Hadith 436

And it is reported by Abu Is’haq Al Shaybani, ‘It was said to Ali-asws when he-asws wanted to write the agreement between him-asws and Muawiya and the people of Syria, ‘Do you-asws acknowledge they are Muslims? ’ Ali-asws said: ‘I-asws neither acknowledge to Muawiya nor to his companions that they are Momineen nor Muslims, but Muawiya can write whatever he so likes to for himself and his companion, and he can name himself with whatever he and his companions desire to’. They wrote: ‘This is what is judged upon Ali-asws Bin Abu Talib-asws and Muawiya Bin Abu Sufyan, by a judge of Ali-asws Bin Abu Talib-asws upon the people of Al-Iraq and the ones who are with him-asws from his-asws Shias, from the Momineen and the Muslims, and a judge of Muawiya Bin Abu Sufyan upon the people of Syrian, and the ones who were with him from his loyalist from the Momineen and the Muslims. We shall descend at the Judgment of Allah-azwj and His-azwj Book, and there will be no unity between us except by Him-azwj, and that the Book of Allah-azwj the Glorious is between us, from its opening to its end. We shall revive whatever the Quran revives and we shall kill of whatever the Quran kills of. If the two judges find that in the Book of Allah-azwj we shall follow it, and if we do not find it, we shall take with the Sunnah, the just, without differentiation. And the two judges are Abdullah Bin Qays and Amro Bin Al-Aas, and the two judges have been taken from Ali-asws and Muawiya and from the two armies. They are both secured upon their selves, and their wealth, and their families, and the community are helpers to them, and upon the one they judge against, and upon the Momineen and the Muslims from the two parties. A Pact of Allah-azwj has been taken that they would be working with what they judge upon, would be from what is in accordance with the Book and the Sunnah, and that the safety and the tranquillity, and placing down the weapons is what is co-incidental upon between the two parties until (such time as) the judgment occurs, and upon each one of the two judges is a Pact of Allah-azwj for them to judge between the community with the truth, not by personal opinion. And the term of the tranquillity is a complete year, so if the two judges like to hasten the decision, they would hasten it, and if one of them were to die, then the commander would instruct his loyalist to choose a man with him, not leaving the truth and the justice, and if one of the two trustees were to die, another one would be nominated to his companion, from the ones who are agreed with his matter, and his ways are praise-worthy. O Allah-azwj! We seek Your-azwj Help against the one who neglects what is in this parchment, and intends the atheism or injustice’’. [64]