If someone would say that we only give credence to those...

If someone would say that we only give credence to those whom the nation unanimously agreed upon they will arrive at a dead-end because they cannot include Ali Ibn Abi Talib and his son in the number of Caliphs, seeing that the people did not unanimously agree on their Caliphate, and all of Shams inhabitants did not pledge their allegiance to him with regard to their Caliphate.

Ibn Kasir adds to this: One of the scholars has included Muavieh, Yazid, and Muavieh ibn Yazid in the .twelve Caliphs and has excluded Marwan and Abdullah Ibn Zobair, because the people did not unanimously agree on them. I say: If we accept this principle in…