The consequence of this belief in their infallibility...

The consequence of this belief in their infallibility implies that the Caliphate of these infallibles was a divinely constituted affair. It cannot be a matter decided by the people. Thus, from Ali (a.s.) to the Master of the Age (a.j.), all these Holy Imams (a.s.) were successors of the Prophet who were appointed Caliphs and Imams by Allah. This belief is in all respects, his spiritual style.

From the aspect of this belief, Ali (a.s.) has the right to be considered the successor of the Holy Prophet (S). Even if we forgo this aspect and view it from a political lens, we again have to agree that only Ali (a.s.) should be the successor of the Prophet. The political expediency dictated that Muslims would have selected only Ali (a.s.) as the successor of the Prophet. The below discussion deserves our attention.

Generally, Sunni belief is not that Abu Bakr became the Caliph of the Prophet through Quranic injunction or prophetic tradition. According to the religion of Ahlul Sunnat, Abu Bakr became the Caliph on the basis of consensus. This is the fact, and majority of Sunnis confess to it. However, some people also present Quranic proofs in support of the rightly guided Caliphate. If Allah wills, we shall investigate this point of view in the future.

But just for the time being, it can be said that this consensus, which had many defects, cannot be construed to be an election. Because an important tribe of Muslims to which the Prophet himself belonged, was not represented in this consensus and neither was it able to exercise its opinion. Rather, this matter of Saqifah was conducted in such a hurried manner that Bani Hashim had no news of it.

Apparently, it seems that even if Bani Hashim had received information, they still would not have been able to attend the gathering, because they were busy in the last rites of the Holy Prophet (S). It was not possible for them to leave the Prophet and attend the election of Saqifah. But if the Bani Hashim had been able to attend the election, Abu Bakr would not have become the Caliph so easily. At that time, Umar, who had great political cunning, hurriedly decided the matter of Caliphate.

This election, which did not follow any principle of election, informs us of a certain defective course of action. At the time of the passing away of the Prophet, Medina alone did not constitute Islamic territory. The religion of Muhammad had spread to the whole of Hijaz.