As for the Rāfidī’s statement (1):

“The one calling them to battle could have been ‘Alī rather than the caliphs who preceded him (2), since he fought (3) the oath-breakers, the unjust, and the renegades”—meaning those at the Battle of the Camel and Siffīn, and the Harūrites and Kharijites.

The reply to him is that this is certainly false for several reasons.

First, these people were no mightier in battle than others of their own people. Indeed, it is well known that those who fought him at the Battle of the Camel were fewer than his troops, and his army outnumbered them. Likewise, his army was several times larger than the Kharijites’ force, and it also outnumbered the people of Siffīn. They were of the same people, so describing them as possessing great military might would not distinguish them from others.

It is well known that Banū Hanīfah, the Persians, and the Byzantines were far mightier in battle than these people. ‘Alī’s companions did not suffer such heavy (4) losses at the hands of the Kharijites as did the army of Abū Bakr al-Siddīq when they fought Musaylimah’s followers. As for the Persians and Byzantines, no rational person doubts that fighting them was more arduous than Arab Muslims fighting one another. Although the Arabs’ fighting against the disbelievers (* in the earliest days of Islam was more meritorious and greater, that was because the believers were few and weak at the outset, not because (5) their enemy *) (6)