Sunni Interpretation of The Battle of Siffin/ the First Fitna or the first Muslim civil war .
According to Ibn Katheer in his book Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah, Imam Ahmed was asked about what had happened between Muawiyah and Ali, he recited the Verse “That was a nation who has passed away. They shall receive the reward of what they earned and you of what you earned. And you will not be asked of what they used to do” Al-Baqarah 2:134
Unfortunately we have always had sectorian understanding of history and these incidence define Sunnism and shiasm . This incident of “Battle of Siffin ” has a different shia and sunni interpretation. When a sunni write about these incidence-The Sunni believes that all sahabas were righteous and they interpret it in certain manner while Shia historian cannot hear a single Word against Ali (RA).As a Sunni Muslim,We believe that Our religion is independent of what happened in that time frame.Our aqeedah (Iman in Allah,Quran and day of judgement) does not change on what happened after the death of Prophet SAW. These Battles are history and not a theology for us. So the earliest book on Battle of siffin may reflect the Shia Opinion Whose whole aqeedah depend upon what happened after the death of Prophet Muhammad(SAW).
I listened to this lecture of Yasir Qadhi on the “Battle of Siffin” .It Very beautifully explains the incidence from a Sunni point of View. So,I would like to share it with all of you ,So that we all can benefit.
Hope You benefited from the lecture . Jazak Allah Khair.
Excellent talk