One indication of this is that the Rāfidah are unable to establish Ali’s faith and uprightness [while continuing to adhere to the Rāfidī doctrine; they can do so only if they become Sunnis] (1). If the Kharijites and others whom the Rāfidah declare unbelievers or sinners say to them, “We do not concede that he was a believer; rather, he was an unbeliever or an unjust man”—just as [they] (2) say of Abū Bakr and Umar—they will have no proof of his faith and uprightness (3) without that very proof (4) being even more conclusive evidence for the faith (5) of Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthman.

If they appeal to the mass-transmitted accounts of his acceptance of Islam, his emigration, and his jihad, the same has been mass-transmitted concerning these men. Indeed, the adherence to Islam of Muawiya, Yazīd, the Umayyad caliphs, and the Abbasid caliphs—as well as their prayers, fasting, and jihad against the unbelievers—has likewise been mass-transmitted. If they allege that any one of these men was a hypocrite, a Kharijite can allege hypocrisy in the same way; and whenever they advance some specious argument, he can advance one stronger than theirs.

If they repeat the calumny of the fabricators—that Abū Bakr and Umar were inwardly hypocrites and enemies of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and that they corrupted his religion to the extent of their ability—a Kharijite can say the same about (* Ali and support it by saying: “He envied his cousin; hostility (6) occurs among relatives; and he wanted to corrupt his religion, but was unable—”