Some historians call them "the most shrewd Arabs" due to...

Some historians call them "the most shrewd Arabs" due to their reputation in cunning and conniving and superiority in managing the affairs, whereas others call them "the people who tie and untie." Among them are: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Abu Sufyan and his son Mu`awiyah, Amr ibn al-As, al-Mugheerah ibn Shu`bah, Marwan ibn al-Hakam, Talhah ibn Ubaydullah, Abdul-Rahman ibn Awf, Abu Ubaydah Amir ibn al-Jarrah, and many others.[^58] These "shrewd men" used to meet to discuss and decide something upon which they would eventually agree, then they would make up their mind to propagate it among the people so that it might become thereafter a matter of fact and a followed reality, without most people kowing how it came to be.

One such scheme, which they plotted, was their claim that Muhammad was not infallible, and that he was as human as anyone else: he could err, they claimed, so they would belittle him and argue with him about the truth while fully knowing it. And among such schemes was their cursing Ali ibn Abu Talib and using a misnomer for him, calling him "Abu Turab" (father of dust), portraying him to people as the enemy of Allah and His Messenger.

Another is their taunting and cursing the highly respected sahabi Ammar ibn Yasir, using for him a borrowed name: "Abdullah ibn Saba'" simply because Ammar opposed the caliphs and was calling people to the Imamate of Ali ibn Abu Talib.[^59] Another was their calling the Shi`as who were loyal to Ali "Rafidis" in order to mislead the public by giving them the impression that the latter had rejected Muhammad and followed Ali.

Another is calling themselves "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" in order to mislead sincere believers into thinking that only they are the ones who uphold the Prophet's Sunnah versus the Rafidis who reject it.

They, in fact, mean by their "Sunnah" the infamous innovation which they invented: the custom of cursing and condemning the Commander of the Faithful and the Prophet's Progeny from the pulpits in every mosque throughout the Muslim world and in all other lands, cities, and villages where Muslims lived. This innovation lasted for eighty years.

Whenever one of their preachers descended from the pulpit before leading the prayers, he would curse Ali ibn Abu Talib, and if he did not, everyone at the mosque would yell at him: Tarakatal Sunnah! Tarakatal Sunnah! ("You left out the Sunnah!).