The third group—Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah—holds that he was unjustly killed as a martyr and that the hadith cited does not apply to him in any way. For when he—may Allah be pleased with him—sent his cousin Aqīl to Kufa and learned that he had been killed after a group had pledged allegiance to him, he asked (1) to return to his hometown. The detachment that killed him then marched out against him. He asked them to take him to Yazīd, allow him to return to his city, or let him go to the frontier to fight in jihad. They refused these alternatives and demanded that he surrender to them so that they could take him prisoner.

It is well established, by the consensus of the Muslims, that he was under no obligation to do this and that they were obliged to allow him to do what he had requested. Thus, they fought him unjustly. At that point, he neither intended to divide the community nor sought the caliphate. Nor did he fight to obtain the caliphate; rather, he fought to defend himself against those who attacked him and sought to take him captive.

The falsity of the first group’s position is therefore clear.

As for the second group, the falsity of its position can be established in many ways. Among the clearest is that ‘Alī did not declare any of those who fought him to be disbelievers—not even the Khawārij. Nor did he enslave their offspring, seize their property as spoils, or apply the rulings concerning apostates to any of those who fought him, as Abū Bakr and the other Companions had done with Banū Hanīfah and similar groups of apostates. Rather, ‘Alī would invoke Allah’s pleasure (2) upon Talhah, al-Zubayr, and others who had fought him, and he treated them and those of Mu‘āwiyah’s followers who fought him according to the rulings applicable to Muslims.

It is established through an authentic report that his herald proclaimed on the day of the Battle of the Camel:

“No one who retreats is to be pursued,