ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Brother of the : Imam ‘Ali The Conclusion We have tried in our discussion of the caliphate to answer the question which we had to face because of the development which led to the end of the righteous caliphate within a time whose shortness is astonishing. For the caliphate did not last more than thirty years.

The governmental systems which are based on political doctrines in this century and before have lived much more than the Righteous Caliphate of Islam lived. Some of these governmental systems have lived hundreds of years and the most recent of them the Communistic system has already lived more than half a century.

Yet none of these governmental systems was transformed into a military dictatorial power and we see evidence pointing to a long life of these modern systems without turning against themselves. The good Islamic governmental system though much higher in spirit and doctrine than all of the modern systems did not live but shortly.

It was only natural that such a sudden death of the Righteous Caliphate makes us ask the following questions: Was this sudden death a natural result of the adherence of the Muslims to a silent directive which the Holy Messenger wanted the Muslims to follow because he (according to many Muslim scholars) had left it to the nation to choose for itself the leader which it wants?

Or was the sudden death of the Righteous Caliphate a natural result of the Muslims' negligence of the pronounced directive which the Messenger issued and wanted his nation to follow? For he chose a leader for the nation and the nation or its aristocracy did not want his leadership.

In order to find the facts in this important of the Islamic history I have tried in discussing the caliphate to answer the two following questions: Should the caliphate have been by inheritance or by election or should it have been through appointment by the Holy Prophet? If it should have been through appointment by the Holy Prophet did the Holy Prophet actually choose anyone to lead the nation after him?

Our discussion has ied us to conclude that the caliphate was supposed to be by appointment from the Prophet and that the Prophet had chosen a man to lead the nation after him and that leader was ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib.