ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Biography of Imam `alĪ Ibn AbĪ-tĀlib Homage and Use of Coercion The efforts of Abū-Bakr, `Umar and Abū-`Ubaydah bore fruits and they succeeded in getting the Caliphate in their favor. When this campaign was over, they started from the Saqifah towards the Mosque. On the way, some other persons joined them. On such occasions, generally people come getting influenced by curiosity or the position of power the person has attained.

On the way the persons they met were asked to shake hands with Abū-Bakr. Thus taking bay`ah , and announcing about the bay`ah this small group proceeded on its way. Al-Barra’ ibn `azib says: “Whosoever they met on the way, they forced him to come along and for the bay`ah touched his hand with that of Abū-Bakr, whether he wished to do it or not.”[1] When they arrived at the Mosque, they sent some couriers to catch hold of people and bring them for the bay`ah .

Therefore, people were assembled at the Mosque where in one of the rooms the Prophet (a.s) was being given his final bath before burial. The process of the bay`ah proceeded with the slogans of Takbir. Buladhari writes: “Abū-Bakr was brought to the Mosque and the people did their bay`ah with him.

`Abbas and `Ali (a.s) heard the sounds of Takbir from the Mosque when they had just completed the bath for the Prophet (a.s).”[2] This is a very sad reflection of the unfaithfulness of the world that on the one side are the mortal remains of the Prophet of Islam (a.s) and on the other there is a crowd of persons come to take bay`ah at the hands of the new rulers. Only sometime ago the same people were sad in mourning. But now there is no tear in any eyes or any sign of mourning on their faces.

This gives us an idea of the minds of the populace. In such a situation, they cannot be expected to think how the selection of the Caliph came about and whether it was [1] Sharh Nahj al-Balāghah by Ibn Abil-Hadīd, Vol 1, Page 74 [2] Ansāb al-Ashrāf, Vol 1, Page 582 legitimate or not. Was it done with the consent of the people or done with the opinion of selected few? Who were these selected few? Were there any other persons involved than the three who managed to go to the conclave of the Ansar?

Were `Abbas, `Ali (a.s), Salman al-Farisi, Abū-Dharr, al-Miqdad, `Ammar, al-Zubayr, Khalid ibn Sa`id and the important persons of the Banū-Hashim consulted before making the selection of the Caliph? People were just flooding in as if they were coming out of curiosity.