He also said:
“Satan is a wolf to man, just as a wolf is to sheep, and a wolf seizes only the sheep that is separated from the flock.” (1)
He also said:
“Adhere to the main body of the community; whoever breaks away goes off into the Fire.” (2)
Third: It may be said that the community’s consensus on Abū Bakr’s caliphate was stronger than their agreement to pledge allegiance to ʿAlī. A third of the community—or fewer or more—did not pledge allegiance to ʿAlī, but instead fought him. Another third did not fight alongside him, and among them were some who had not pledged allegiance to him either. Of those (3) who did not pledge allegiance to him, he fought some and did not fight others. If the failure of some members of the community to pledge allegiance can justify challenging the legitimacy of the imamate, then challenging the legitimacy of ʿAlī’s imamate would be far more justified.
(1) This hadith is narrated from Mu‘ādh ibn Jabal—may Allah be pleased with him—in two places in al-Musnad (al-Halabī edition), 5/232–233, 243. Its wording in the first passage is: “Satan is a wolf to man, just as a wolf is to sheep, seizing the sheep far from the flock and the one at its edge. Beware of seclusion in mountain ravines, and adhere to the community, the people at large, and the mosque.” Al-Albānī graded the hadith weak in Da‘īf al-Jāmi‘ al-Saghīr, 2/53. Al-Haythamī cited it in Majma‘ al-Zawā’id, 5/219, and said: “Ahmad and al-Tabarānī narrated it. The narrators in Ahmad’s chain are trustworthy, except for al-‘Alā’ ibn Ziyād, who is said not to have heard from Mu‘ādh.”
(2) I have not found the hadith with this wording. My comments on the hadith of Ibn ‘Umar—may Allah be pleased with them both—appeared shortly above in the notes; it contains the final phrase: “Whoever breaks away does so into the Fire.” As for the phrase “Adhere to the main body of the community,” it occurs in several hadiths. See al-Musnad (al-Halabī edition), 4/278, 282–283.
(3) ن، م، س: fa-alladhīna (so those who).