They describe this matter in the following manner in their...

They describe this matter in the following manner in their books which both have the same name. In The Caliphat School The Imamate, which is the Caliphate after the Apostle may come to be held in three ways: 1) A Caliph appoints his successor, or the next Caliph. This means that if Haroun al-Rashid said: Amin and Mamoun are the next caliphs after me, the Muslims are obliged to accept, this caliph being the legal Islamic one and according to the religion acceptance of him being required.

These two scholars say: There is no room for dispute in this matter and the acceptance of the Caliph in this manner was by a concensus of opinions. Their reasoning with regard to this kind of appointment, and its genuiness and correctness is because when Abu Bakr appointed Umar as his successor the people did not oppose his choice; the acceptance of the entire Muslim community showed that they saw this method as being correct.

As such, because of Abu Bakr's action and the peoples lack of protest, this method of appointment of one Caliph with regard to the next was deemed correct. In the Caliphate school the authenticity and accuracy of this method has no room for dispute. 105 The Caliph is appointed by the people: In this manner of the Caliphs appointment the experts in the Caliphate school differ in opinion.

Mowardi says: The majority of scholars believe that the Caliph is chosen by five of the wise men or elders of the nations, or one of them chooses and the other four agree. 106 The reason he gives for this opinion is that with regard to Abu Bakrs caliphate five persons swore an oath of allegiance to him and this oath gained recognition and was accepted.

The five persons mentioned above were Umar Ibn Khattab, Abu Ubaidah-e-Jarrah, Salem (Abu Hudhaifas' freed slave), No'man ibn Bashir, and Aseed ibn Hadir. This was how the oath was given at Saghifeh and Abu Bakr achieved the post of Caliph. When the Caliph, chosen at Saghifeh was proposed to the people, they also willy-nilly accepted him.

107 So for this reason - the deed of these five persons - the appointment of the Caliph is made by the oath and consent of five of the elders and is thus carried out. Another reason for this way of thought is the statement of Umar ibn Khattab in the commission for the appointment of his successor. He stated at that time, that if five of the six members agreed on one person, that person will become caliph. Most of the Caliphate schools scholars agree on this idea.