Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Ahi Tirlib 277
to be expected from the Companions (may Allah be pleased with
them) is utterly different from the ideas of many of the RZfis and
narrators of strange stories, who cannot distinguish between sound
and weak reports.220
3.3. Ruling on preferring 'Ali over 'Uthmiin
(may Allah be pleased with them both)
The view of Ah1 as-Sunnah is that the one who prefers 'Ali
over Abu Bakr and 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) is a
misguided innovator, and the one who prefers 'Ali over 'Uthmk is
mistaken, but they did not regard him as misguided or an
innovator.221 One of the scholars spoke harshly about the one who
prefers 'Ali over 'Uthmk, though, saying: "The one who prefers 'Ali
over 'Uthmin is claiming that the Companions of the Messenger (s)
betrayed the bust when they chose 'Uthm2n over '~li."~~~
Ibn Taymiyah said: "Ah1 as-Sunnah are agreed that 'Uthmin
(&)is of a higher status, although this issue - the issue of 'Uthmsn
and 'Ali- is not a basic issue such that the one who differs
concerning it is regarded as misguided, according to the majority of
Ah1 as-Sunnah. The issue concerning which the one who differs is
regarded as misguided is the issue of caliphate. That is because they
believe that the caliph after the Messenger of Allah (s) was Abu
Bakr, then 'Umar, then 'Uthmk, then 'Ali, and whoever criticizes
the caliphate of any of these leaders is more misguided than his
people's donkey. "223
He mentioned the comments of the scholars about the issue of
preferring 'Ali over 'Uthmk, concerning which there are two
reports:
*'
The first is that this is not acceptable. The one who prefers
'Ali over 'Uthmk (may Allah be pleased with them) has