It is for this reason that they used to regard as...

It is for this reason that they used to regard as permissible { jayiz } the Imamate { imamah } of a deserving person { mafdhul } in the existence of the more deserving person { afdhal } and in that they do not disrespect the two sheikhs { shaykhayn } (Abubakr and ‘Umar).[^16] And in terms of beliefs, they are closer to the Ahl as-Sunnah, as Ibn al-Qutaybah thus says: “Among the rafidhi (Shi‘ah) sects, the Zaydis have the least extremism { ghulu }.”[^17] It was for this reason that the uprising of Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah—one of the Zaydi leaders—was praised by some jurists { fuqaha } of the Ahl as-Sunnah, and as narrated by Waqidi, Abubakr ibn Sirah,[^18] Ibn ‘Ajlan,[^19] and ‘Abd Allah ibn Ja‘far[^20]—who were among the great hadith scholars { muhaddithun } of the Medina school { maktab } and from whom Waqidi himself has narrated hadith —were involved in the uprising of Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah.

Also, Shahristani says: “Abu Hanifah was among the followers of Muhammad Nafs az-Zakiyyah.”[^21] The Mu‘tazilites of Basrah also agreed with the uprising of Muhammad and based on Abu’l-Faraj al-Isfahani’s narration, “A group of the Mu‘tazilites in Basrah such as Wasil ibn ‘Ata’ and ‘Amru ibn ‘Ubayd have paid allegiance to him.”[^22] As such, the Zaydis can be regarded as Shi‘ah only from the political viewpoint although they believe in the superiority of the descendants of Fatimah ( ‘a ).