When the Messenger of Allah (may his glory be exalted) passed away, you were preoccupied with his death and left Quraysh, the Emigrants, and the Helpers to trade the Caliphate. The Emigrants were saying: 'The Caliphate belongs to the one whom the Messenger of Allah appointed as successor took the pledge for him, named him Amir Al-Mouminine, and he is ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib.' Quraysh were saying to them: 'We do not agree, and we do not know what you are saying.' The Helpers said to them: 'If ‘Alī is denied his right, then we and you are more deserving of it, so let us appoint a leader from us and a leader from you.' Quraysh came, and a group of forty witnesses stood up, testifying that the Messenger of Allah said: 'The Imāms are from Quraysh, so obey them as long as they obey Allah, and if they disobey Him, cast them away like this stick.' And he threw the stick from his hand. This was the first group who swore falsely and deceitfully, making it publicly known in Islam. The people gathered in the Saqīfah of Banī Sa‘idah and concluded the matter by choosing Abū Bakr. They called upon you to pledge allegiance to him. You went out reluctantly, dragged along, after you had prepared an excuse for yourself to give to the people, saying that you were busy with the gathering of the Messenger of Allah, his family, and his descendants, comforting them, and compiling the Qur’an. You had no excuse for that. When you abandoned what Allah and His Messenger had appointed for you and excluded yourself from it, we also postponed you and doubted you."

He said: "Hīh, and what else do you object to?" They said: "Second: That you judged them on the Day of the Camel with a ruling that you contradicted at Ṣiffīn. You told us on the Day of the Camel: 'Do not fight those who turn away or flee, nor those who are sleeping or awake. Do not finish off the wounded, and whoever throws down his weapon is like one who has closed his door, so there is no way against him.' But in your war against Mu‘āwiyah, you permitted us to take cattle as spoils, to take weapons, and to take women and children as captives. What is the reason for this difference, that this is lawful and that is unlawful?"

He said: "Hīh, and what else do you object to?" They said: "Third: That you are the Imām, the ruler, the successor, and the Caliph, and yet you accepted our demand to appoint men as arbitrators in the religion of Allah instead of yourself. It was incumbent upon you not to do that and not to accept that, but rather to fight us yourself and we would obey you, or to be killed, and not to yield to them when they raised the Qur’ans - so that men should judge in the religion of Allah, Exalted and Almighty - while you are the Judge."