It has also been said that prohibiting this was characteristic of the Jews, and such conduct is hardly remote from their brethren, the Rāfidah.

Sixth: It may be said that the purpose here had already been achieved by the water receding. There was no need for the fish to offer greetings, nor was there any reason requiring a departure from the ordinary course of nature to strengthen faith. Such an event serves as a proof and meets a need, whereas here there was neither a proof nor a need.

Do you not see that the parting of the sea for Moses was greater than the water receding, yet the fish did not greet Moses? When Moses (1) went to al-Khidr, he had a salted fish with him in a basket. Allah brought it back to life, so that it slipped away and entered the water, and the sea formed a passage for it. Yet it greeted neither Moses nor Joshua. The sea continually ebbs and flows, but fish have never been known to greet any of the Companions, the Successors, or anyone else.

Ali’s standing is far too exalted for his merits to need establishing through such tales, which rational people know to be fabrications (2).

[Chapter Eleven: The Rāfidī’s statements about Ali’s miraculous honors—may Allah be pleased with him—and his addressing the serpent, and the response to him]

(Chapter)

The Rāfidī said (3): “Eleventh: A group of historians have related that