[^4]: Some of the other who are considered to have been...

[^4]: Some of the other who are considered to have been Shi’i are: Khuzaymah Dhu al-Shahadatayn, Abu al-Tayhan, Hudhayfah al-Yaman, al-Zubayr, al-Fadl ibn al-'Abbas, 'Abd Allah ibn al-'Abbas, Hisham ibn 'Utaybah, Abu Ayyub al-'Ansan, Aban ibn Said, Khalid ibn Said, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Anas ibn al-Harth, 'Uthman ibn Hunayf, Sahl ibn Hunayf, Abu Said al Khudri, Qays ibn Sa'd ibn 'Ubadah, Buraydah, al-Bara' ibn Malik, Khubab ibn al-Art, Rifa'ah ibn Malik al Ansari, Abu Tufayl 'Amir ibn Wa'ilah, Hind ibn Abi Halah, Ju'dah ibn Hubayrah al Makhzumi, his mother Umm Hani, and Bilal ibn Rabah.

Mullammad al-Husayn Kashif al Ghita', in his Asl al-Shi'ah wa usuliha (Beirut, 1982), p. 24, says that he has found more than three hundred Shi’is amongst the of the Prophet (S) in al-'Isabah, Usd al-Ghabah and al 'Isti'ab. [^5]: ‘Ali's correspondence with Mu'awiyah and his public statements in the course of his sermons, as recorded in the Nahj al-balaghah and other sources, are replete with reference to the claim of his own preeminence and that of the Prophet's (as).

Al-Tabarsi, a Shia scholar of the 6th/12th century, in his al-'Ihtijaj (Persian translation by Hasan Mustafawi, vol. 2, p. 188), records an interesting exchange between ‘Ali (as) and Qays ibn al-Ash'ath. In the episode described, ‘Ali (as) is said to have stated in a sermon delivered in the Mosque of Kufa ألا فإنْي لأَولى النَّاس بِالنَّاس فَمَا زِلْتُ مَظْلُوماً مُنْذُ قُبِضَ رَسُولُ اْلله (ص). Indeed, I am nearer to (or have more authority over) people than they with respect to themselves.

Yet I have been treated unjustly since the demise of the Apostle of Allah (S). At this, Qays is said to have remarked: “O Commander of the Faithful, from the day you have come to Iraq you have not delivered a sermon without adding this sentence at the end.” [^6]: See 'Allamah Murtada 'Askari, 'Abd Allah ibn Saba' wa digar afsanehaye tarikh (Tehran, 1360 H. Sh.) Persian trans. by Muhammad Sadiq Najmi and Hashim Harisi vol. 1, pp.

46-66; Taha Husayn in al-Fitnat al-kubra, 8th ed., vol.1, p.131-7, and' ‘Ali wa banuh, 7th ed., pp. 43, 90,152; and Dr. ‘Ali al-Wardi, in Wuaz al-salatin, Persian trans (Tehran), p. 112, have rejected the story of Ibn Saba' as a legend and have advanced numerous arguments to support their viewpoint. [^7]: Ibid. p. 70. [^8]: Al-Kashshi, Ikhtiyar marifat al-rijal (Mashhad, 1348 H. Sh.) ed. by Hasan Mustafawi, pp.106-8. [^9]: 'Allamah `Askari, op. cit., vol. 3, pp. 193-199.

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