Is it true that Sunni scholars also say that caliphate was the right of Ali first?

- Mentioning Ibn Qutayba Dinawari’s “al-Imamatu was-Siyasa” as a source, some Shiites claim that Sunni scholars also say that caliphate was the right of Ali first. Is it true?

Dear Brother / Sister,

We could not find the book of Ibn Qutayba in question. We think that something like that is written in that book because if such a thing did not exist, those who claim it would not be able to write. If there were no such article in an accessible source, it is clear that those who said it would be regarded as liars.

However, there is widespread information in the Arabic websites that this book does not belong to Ibn Qutayba, but was written by someone and was attributed to him. It is highly likely that a Shiite wrote this book. This bigoted Shiite may have written this book - to be a reference book that some of the Sunni scholars support them related to caliphate - and tried to reinforce his own views by attributing it to Ibn Qutayba, one of the famous scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah.

In addition, the fact that there are many historical errors in that book is an indication that it does not belong to Ibn Qutayba. Those mistakes are proven by many examples. We think it would be sufficient to mention only one of them:

In that book, Ibn Qutayba quotes from Ibn Abi Layla in a way that gives the impression that he met Ibn Abi Layla. However, Ibn Abi Layla died in the 148 H and Ibn Qutayba died in 213 H; it is impossible for them to meet.

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