ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Misbah-uz-Zulam, Roots of the Karbala’ Tragedy A Thirty-Year Caliphate A tradition of Safina is seen in Tirmidhi[^1] that according to the Holy Prophet (S), Caliphate is only for thirty years, and after that, there is kingship. A tradition like this is also seen in Sunan Abi Dawood.[^2] It is reported from Saeed bin Jumhan. Sharhe Fiqhe Akbar also indicates that the period of Caliphate is thirty years.

Author of Sharhe Maqasid, Allamah Taftazani says: “Caliphate is as follows: Abu Bakr for two years, Umar for ten years, Uthman 12 years and Ali (a.s.) for six years. From this aspect the figure of 30 is reached easily.” But books of history and biography throw up many difficulties and the calculation of Taftazani is proved incorrect. Now the readers may see that Taftazani says the Caliphate of Abu Bakr was only two years.

But in Hayatul Haiwan[^3] the period of Abu Bakr’s Caliphate is given as two years, three months and eight days. Similarly, in Tarikh Abul Fida[^4] it is given as two years, three months and ten days. Then in Seeratul Muhammadiya[^5] it is given as two years, three months and 4 or 5 nights. In brief, these different accounts show that the period of Abu Bakr’s Caliphate was two years, three months and some days. According to Taftazani, the Caliphate of Umar was 10 years.

While in Seeratul Muhammadiya it was 10 years, 7 months and 5 nights, in Abul Fida[^6] and Hayatul Haiwan this period is 10 years, 6 months and 8 days or 5 nights. Some have written, 13 nights instead of 5 nights. All this shows that the period of Umar’s Caliphate is more than 10 years, whether it is seven months or less. There are not many differences of opinion regarding the period of Uthman’s Caliphate. Abul Fida also says it is 12 years and Damiri’s research also says the same.

But some have written 11 years, 11 months and 14 days. But there is a great divergence from the view of Taftazani regarding the period of Caliphate of Ali (a.s.). Taftazani says it was 6 years but on page 574 of Seeratul Muhammadiya, it is 4 years, 4 months and in Hayatul Haiwan it is 4 years and 9 months. None of the books mention it to be 6 years. The conclusion of all this calculation is the Caliphate of all these four Caliphs together does not add up to 30 years.

Then in order to complete the figure, scholars include the short Caliphate of Imam Hasan (a.s.) in this thirty years Caliphate. In spite of this, the figure of 30 years is not reached.