The "Sunnah" of the "Righteous Caliphs" They have sought (in...

The "Sunnah" of the "Righteous Caliphs" They have sought (in order to justify this addition) the argument one hadith contains; it says, "Uphold my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the guided and wise caliphs; uphold it and stubbornly cling thereto."[^107] In my book Ma`al Sadiqeen (with the truthful), I proved that these guided caliphs referred to in this tradition are the Imams of , and I would like to add the following for the benefit of those who did not have a chance to read that book: Al-Bukhari and Muslim, as well as all scholars who came after them, have recorded saying that the Messenger of Allah confined his successors to twelve, saying, "The caliphs after me shall be twelve: all of them are to be from Quraysh." This tradition proves that they are meant to be the Imams from , peace be upon them, not the "caliphs," i.e.

rulers, who usurped the caliphate. One may say, "Whether those implied is meant (by this tradition) are the twelve Imams from , as the Shi`as claim, or the four righteous caliphs as "Ahl al-Sunnah" claim, the sources of the legislative system remain three: the Qur'an, the [Prophet's] Sunnah, and the caliphs' Sunnah." This statement is accurate only according to "Ahl al-Sunnah;" it is inaccurate according to the views of the Shi`as because the Imams from , as we have already stated, never derived any ruling according to their own views or opinions; rather, everything they said was the Sunnah of their grandfather the Messenger of Allah from whom they learned it and kept it in order to refer to it whenever they needed.

As for "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah," their books are full of rulings based on the "Sunnah" of Abu Bakr and Umar which they treated as a source of their legislative system, even when in contradiction with the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet. What increases our conviction that Abu Bakr and Umar were not implied in this hadith is the fact that Ali refused to rule according to their "Sunnah" when such ruling was presented to him by the sahaba as a prerequisite.

Had the Messenger of Allah meant by these guided caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar, it would not have been appropriate for Ali to reject their "Sunnah;" therefore, this proves that this hadith excludes Abu Bakr and Umar from such guided or "righteous" caliphs. But "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" have always considered by the "righteous caliphs" to be Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, and nobody else, because Ali was not counted by them among such caliphs.