So, we will follow you.

So, we will follow you.[^1] The bottomline here is that khilafah by anyone who is not the best of his time is contrary to the Order of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, and is therefore both illegal and a bid’ah . That makes the khalifah himself and all his supporters ringleaders of a bid’ah , as long as they are aware of his deficiency and still uphold his khilafah . In that way, they would be guilty of creating a new provision in the religion to supplant that of Allah.

The grave danger of all this is captured perfectly in these words of the Messenger of Allah, documented by Imam al-Nasai (d. 303 H): شر الأمور محدثاتها وكل محدثة بدعة وكل بدعة ضلالة وكل ضلالة في النار The worst of the (religious) affairs are their innovations, and every innovation is a bid’ah , and every bid’ah is misguidance, and every misguidance ends to the Fire .[^2] ‘Allamah al-Albani (d.

1420 H) comments: صحيح Sahih ^3 The Command of Allah and His Messenger is that the best of the Ummah should always be their khalifah , as testified by ‘Umar b. al-Khaṭṭab. Meanwhile, the innovation in this matter is to make or allow any inferior individual as the khalifah . This innovation is a bid’ah , and will land whosoever leads, practices or recognizes it in Hellfire.

It is understandable then why some of our Sunni brothers are so hell-bent upon emphasizing the superiority over Abu Bakr over the whole Ummah, followed by ‘Umar and ‘Uthman, by all means – even to the extent of committing massacres. The survival of their madhhab depends very heavily on it. Should Abu Bakr, ‘Umar or ‘Uthman fall, Sunnism itself ceases to exist as a valid entity! So, certain drastic steps were taken to address the challenge. First, a very wide re-definition was issued for Shi’ism.

This, apparently, was to scare Sunnis away from researching into the issue. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani (d. 852 H) takes the podium: والتشيع محبة على وتقديمه على الصحابة فمن قدمه على أبى بكر وعمر فهو غال في تشيعه ويطلق عليه رافضي وإلا فشيعي فإن انضاف إلى ذلك السب أو التصريح بالبغض فغال في الرفض وإن اعتقد الرجعة إلى الدنيا فأشد في الغلو Shi’ism is love of ‘Ali and the placing of him over the Sahabah (except Abu Bakr and ‘Umar only).

Whoever places him above Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, such is an extremist in his Shi’ism, and he is called a Rafidi . If he does not (place ‘Ali over the two), then he is only a Shi’i. If he added to that (i.e.