But, they judged according to their whims and not the Book.

But, they judged according to their whims and not the Book. This being true, their verdict cannot be called a judgment. Rather, it was an opinion forced upon them. Abdullah bin Qais erred when he named Abdullah bin Umar as the caliph. He made mistakes concerning three points: First, he disagreed with his father who did not rate him as qualified for caliphate, nor did he appoint him as member of the Shura (consultative group). Secondly, he did not consult him on the matter.

And thirdly, neither the immigrants nor the Ansar (helpers) rallied around him. These are those who appoint the ruler and establish his reign over the people. As for arbitration, the Messenger of Allah (S) himself had chosen Sa'd bin Ma'ath for this. And he did judge with what pleases Allah.

Undoubtedly, if he had deviated, the Messenger of Allah (S) would not have approved of him”.[^4]16 In these words, the grandson of the Holy Prophet (S), Imam Hasan (as), clarified the matter, disclosed the falsity of the arbitration, and proved to the people the mistake of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, who was elected by the common people among the army of Imam ‘Ali (as), and without thinking it over, they charged him with a task he could not fairly accomplish. The man had bad intentions.

Imam Hasan (as) demonstrated some or Abu Musa's mistakes. Among them was deposing Imam ‘Ali (as) and calling Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab the caliph of Muslims. His judgment involved three errors, not to mention the rest of his arbitration. Imam Hasan (as) was an astute thinker, had a sound foundation in logic and politics. His analysis of Abu Musa's actions in the arbitration process was acute and left no doubt in a reasonable mind that the analysis was without flaw.

He said that: When Umar bin al-Khattab appointed a six-man consultative group at his deathbed, he did not appoint his son Abdullah as one of the group. That was because he recognized that his son was not qualified to be a caliph, and a leader of the people. The pledge of allegiance, as was the order of the day, was initiated by the immigrants and Ansar, then, the whole of the ummah followed suit. How could al-Ash'ari do something without consulting them?

Al-Ash'ari, when he appointed Abdullah as the caliph of Muslims, did it without seeking the view of the man himself. He could not tell whether Abdullah would consent or refuse. The man was not informed of the question earlier, and he was not asked about this most historically critical matter.