وَكَانَ بَدْءُ أَمْرِنَا أَنَّا الْتَقَيْنَا وَالْقَوْمُ مِنْ أَهْلِ الشَّامِ، وَالظَّاهِرُ أَنَّ رَبَّنَا وَاحِدٌ، وَنَبِيَّنَا وَاحِدٌ، وَدَعْوَتَنَا فِي الْإِسْلَامِ وَاحِدَةٌ، وَلَا نَسْتَزِيدُهُمْ فِي الْإِيمَانِ باللهِ وَالتَّصْدِيقِ بِرَسُولِهِ، وَلَا يَسْتَزِيدُونَنَا، الْأَمْرُ وَاحِدٌ، إِلَّا مَا اخْتَلَفْنَا فِيهِ مِنْ دَمِ عُثْمَانَ، وَنَحْنُ مِنْهُ بَرَاءٌ.
The whole thing began thus that we and the Syrians met in an encounter although we believe in one and the same Allāh and the same Prophet, and our message in Islam is the same. We did not want them to add anything in the belief in Allāh or in acknowledging His Messenger (may Allāh bless him and his descendants) nor did they want us to add any such thing. In fact, there was complete unity except that we differed on the question of ‘Uthmān’s blood while we were uninvolved in it.