was mightier in battle than the Persians and Byzantines.

For this reason, Allah Most High said:

“Allah certainly granted you victory at Badr when you were weak.”
[Surah Āl ‘Imrān: 123]

These people are united by the call of Islam and their common ancestry (1). Thus, they did not pose to one another the military threat that the Persians, Byzantines, Christians, and Magians posed to the Muslim Arabs, whom they regarded as among the weakest of their neighbours and subjects and held in utter contempt. Had Allah not supported the believers as He had supported His Messenger and the believers, in keeping with His gracious way of dealing with them, they could not have stood firm against those enemies in battle and conquered their lands, for their enemies outnumbered them and possessed greater strength and weaponry. Yet the believers’ hearts were stronger through the strength of faith with which Allah had especially endowed them.

The second reason:

‘Alī did not call upon people far away from him to fight those at the Battle of the Camel or the Kharijites. When he arrived in Basra, he had no intention of fighting anyone. Rather, fighting broke out without either him, Talhah, or al-Zubayr choosing it. As for the Kharijites, part of his army was sufficient to deal with them; he did not call upon any of the Bedouins of the Hijaz to fight them.

The third reason:

If it were assumed that ‘Alī had to be obeyed in fighting these people, it would be impossible for Allah to command obedience to someone who fights those who perform the prayer in order to restore their obedience to the ruler, yet not command obedience to someone who fights the disbelievers so that they may believe in Allah and His Messenger.

It is well known that those who ceased to obey ‘Alī were no further removed from faith in Allah and His Messenger than those who rejected the Messenger and the Quran and acknowledged nothing of what the Messenger brought. Rather, the latter