611 - Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz informed us, and Muhammad ibn Yahya informed me, saying: Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Tirmidhi narrated to us, who said: It was said to Abu ‘Abd Allah [Ahmad ibn Hanbal]: "Do you say that ‘Ali was a Caliph?" He replied: "Yes," and he mentioned the hadith of Safinah. He said: "I heard Abu ‘Abd Allah say: ‘Ali—may Allah have mercy upon him—was a just Imam."
