Among them were Ummro bin Yubaid...

Among them were Ummro bin Yubaid, Wasil bin Atta, and Haffaz bin Salim, along with some others consisting of the general public and some notables. It was the time when Walid had been assassinated, and the people of Sham had disagreements on the selection of his successor. They kept on discussing this issue for a very long time.

‘(The) Imam -asws said to them: ‘You people have spoken a lot in front of me -asws ; why don’t you appoint one person among you who can convey your opinion to me so that we cut the lengthy discussion short.’ They selected Ummro ibn Yubaid, who talked for a very long time but basically said: ‘The people of Sham have killed their ruler and some of them have overcome the others and are in serious disagreement regarding the appointment of a leader.

Under these circumstances, we have selected a ‘Leader’ who has good understanding of the religion, is a very wise person and is the most suitable one to be ‘Caliph,’ he is Mohammed bin Abd Allah bin Al-Hassan. We all intend to pledge our support to him, and invite others toward him so that they also take an oath of allegiance.

Whoever is in agreement with us we will be friendly with him, but whoever is against us we will oppose him, whoever will fight with us we will wage a war against him and will have enmity against him for his opposition to the just, until and unless we return the right to its inheritor (the caliph).

We have come to you -asws , since we are highly dependent on you -asws , due to your -asws elevated status and your -asws large number of supporters.’ ‘When he finished his speech, Imam Jafar -asws addressed (all of them): ‘Do you all agree with what Ummro ibn Yubaid has said?’ They all replied: ‘Yes, we do.’ ‘(The) Imam -asws , then praised Allah -azwj and after reciting ‘Salawat’ on Muhammad -saww and Alay Muhammad -asws , said: ‘Disobedience to Allah -azwj makes us -asws sad and obedience to Him -azwj pleases us -asws .’ ‘(The) Imam -asws said: ‘ O Ummro!

Tell me, if all people would agree on you as an arbitrator without having to go through an anarchy and killing people. And if you were asked to select a ruler.

How would you select a ‘Wali’ [19] or Ruler?’ ‘Ummro: ‘I will form a ‘Shura’ (a consulting body) from Muslims.’ ‘Imam -asws : ‘From all Muslims?’ ‘Ummro: ‘Yes.’ ‘Imam -asws : ‘Shura will consist of the notables and ‘Fuqqah’ from Muslim?’ ‘Ummro: ‘Yes.’ ‘Imam -asws : ‘Quraysh and non-Quraysh, including Arabs and non-Arabs?’ ‘Ummro: ‘Yes.’ ‘Imam -asws : ‘O Ummro!