Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Trilib 559
R%@i reports about the letters between Mu'zwiyah and Qays ibn
Sa'd, which were mentionedby Abu Makhnaf, became widely quoted
in the history books, but they are false and are not sound. The only one
who narrated them was this worthless Riifidi, who was regarded as
weak by the scholars who determine who was praiseworthy and who
was unreliable. The texts of these reports also contain odd things,
among the most prominent of which are the following:
1. 'Ali's address to the people of Egypt who were with Qays ibn
Sa'd, in which he (allegedly) said: "Then came after them (Abu
Bakr and 'Umar) a ruler whose conduct was not appropriate, so
the men of the Ummah started showing resentment, then they
got angry with him and changed him." In other words, those
who rebelled against 'Uthmh (&) were the men of the
Ummah, and the Ummah had changed this evil by killing
'Uthrnh. The truth is that 'Ali (&,) is innocent of these words.
He hew that those who killed 'Uthmk (&) were thugs and
that his slaying was unjust and wrong, and his words reflect that.
Ibn 'Asikikir narrated that Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyyah said: "I
never heard 'Ali saying anything bad about '~thrnh."~ Al-
H&m and Ibn 'Asikir narrated that 'Ali (&) said: "0 Allah, I
declare myself innocent before You of the blood of 'Uthmh. I
felt very distressed the day 'Uthmh was killed, and I was deeply
grieved. They came to me to swear allegiance to me, and I said:
'By Allah, I feel shy before Allah to accept allegiance from
people who killed a man of whom the Messenger of Allah (g)
said: "Should I not feel shy of one before whom the angels feel
shy?" I feel shy before Allah to accept allegiance when 'Uthmk
is lying slain on the ground and has not been buried yet.' So they
went away, and when he had been buried, the people came back
and asked me to accept their oath of allegiance. I said: '0 Allah,
I am very uncertain of what I am letting myself in for.' Then I
decided to go ahead, and I accepted their oath of allegiance.