Most of the first forerunners lived on after the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace; only a few of them died or were killed during his lifetime.

Among those who pledged allegiance to ʿAlī were some of the first forerunners and those who followed them with excellence who had pledged allegiance to Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and to ʿUthmān. As for the rest, some neither pledged allegiance to him nor fought alongside him, such as Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās, Usāma ibn Zayd, and Ibn ʿUmar (1), Muhammad ibn Maslama, Zayd ibn Thābit, Abū Hurayra, and others like them among the first forerunners and those who followed them with excellence.

Some of them fought against him, such as the forerunners and Followers who were with Talha, al-Zubayr, ʿĀʾisha, and Muʿāwiya.

Since those who pledged allegiance to the three and fought alongside them were superior to those who pledged allegiance to ʿAlī and fought alongside him, it necessarily follows that each of the three was superior. For ʿAlī was present during the caliphates of all three. If he alone had been entitled to the imamate—as the Rāfidites claim—or if he had been superior and more entitled to it—as some Shiites claim—then the best of people would have turned away from what Allah had commanded them (2) to do, and what His Messenger had commanded them to do (3), toward that which they had not been commanded to do—indeed, toward that which (4) they had been forbidden to do—whereas those who pledged allegiance to ʿAlī and fought alongside him would have done what they were commanded to do.

It is well known that one who does what Allah and His Messenger command is superior to one who abandons it and does what Allah and His Messenger forbid. Consequently, if the Shiites’ position were true, it would necessarily follow that the followers of ʿAlī were