We should believe in the fact that the wars among the Sahâba-i-kirâm ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ were based on religious considerations, rather than being the consequences of evil purposes or maleficent intentions. From the religious, logical, traditional and historical points of view, we have no business to comment on whether their actions were right or wrong or to pass judgment on their preferences. Anything that is overtly disagreeable with or contradictory to the Qur’ân al-kerîm or hadîth-i-sherîfs is kufr (disbelief). What makes an act or behaviour heretical, sinful or corrupt, however, is not necessarily in overt and direct contradiction to them. Then, it is not something religiously permissible to criticize or malign Mu’âwiya or other people like him ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum’. For, they are all in the group of Sahâba-i-kirâm whom Allâhu ta’âlâ and our master the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ praises. Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated, “May people who malign or curse any one of my Ashâb be accursed in the view of Allâhu ta’âlâ and angels and all people!” It is not something sinful not to curse the devil, who is accursed. The wisest policy is not to curse any creature. Nor is it anything advisable to curse Yazîd or Hajjâj.

The Muslims in the group of Ahl as-sunnat wa-l-jamâ’at esteem and love each and every one of the Ashâb-i-kirâm ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’; then, why should one presume that they do not love Imâm Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ despite his multifarious relationships to our master the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wasallam’, -he was his paternal first cousin, son-in-law, and spiritual brother-, and in the face of the fact that he was praised in so many hadîth-i-sherîfs that no other Sahâbî attained an equal number of praisals? Such an ignorant presumption, alongside its slanderous implication, would mean to deliver love of Hadrat Alî into Shiites’ possession.

It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “Allâhu ta’âlâ has commanded me to love four people. So I love them.” When he was asked who they were, he explained, “Alî is one of them; Alî is one of them; Alî is one of them; and (the others are) Abű Zer, Mikdâd and Salmân.”

Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ commanded the Sahâba-i-kirâm ‘ridwânullâhi ’alaihim ajma’în’ to be brotherly with one another. Imâm Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ came to the Huzűr-i-sa’âdat and said, “Yâ Rasűlallah (O Messenger of Allah)! Why didn’t you make me anyone’s brother?” Upon this the Prophet stated, “You are my brother in the world and in the Hereafter.”

Abű Sa’îd-i-Hudrî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ stated: “The criterion by which we knew Believers from munâfiqs was based on sympathy and antipathy for Imâm Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’.”

It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “I am the city of knowledge. Alî is the gate to the city.” Imâm Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ related: I was very young when Rasűl-i-akram ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ wanted to send me as a judge to Yemen. I said, “O Messenger of Allah! I am young yet. How can I be a judge for the people there?” He put his blessed hand on my chest and invoked, “Yâ Rabbî (O my Allah)! Give hidâyat (guidance) to his heart and thebât (firmness, perseverance) to his tongue!” It is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf, “Alî is the most eligible for judgeship and the most knowledgeable of you.” It is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf, “It is an act of worship to look at Alî. A person who has hurt Alî has hurt me, so to speak.” It is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf, “Affection towards Alî is affection towards me. And affection towards me is affection towards Allâhu ta’âlâ. Enmity towards Alî is enmity towards me. And enmity towards me is enmity towards Allâhu ta’âlâ.” It is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf, “Allâhu ta’âlâ ordered me to give my daughter Fâtima in marriage to Alî. Allâhu ta’âlâ created each prophet’s progeny through him, yet He creates my progeny through Alî.” In another occasion he stated, “Îmân (belief) has its symptoms: Its first symptom is to love Alî. Alî is the guide of the good. A person who helps Alî will attain help himself. Those who try to cause trouble to Alî incur their own destruction. Paradise is in love with three people: Alî, Salmân and Ammâr.” It is stated in another hadîth-i-sherîf, “A munâfiq’s heart will never share the combined love for the following four people: Abű Bakr, ’Umar, ’Uthmân, and Alî.” ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum’.

All the hadîth-i-sherîfs written so far were translated from the book Manâqib-i-Chihâr Yâr-i-ghuzîn, by Hadrat Sayyid Ayyűb. The book, which renders a perfectly long and elaborate account of the greatness of the four Khalîfas and of all the Ashâb-i-kirâm, is in Turkish; it was printed in 1325, and reproduced in 1998 (A.D.). We importantly recommend that those who understand Turkish read it.

Affection towards Imâm Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ is symptomatic of being in (the group of) Ahl as-sunnat. And it is wrong to say that affection towards him necessitates disaffection towards the other three Khalîfas. To dislike another Sahâbî or a few other Sahâbîs for the purpose of showing affection towards him means to deviate from the right course. Imâm-i-Shâfi’î ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ stated in a distich:

If they call those who love Alî ‘Shiites’,
Know, you, o humans and genies, I am a Shiite.

