In short...

In short, this verse neither proves any excellence of the three Caliphs nor does it prove the validity of the Caliphate of the Prophet for any of them.

Verse 3 “And (as for) the foremost, the first of the migrants (from Mecca) and the helpers (among the people of Medina), and those who followed them in goodness, Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with Him, and He has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them forever…”[^7] This verse indicates the excellence of precedence in Islam, but according to Maalimut Tanzil[^8] and Seerate Muhammad[^9] Amirul Mo-mineen (a.s.) was the first to bring faith and perform the Prayer.

Ali (a.s.) himself says that he preceded all Muslims in Islam and also the commentators of Quran state this fact.[^10] The revelation of this verse is for the companions of the first period and they were only: Abu Amama, Auf, Qutba, Rafe, Uqbah, Jabir and Bani Najjar. Due to their deep love, how poor Ahlul Sunnat can forget their Caliphs? They included their Caliphs in the queue of “foremost of the first” (As-sabiqoon al- Awwaloon) without any thought.

Apparently, this verse is not concerned with the three Caliphs. But what is the cure of obstinacy? Ahlul Sunnat demand the right of their beloveds at every step. How funny that every Sunni knows about the precedence of Ali (a.s.) in faith, but yet they lay baseless claims of the precedence of three Caliphs in Islam. In brief, this verse does not in any way prove any excellence of the three Caliphs; leave alone their right to Imamate and Caliphate. Verse 4 “O Prophet!

Allah is sufficient for you and (for) such of the believers as follow you.” [^11] According to Baidhawi, this verse was revealed at the time of the Battle of Badr and it is said that at that time only thirty-nine persons had entered the fold of religion and then Umar accepted Islam.[^12] According to the tradition of Saeed bin Jubair in Tafseer Nishapuri[^13] 22 men and 6 women accepted faith and after that Umar converted to Islam, ‘and thus the figure of forty was complete for us neo-Muslims.’ Only after that was the above verse revealed.

According to Tafseer Nishapuri, we can say that this verse was revealed in the Battle of Badr. The author of Tafseer Kabir also states that this verse was revealed at the time of Badr.[^14] The writer asks that if this verse was revealed in the Battle of Badr, how can it be related to Umar’s faith in Islam?