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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books On The Khilafah Of ‘Ali Over Abu Bakr Preface بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Two questions stand at the centre of the Sunni-Shi’i disagreement: (i) Did the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi , ever appoint any khalifah to stand in his command position and substitute for him in his command roles after his death? (ii) If he did, who exactly did he designate?

Our brothers from the Ahl al-Sunnah resolutely submit that the Prophet never appointed a khalifah . Rather, he – according to them – died without any designated heir to his command, and gave no indication whatsoever as to the method of appointing future commanders of the Ummah . Therefore, any Sunni Muslim can become the Sunni caliph by inheritance, or through a popular vote, an electoral college, a coup, or an armed rebellion.

By contrast, the Shi’ah Imamiyyah argue that the Messenger of Allah actually appointed twelve khalifahs from his bloodline – by Divine Order - to assume his command roles after him. In line with the Shi’i doctrine, the first of these khalifahs was Amir al-Muminin ‘Ali b. Abi Talib, ‘alaihi al-salam , followed by Imam al-Hasan, ‘alaihi al-salam , then Imam al-Husayn, ‘alaihi al-salam , and then nine others from the progeny of al-Husayn, ‘alaihim al-salam .

The twelfth of them, according to Shi’is, is Imam al-Mahdi, ‘alaihi al-salam . Another crucial difference between the Sunni and Shi’i positions is outlined below: Acording to Sunni Islam, it is primarily political and military power which determines legitimacy. Therefore, whoever is to seize full political and military control of most of the Sunni communities is their legitimate khalifah . Whoever is not able to achieve that is not the khalifah .

On the other hand, Shi’is maintain that it is only divine appointment that determines legitimacy. Even if the divine appointee is denied political or military power, he still remains the legitimate khalifah . Whoever exercises political or military control over him is nothing but a rebel, and so is whosoever fails to recognize his authority. All the messengers of Allah, ‘alaihim al-salam , were commanders of their respective Ummahs till their deaths[^1].

Yet, most of them were denied both political and military authority. That, of course, never stripped them of their legitimate command over even the rebel leaders.