Both Shiites and Sunnites profess love of Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ Âl and Ahl-i-bayt (household and children). What makes them different is that one group love the other Sahâba as well, whereas the other group do not. The Ahl-i-bayt and the Âl-i-Abâ, or the Âl-i-Rasűl ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’, are loved above all by the Ahl as-sunnat.

The book Manâqib-i-Chihâr Yâr-i-ghuzîn, from the four hundred and fortieth [440] page onwards, enlarges on the greatness of the Ahl-i-bayt ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’. The first episode reads as follows:

Allâhu ta’âlâ says to the Ahl-i-bayt, i.e. Imâm Alî, Fâtima-t-uz-zahrâ, Imâm Hasan and Imâm Husayn, in the Qur’ân al-kerîm: “Allâhu ta’âlâ wishes to remove all sorts of deficiency and dirt from you, and He wills to clean you with perfect purification.” The Ashâb-i-kirâm asked, “O the Messenger of Allah! Who are the Ahl-i-bayt?” At that moment Imâm-i-Alî joined them. The blessed Prophet took him under his blessed overcoat. Then he sent for Hadrat Fâtima. When she came, clad as she was properly and in a manner compatible with Islam’s prescription, he took her under his blessed overcoat, too. The next comer was Imâm-i-Hasan. He took him to his one side; and taking the final comer, Imâm-i-Husayn, to his other side, he stated “Here, these are my Ahl-i-bayt.” These blessed people are also called Âl-i-Abâ or Âl-i-Rasűl ‘ridwânullahi ’alaihim ajma’în’.

Affection towards the Ahl-i-bayt-i-nabawî causes salvation at the time of death, which means to migrate to the Hereafter with îmân (as a Believer). Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf, “My Ahl-i-bayt are like Nűh’s (Noah’s) ‘alaihis-salâm’ ark. He who follows them will attain salvation. He who lags behind will perish.”

It is farz for every Believer to love the Ahl-i-bayt. It causes one to die with îmân. Some people with unsound wisdom and narrow reasoning capacities make a mistake in this subject. They say that love requires antipathy towards the beloved one’s enemies, (which is right). Presuming that Âisha-i-siddîqa, Mu’âwiya, Talha and Zubayr ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhum’ were enemies of the Ahl-i-bayt because they fought against the Ahl-i-bayt, -although they did so in consequence of their ijtihâd-, they nurse a grudge against those great people. Thereby they deviate from the right course. In fact, as it becomes clear in the light of âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs, those wars between the Ashâb-i-kirâm and the Ahl-i-bayt did not ensue from worldly ambitions such as position and fame. They were based on difference of ijtihâd. When they met, their aim was not to make war, but to reach an agreement. It was the plotting and intrigue carried on by the Jew named Abdullah bin Saba’ and his accessaries that inflamed the event so that it escalated into a warlike situation. All the Ashâb-i-kirâm loved the Ahl-i-bayt ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’. Not to believe so, i.e. to think that the Ashâb-i-kirâm were hostile to the Ahl-i-bayt, means to deny the âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs. The âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs show the fact that the Ashâb-i-kirâm established their capital of îmân out of their love of Ahl-i-bayt.

Hadrat Mu’âwiya ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ served as a writing secretary in the presence of our master the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. Abű Nuaym states that Mu’âwiya ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ was one of the writing secretaries of Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, that he had beautiful handwriting, and that he was eloquent, gentle, and dignified. Zayd bin Thâbit ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ states that Mu’âwiya ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ wrote the Wahy (âyat-i-kerîmas) brought by (the Archangel) Jebrâîl and Rasűlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ letters. Then, he was a person whom the Fakhr-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ trusted. Does this high position not indicate how exalted he was? Do those people who criticize and malign that great person not denigrate, by doing so, someone to whom the Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ entrusted the business of writing the Qur’ân al-kerîm? To try to evade this question with the prevarication that afterwards he took a turn for the worse would be even a more insolent felony. For, the Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was the Sultân of ’Ilm al-ladun, i.e. he was made to know (by Allâhu ta’âlâ) everything that would happen as well as all that had happened; how could it ever be supposed, then, that he did not know about a future treason?

Whenever the Sarwar-i-’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ said, “Sami’ Allâhu liman hamidah,” in (the bowing position called) rukű’ as he conducted namâz in jamâ’at, Mu’âwiya ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, who stood in the first line, would add, “Rabbanâ laka-l-hamd.” This expression won (the Prophet’s) approval and approbation, and to say so was established as a sunnat till the end of the world. Such a great attainment! Given the aforesaid comparison wherein the name of Mu’âwiya ‘radiy-Allâhu ‘anh’ evokes a praisal of such a great Islamic scholar as Abdullah ibni Mubarak, whose physical and spiritual superiorities have been acknowledged by all the religious leaders, what could be so futile as groping for evidence to prove to the contrary, as these ignorant, self-indulgent and obstinate people do?