The Caliph sent valuable gifts to win over the people to his side...

The Caliph sent valuable gifts to win over the people to his side; most of them accepted them, but we hear of a widow who disdainfully refused to sell her conscience to them.

21 xiii) The arguments that were made at tlic Saqifah at the time of the so-called "election* were concerned solely with the question whether the Caliph should be selected out of the muha- jirun or out of the ansar; they mentioned neither the good of the State as the criterion or aim of the election nor the abilities of any candidate. The wishes of the Prophet were not even hinted at.

All this shows beyond all doubt that the party interest and not the good of the State was the object on which they had set their heart. xiv) During his Caliphate, `Umar ibn al-Kha- ttab heard the unpleasant news of a man saying that when `Umar would die, they would win the Caliphate for `Ali by the same contrivance by which Abu Bakr had been placed on the throne.

This was too unpleasant to be entertain- ed even in thought; this set him thinking, and he came to the conclusion that though the hit had secured the boundary for him, yet that it was neither lawful nor reasonable and had set a dangerous example. He, therefore, ascended the pulpit, and gave a long harangue enlarging on the defects of this coup.

He summed up his lecture with the order that if anyone resorted to that sort of contrivance in favour of anyone, both that man and his candidate should be slain outright. 22 No better commentary on the nature and utility of so- called election proceedings can be imagined. The author himself condemns his own work. Previous…