“During the time of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) we evaluated the ranks of
people and concluded as follows: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali.”
Also, they fabricated from the channels of Muhammad Abdul Balat1 from
Zahab bin Abi Itab from Ibne Umar that:
“During the time of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) we said: After him the
matter of rulership would be under the control of Abu Bakr, then Umar, then
Uthman, then Ali. And then we fell silent.”
Perhaps someone having awareness of the above mentioned points would
know that the selection of Ibne Umar and all those who support him, is invalid
and at the pinnacle of nonsense. If so many companions had during the time of
Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) did not know anyone more superior than Abu Bakr
then what it was that kept them away from this viewpoint?
What deceived those people? And from where that severe dispute whose evil
enveloped the Islamic Ummah till this day? Indeed, the senior companions
including Muhajireen and Ansar on the day Abu Bakr assumed Caliphate did
they not see in him an excellence that he should be eligible for Caliphate? And
that it should be proof and reasoning for allegiance to him, they refused pay
allegiance to him.
On the first day only two of four or five persons paid allegiance to him, and
then they called for allegiance through threats and creating fear in the Ummah.
Or the statement that indeed Abu Bakr is the most aged and he was
companion of Prophet in the cave and this was the ultimate effort to argue in
favor of Abu Bakr, Ibne Hajar has written in Fathul Bari.
And that – being the second of the two in the cave – was his greatest
excellence, through which he was eligible to be Caliph of Prophet, and because of
this Umar bin Khattab said:
“Indeed, Abu Bakr was the companion of Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) and
the second of the two in the cave; thus he is the more deserving of the people to
be your ruler.”
Is there no one to ask Ibne Hajar that companionship of two days in the
cave, which is imagined in different ways and there are many possibilities in it; companionship, which was not possible for this man, his companion [Prophet]
describes it when the Jews came to him and said:
O Jews, indeed, I was in the cave with him, like these two fingers, and I climbed the Mt. Hira with him and my little finger was in his little finger, but the
statement regarding him (s.a.w.a.) is difficult, and this is Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.);
thus they came to Ali and said: O Abul Hasan, describe your cousin to us, and he
described him…till the end of the tradition.2
How this man with such companionship become eligible for Caliphate and
the most capable man for their affairs, but the companionship of Ali (a.s.) with
the Prophet since the term his nails were soft [an illusion of infancy] and which
continued till the last breath of Prophet.
So much so that he was to him as the shadow is to its owner, and in the Holy
Quran he is regarded as the self of Prophet, and his Wilayat is equal to Wilayat of
Allah and His Messenger. And his love and affection is said to be recompense for
prophethood, did not make him worthy for Caliphate and most deserving for the
issues of the people, after the Prophet said: Of whomsoever I am the master, Ali
is (also) his master. How astonishing is this statement!
I don’t know this precedence, which during the lifetime of the Prophet
between the companions, was complete and consensual, why these just persons,
after the passing away of the Prophet forget it? And why they heard the selection
from the Prophet and did not deny and did not have agreement of view, and
dispute and tug-of-war, abusing each other and fist fights among themselves and
argument took place among them.
So much so that it was near that the cousin of Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) should
be killed in that dispute and the beloved daughter of Prophet had to bear those
atrocities, and such degradation appeared that will not be forgotten through the
tenure of the world, and burial of the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) was delayed
for three days, and the companions kept aloof from his funeral, and Abu Bakr and
Umar were not present in his burial.
It is mentioned in Sharh Sahih Muslim,3 Nawawi that:
Excuse of Abu Bakr and Umar and other companions is clear, because they
believed that exercising haste in allegiance was the most important issue of
Muslims, and its delay was fear of development of mischief, which would have
serious repercussions, and that is why they delayed the burial of the Prophet so
that the allegiance may be complete, because allegiance was the most important
issue so that dispute should not appear in the funeral of the Prophet or other
instances.
The point after this is: If this matter was on the basis of this selection, which
Ibne Umar thought, then why Abu Bakr on the day of Saqifah gave precedence to
Umar and Abu Ubaidah over himself and said: