And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck...

And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said. Nay; but the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king. The one saith. This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said. Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.

And the king said, Divide the living child in two and give half to the one, and half to the other. Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: But the other said, her-it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said. Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it; she is the mother thereof." (I Kings Ch, 3. verses 17-27).

(A similar case came up before 'Ali a.s., and he decided in the same way; finally he said "the solution of this case was revealed to Sulaiman (a.s.) and now I have decided it in the same way.") I think this episode sufficiently depicts the stand of 'Ali (a.s.) vis-a-vis his adversaries. Q 18: ABOUT THOSE WHO WENT AGAINST ALI (A.S.): We would like to know what the Imams have said about Abu Bakr, 'Umar and the Sahaba who maintained their claim to the caliphate.

It is hard for us to reconcile the two assertions that the succesion of 'Ali was clearly, publicly and repeatedly announced; yet Abu Bakr, 'Umar, , 'Ayesha and their supporters, who went against that announcement, were not blameworthy. Could you, please, clarify this for us? A. You have answered that question yourself. No Shi'a has ever said that those who usurped the caliphate were not blameworthy.

In fact, "Tabarra" (keeping aloof) from the enemies of the Prophet and the Imams is one of the basic obligations of Shi'a. Here is the translation of a part of a lecture of Amirul-Mu'minin 'Ali (a.s.) in which he describes the 3 "caliphs" "By Allah, the son of Abu Qahafa (Abu Bakr) dressed himself with it (the caliphate) and he certainly knew that my position in relation to it was the same as the position of the axis in relation to the hand-mill.

The flood water flows down from me and the bird cannot fly upto me. (Meaning that he was like a fountain head from which rivers of wisdom flow and nobody could aspire to rise to the heights of 'Ali's knowledge).