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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Shi'ah Are (the Real) Ahl Al-sunnah Chapter 27 :the Righteous Caliphs According To "ahl Al-sunnah Wal Jama`ah" These, according to them, are the four caliphs who ascended the seat of caliphate following the demise of the Messenger of Allah. "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" advocate these caliphs' superiority over all other people with the exception of the Prophet in the same chronological order of their caliphate. This is what we hear even these days.

We have, however, come to know from previous researches that Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib, peace be upon him, was not counted among them as one of the caliphs, much less a righteous one; rather, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal added his name at a much later time to the list. Prior to that, he used to be cursed from the pulpits in all Muslim lands and throughout the Umayyad empire.

In order to shed more light on this subject, and so that the reader may feel comfortable about the truth regarding this regretful fact, his attention is invited to the following: We have already said that Abdullah ibn Umar is regarded by "Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama`ah" as one of the most prominent faqihs, and Malik makes him his major authority upon whom he depends in his book Al-Muwatta'. He is also relied upon by both al-Bukhari and Muslim in the Sahih written by each of them.

All other transmitters of hadith, without any exception, rely on him. This man was famous for his open hatred of the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abu Talib.

History tells us that he refused to swear the oath of allegiance to Ali, yet he rushed to swear his oath of allegiance to the cursed al-Hajjaj, the enemy of Allah and His Messenger.[^122] Abdullah ibn Umar revealed what he was hiding in his chest and disclosed his best kept secret when he said that he could not count even one single favor or merit or good quality of Ali that warranted placing him in the fourth place after Uthman ibn Affan.

We have already come to know that he favored only Abu Bakr and Umar; as for Ali, peace be upon him, he, in his assessment, was among the commoners, if not the very least important among them.