Chapter 1 identifies the phenomenon of anti-ʿAlid sentiment in its varied expressions in early Muslim political and intellectual history. The chapter also provides a framework for researchers to locate and contextualize anti-ʿAlid doctrines that appear in later Sunnī and Ibāḍī historiography. It identifies six distinct positions on ʿAlī held by Muslims and arranges these doctrines on a spectrum from the ardently pro-ʿAlid to the radically anti-ʿAlid to enable readers to interpret literary depictions of ʿAlī and situate authors who engaged in theological discussions about ʿAlī across sectarian boundaries and multiple centuries.

This chapter introduces the themes and tensions related to historiography on Islam’s fourth caliph, ʿAlī. Anti-ʿAlids (nawāṣib) were Muslims who disliked ʿAlī and his descendants, while ʿAlī's partisans, pro-ʿAlids and Shīʿīs, exalted him and developed doctrines about the nature of his authority. All of these early Muslims transmitted reports about ʿAlī's character, which resulted in portrayals that were diverse and contradictory. Sunnī and Shīʿī writers sifted through such reports not only to construct an image of ʿAlī that they considered authentic, but also to validate their own communal identities and conceptions of religion.