The Prophet (a.

The Prophet (a.s) had thought only him suitable to recite the Verses of Sūrah of Bara’ah to the people of Makkah.”[1] Ibn `Abbas arguing about the Right to caliphate referring to the incident about the Recitation of the Sūrah of Bara’ah meant that the Prophet (a.s) was hinting at his choice of the successor. `Ali (a.s) himself referred to the incident while making claim of the Caliphate at the meeting of the Shūra.

He said: “Is there anyone amongst you who was entrusted with the task of propagating the Sūrah of Bara’ah and the Prophet (a.s) had told him that anyone other than the prophet (a.s) and ME could do the task.”[2] If claim is made for Abū-Bakr sitting his Imamate of the prayer, would not they have used the incident of the Sūrah of Bara’ah as another strong proof to claim the Caliphate for him! Then why they do not accept this as a proof for the claim of `Ali (a.s) for the caliphate?

[1] Kanz al-`Ummāl, Vol 6, Page 391 [2] Sharh Nahj al-Balāghah by Ibn Abil-Hadīd, Vol 2, Page 61 Previous…