They (Allah's Book and the Prophet's family) shall not...

They (Allah's Book and the Prophet's family) shall not abandon each other till they come to me at the Hawd (the river in Paradise). So think, how will you treat them after me?" [1] Accordingly, we have the right to base the research that is between our hands, on these events to conclude the attitude of the community towards the family of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, or the attitude of those groups who claimed that they had the right to represent the community.

That is because we want to know how that community and those groups treated the family of the Prophet after him. In the meantime we want to conclude the appropriate events for our subject. So if the word al-'itra means 'asbira or the kin of the man, then 'Ali was the most prominent man of them all after Allah's Apostle. If the mentioned word means dhurriya (progeny), then al-Hasan was the eldest one in the family of the Prophet after him.

For, in Arabic, the word al-'itra is used for both 'ashira (kin) and dhurriya (progeny). However, after the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, the Muslim community disagreed on the matter of the succession. That is because some Muslims depended on their [1] Al-Tirmidhi, Kanz al-'Ummal, vol. l, p. 44, tradition no.874. There are many traditions similar to this tradition.

For example, among them is: "I am leaving two caliphs among you: the Book of Allah, (which) is extended between the sky and the earth or (which) is between the sky and the earth, and my family, the members of my House, and they shall not abandon each other till they come to me at al-Hawd (the river in Paradise) - (Imam Ahmad, al-Musnad. Al-Tabarani, al-Kabir). viewpoints.

Some of them cleaved to the clear traditions of their Prophet, who said many traditions concerning nominating the successor after him. However, this is not the next to mention all these traditions. Meanwhile we do not intend to discuss with those who depended on their personal interpretations, nor do we intend to discuss with those who worshipped Allah according to the clear traditions of their Prophet.

For everything on which we agree and disagree with them all or with a party of them ended as it was at its time. The research, which we are doing, now has nothing to change the adopted ideas. We do not look for excuses for those who depended on their viewpoints.