leadership and authority
(1) M: *mulkan rahmatan* (“kingship, a mercy”).
(2) In *Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid*, in the Book of the Caliphate, chapter “How the *imāma* (leadership) Began and What It Will Become, and the Caliphate and Kingship,” al-Haythamī cites several hadiths similar to this one. The closest is a hadith narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with them both (*Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid*, 5:189–90)—who reported that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “This matter begins with prophethood and mercy; then there will be a caliphate and mercy; then there will be kingship and mercy; then they will bite one another over it as donkeys do. You must therefore engage in jihad. The best form of your jihad is *ribāṭ* (frontier service), and the best place for your *ribāṭ* is Ashkelon.” Al-Haythamī said: “Al-Tabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy.” *Yatakādamūna* means “they bite one another.” See also al-Albānī, *Silsilat al-Ahādīth al-Sahīha*, 1:8–9 (hadith no. 5).
(3) *Hum* (“they”) is omitted from M.
(4) *Min* (“among”) is omitted from M.
(5) Omitted from S and B.
(6) Omitted from S and B.
(7) N: *muʿtadayni* (“aggressors”); M: *mutaʿaddayni* (“transgressors”).
(8) The passage in square brackets is omitted from N and M.