ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Caliphate and Imamate The Succession to the Prophet of God The Prophet's death was unbelievable for some Muslims. A man arose in the name of Allah; he united the scattered and disunited Arabia, which had never experienced tranquility since then. He made a government based on faith. He abolished the civil war among the tribes of Arabia and succeeded peace for it. How would such a great man die?

'Umar got up among the Muslims assembled at the gate of the mosque and said, “Some of the hypocrites claim that the Apostle is dead, but by God he is not dead. He has gone to his Lord as Moses the son of 'Imran went before, and was hidden from his people for forty days, returning to them after it was said that he had died.

But by God the Apostle will return as Moses returned and will cut off the hands and feet of the men who claim that the Apostle is dead.”[^1] Nevertheless, the Messenger of God (S.A.W.A.) had departed to the dominion of his Lord, and he was not among his people any more. He was the “Seal of the Prophets” or the “Last of the Prophets” and there was no prophet after him. Who was the leader of the community after him?

The Sunnites believe that, “Caliphate is offspring of the society and all of the four rightly-guided caliphs came to power by people's votes. Islam has entrusted the election of the caliphs and the control of the community to a council of the learned and devoted Muslims, thus the Messenger of God did not explicitly appoint his successor. Had he designated one, people would have put in doubt about him, or they might not have accepted him so they would have apostatized.

God wanted to prevent people from apostasy; therefore, He did not appoint one (though some became apostatized). The successor would be the same as a prophet who is raised up by God; however, Muhammad (S.A.W.A.) was the 'Last of the Prophets'. Had he designated a successor, he would have deprived people of their own rights and it would have led to the reign of tyrants and God would have been responsible for it.”[^2] When Abu Lu'lu'a Fayruz assassinated 'Umar b.