Al-Waleed ibn Abd al-Malik...

Al-Waleed ibn Abd al-Malik, who was the “commander of the faithful” of his time, delivered a sermon one Friday in which he said, “The hadith saying that the Messenger of Allah once said (to Ali, as): `Your status to me is like that of Aaron to Moses' was altered from: `Your status to me is like that of Qarun to Moses' because the listener became confused.”[^2] Such was the malice of these rulers against the Brother of the Prophet.

During the reign of al-Mu`tasim, when there was a substantial increase in the number of atheists, apostates, and fabricators of hadith , who ascended the seat of the “righteous” caliphate, and when people were distracted during al-Mu`tasim's time by marginal problems, in addition to the dilemma caused by Ahmad ibn Hanbal labelling the Holy Qur'an as being infinite in its pre-existence..., people blindly followed the creed of their kings, believing that the Holy Qur'an was “created.” When Ahmad ibn Hanbal withdrew his theory regarding the Holy Qur'an, being apprehensive of al-Mu`tasim, he became after that quite famous among scholars of hadith [^3] like a shining star.

It was then decided to add the name of Ali ibn Abu Talib to the list of the “righteous caliphs.” It is quite possible that Ahmad ibn Hanbal was dazzled by the authentic ahadith enumerating Ali's virtues which surfaced against the wish of the rulers of the time, especially since he is the one who has said, “Nobody among all people has received as many ahadith in his favor as Ali ibn Abu Talib.” It was then that the number of the “righteous caliphs” was increased to four, and Ali's caliphate was regarded as “legitimate” after being rejected due to its “illegitimacy.” The Proof: In the Tabaqat , regarded by the Hanbalis as their main reference, Ibn Abu Ya`li quotes Wadeezah al-Himsi as saying: I visited Ahmad ibn Hanbal after having added the name of Ali, Allah be pleased with him,[^4] to the list of the three [“righteous caliphs”].

I said to him, “O Abu Abdullah! What you have done discredits both Talhah and al-Zubayr!” He said, “What a foolish statement you have uttered!