Incident of Saqifa: Difference between revisions

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{{Early Islam}}

The event took place in [[11]]/632 in [[Saqifa Bani Sa'ida]]. The allegiance to Abu Bakr remained subject to controversies and disputes in Medina for a while; it was refused by some [[Sahaba]]. The Shiites (followers) of [[Imam Ali (a)]] considered Abu Bakr's [[caliphate]] to be against the Prophet (s)'s commands and will in [[Ghadir al-Khumm]]; thus they took it to be a usurpation of Imam Ali (a)'s right to the position of caliphate. According to Shiites, the allegiance to Abu Bakr is a deviation from the right path of [[Islam]].

==Location==

==The story==

{{Shi'a-Vertical}}

[[Sa'd b. 'Ubada]]—the leader of [[Khazraj]]—who was sick and had a fever, gave a speech among some people of Ansar ([[Aws]] and [[Khazraj]]) in Saqifa Bani Sa'ida about the virtues of Ansar and their advantages over [[Muhajirun]]. It is said that such speeches in those conditions were supposed to be against activities by some Muhajirun, rather than against the Prophet (s)'s will (such as [[Hadith Yawm al-Dar]], [[Hadith al-Manzila]], and [[Ghadir al-Khumm]]). Ansar assembled in Saqifa Bani Sa'ida in order to protect their own position, but they instead led to the greatest sedition throughout the history of Islam that gave rise to a lot of chaos in the Islamic community.

There are different accounts of where [[Abu Bakr]] was when the Prophet (s) died, but on the most widely accepted view, he was in Sanh, where [[Salim b. 'Ubayd]] gave him the news of the Prophet (s)'s demise.

On this account, when Abu Bakr arrived in the Mosque, [['Umar b. al-Khattab]] was standing among people, and was angry at people who were talking about the Prophet (s)'s death, calling them hypocrites and threatening them to death. When Abu Bakr went to the Prophet (s)'s house, he removed the cloth that was on his face, kissed the point between his two eyes, and then went to the Mosque, asking 'Umar to calm down. He then appealed to a verse of the [[Qur'an]] and confirmed the news about the Prophet (s)'s demise.

On some accounts, it is probable that Abu Bakr, 'Umar, and [[Abu 'Ubayda al-Jarrah]] consulted about the selection of the Prophet (s)'s successor in Abu 'Ubayda's house before they learned about, and joined, Ansar's assembly in Saqifa.

The news about what happened in Saqifa Bani Sa'ida, and verbal exchanges between Muhajirun and Ansar is well known. According to sources, Abu Bakr's selection happened amongst a lot of quarrels and disputes such that [[Habab b. Mundhir]], from Ansar, drew his sword against Muhajirun, and Sa'd b. 'Ubada was nearly trampled by disputing people. 'Umar b. al-Khattab reported the quarrels in the event in a speech he delivered during his caliphate in Medina, and [['Abd Allah b. 'Abbas]], who was present in his speech, confirmed 'Umar's report. This historical document is reported by [[Ibn Hisham]], [[al-Tabari]], [[Ibn Hibban]] and others. According to this speech and other sources, the tensions were assuaged by Abu Bakr's intervention and by taking the sick Sa'd b. 'Ubada out from Saqifa.

There was a quarrel between [[Muhajirun]] and [[Ansar]] over the succession ([[khilafa]] or [[caliphate]]) of the Prophet (s). Each group argued that the caliph should be selected from among them because of their virtues and advantages over the other party.

* [[Al-Shaykh al-Mufid]] summarized the reasons for Abu Bakr's victory as follows: the engagement of Imam 'Ali (a) with rituals of the Prophet (s)'s corpse, absence of Banu Hashim in the meeting, and disputes among people of Ansar themselves.

{{Timeline of Imam 'Ali's (a) life}}

When people in [[Saqifa Bani Sa'ida]] pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr, what led people outside of Saqifa to pledge their allegiance to him was the presence of the [[Banu Aslam]] tribe in Medina. Soon after the event of Saqifa, they entered Medina, populated its alleys and pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr. 'Umar is quoted as saying that "I was not assured of our victory until Banu Aslam arrived".

At the time when the event of Saqifa was taking place, [[Imam Ali (a)]], [['Abbas b. 'Abd al-Muttalib]] and some Muhajirun were busy with the washing and shrouding rituals of the Prophet's (s) corpse. According to ''[[Sahih al-Bukhari]]'' and ''[[Sahih Muslim]]'', Imam 'Ali (a) did not pledge his allegiance to Abu Bakr so long as his wife, [[Fatima al-Zahra (a)]] was still alive, that is, 6 months after the Prophet's (s) demise. According to 'Abd al-Razzaq, [[al-Bukhari]]'s teacher, in his book, ''al-Musannaf'', in addition to Ali (a), no person from [[Banu Hashim]] pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr during those six months.

* Why did only these three people (Abu Bakr, 'Umar b. al-Khattab, and [[Abu 'Ubayda al-Jarrah]]) go to [[Saqifa Bani Sa'ida]]?

Shiites do not find the answers provided by Sunni scholars to these questions convincing, believing that they cast doubts about the legitimacy of Abu Bakr's caliphate. Moreover, there are other pieces of evidence that reinforce these doubts:

* The material for this article is mainly taken from {{ia|[http://fa.wikishia.net/view/واقعه_سقیفه_بنی‌ساعده واقعه سقیفه بنی‌ساعده]}} in Farsi Wikishia.

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{{Ghadir}}

{{Imam 'Ali (a)}}