If we speak well of ʿAlī, we will be called Rawāfiḍ[1]
And the ignorant fools will accuse us of tafḍīl[2];
If we speak of the virtues of Abū Bakr,
We will be accused of naṣb[3] merely by mentioning them.
It seems that, because of how I love them both,
I will be guilty of rafḍ and naṣb until the day I die!
Al-Bayhaqī said, ‘Al-Shāfiʿī only said this when the Khawārij jealously and unjustly accused him of being a Rāfiḍī.’
[1] The Rawāfiḍ were the ones who refused [rafaḍū] to accept the Caliphates of Abū Bakr, ʿUmar and ʿUthmān.
[2] Tafḍīl means to consider ʿAlī superior to all the other Companions
[3] Naṣb means jealous hatred of the Prophet’s s Family.
]]>ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib
Imam al-Bayhaqī said, ‘These lines of poetry should be memorised by anyone who is ignorant of the truth about ʿAlī, so that he can recognise his proud place in Islam’.
Extract taken from Ibn Ḥajar al-Haythamī’s al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Muḥriqa, as quoted in the forthcoming book ‘The Perfect Family – Virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt’
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