(bismillah) Let me make it absolutely clear, that I want no emotional arguments as they will count for nothing, and no irrelevant arguments that will count for nothing. I merely want to discuss this piece of academic evidence and if anyone can refute it they would be more than welcome, but stay focused on this piece of evidence and nothing else. Now, I think everyone is clear on the fact that al Dhahabi is most definitely a highly regarded, qualified hadīth scholar, and he confirms something interesting that we also have recorded in our books. He writes, in A'lãm al Nubalã, by al Dhahabi, volume 5, page 101: Al Dhahabi says, in the Biograohy of Ulai ibn Rabãh: He is thiqa (reliable), he is Abu Mūsa al Lakhmī al Misrī. He heard narrations from Amr ibn al Ãs, Uqbah ibn Ãmir, and Abī Qatãda al Ansãrī, Abdullah ibn Umar and a group of other companions, and he was of the greatest scholars of the tābi'īn. Al Dhahabi then says "Abu Abdul Rahmãn al Muqrī said that whenever Banū Umayyah heard that a newborn child was born with the name of Ali, they killed him, and when Rabãh (Ulai's father) discovered this he changed his son's name (from Ali to Ulai). There's more, in the same book volume 10, page 400 Al Dhahabi says, in biography of Allamah al Hāfidh Sãdiq: He came to Baghdad, classified and was very good in biographies, battle recounts and lineages, and was honest in what he said, and used high (authentic) chains of narration. Allamah al Hafidh narrates from al Muthannã ibn Abdillãh al Ansãrī, "I was in Shãm and I never heard the names Ali or Hassan, but I heard Muawiyah, Yazeed and al Walid."