ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books ‘Ali: The Best of the Sahabah Hadith Al-Qadha, ‘Ali Versus ‘Umar ====================================== Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 H) launches a spirited campaign to bring down ‘Ali’s status as the best judge in the Ummah in order to place ‘Umar above him.

He simply cannot stomach the possibility of Amir al-Muminin ‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam , surpassing the second Sunni khalifah in anything, especially in such highly sensitive, knowledge-based areas as justice dispensation.

The reason for these panicky moves can be discerned from these words of our dear Shaykh: و في الترمذي و غيره عنه عليه الصلاة و السلام انه قال لو لم ابعث فيكم لبعث فيكم عمر و لفظ الترمذي لو كان بعدي نبي لكان عمر قال الترمذي حديث حسن In ( Sunan ) al-Tirmidhi and others, it is narrated from him, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said, “ If I had not been sent as a messenger among you, ‘Umar would have been sent as a messenger among you instead .” The text of al-Tirmidhi reads, “ If there were to be a prophet after me, it would have been ‘Umar ”.

Al-Tirmidhi says: A hasan hadith .[^1] Elsewhere, he reiterates this: وفي الترمذي لو لم أبعث فيكم لبعث فيكم عمر ولو كان بعدي نبي لكان عمر It is recorded in ( Sunan ) al-Tirmidhi: “If I had not been sent as a messenger among you, ‘Umar would have been sent as a messenger instead and if there were to be a prophet after me, it would have been ‘Umar”.[^2] Those two one-sided, sectarian reports establish two realities: ‘Umar and the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi , had equal credentials and abilities to be the master of the prophets, sent to the entirety of mankind till the Hour.

Therefore, ‘Umar was a perfect replacement for the Prophet. Due to ‘Umar’s status as the sole match – in qualification – to the Messenger, he was the only one qualified to be the first prophet after Muhammad, had prophethood not ceased. The bottom-line is that ‘Umar was far better than Abu Bakr in all ways and in all things! So, if ‘Ali were superior to ‘Umar, then he was the master of both the first and the second khalifahs .

In any case, those two hadiths are one-sided (and therefore of no probative value in our research), and contradict the Verse of Istafa , the Verse of Taṭhir and several sahih and mutawatir ahadith (such as Hadith al-Ghadir , Hadith al-Manzilah , Hadith al-Tayr , Hadith al-Thaqalayn , etc).