User:Nazarzadeh/saqifa

Both the Muhajirun and the Ansar considered themselves to be superior and more competent. The Muhajirun said, "Islam emerged from our town and from amongst us. The Prophet (s) is one of us. We are his relatives. We were the first to embrace this religion, and therefore, the ruler of the Muslims must be chosen from amongst the Muhajirun. The Ansar said, "Mecca declined the invitation of Muhammad (s), stood against him, and harassed him to the extent that he had to leave Mecca and came to us in Yathrib. We supported him and promoted Islam, and therefore the ruler of Muslims must be chosen from amongst the Ansar." Some of Ansar acquiesced to the government comprising of both Muhajirun and Ansar. They said that "an emir should be chosen from us and an emir from Muhajirun." However, Abu Bakr rejected this suggestion claiming that, "This will destroy unity of Muslims. An emir should be chosen from amongst us and a deputy from amongst the Ansar. No action should be taken without consulting with them (i.e. the deputy)." He also quoted a hadith from the Prophet (s) and said, "Once the Prophet (s) stated that the 'Imams are from the Quraysh'." Although the chain of transmission of this hadith and its text (with these words) are not fully authentic, it was very influential on the audience and the Ansar withdrew their claims to the caliphate.

Apart from the hadith quoted by Abu Bakr, it seemed as though the deep hostility between the two tribes of the Ansar (Aws and Khazraj) acted in the interests of the Muhajirun. Even if the Ansar were to come to power, neither of the two tribes would accept the other tribe's leadership.

Bashir b. Sa'd, from the tribe of Khazraj, who supported Abu Bakr's claims and accepted the authority of Muhajirun, showed discontent. As soon as it became evident that the Muhajirun and the Quraysh were going to come into power, an argument erupted over who this would be. Those who were managing the session kept passing it on to each other. Finally, 'Umar and Abu 'Ubayda al-Jarrah accepted the authority of Abu Bakr and swore allegiance to him. The majority of the attendants followed suit, and then they started to take allegiance from people by force.

The next day, Abu Bakr went to the mosque of the Prophet and 'Umar delivered a sermon about Abu Bakr's merit, how he was one of the first Muslims, how he helped the religion, and how he accompanied the Prophet (s) from Mecca to Medina. Then, he asked the people to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr. Except for a few of the Ansar and the Prophet's (s) relatives, the rest of people there swore allegiance to him. It was in this way that Abu Bakr officially became the caliph of Muslims. Since a number of the Muhajirun and the Ansar had gathered in Saqifa and had chosen Abu Bakr as the caliph and this was accepted, it became a tradition even when choosing future caliphs.

After people swore allegiance to Abu Bakr, he gave a speech and said, "You have chosen me as your leader while I am not the best amongst you. I am ready to abandon the burden of this responsibility to someone else. [However, otherwise] I will refer to the Book of God and the traditions of the Prophet (s) in order to manage my affairs and the affairs of the Muslims.

Meanwhile, the body of the Prophet (s) had yet to be buried. His corpse was at 'Aisha's house and his family had gathered around him. According to Islamic law, there should not be a delay in funeral ablution and prayer. This is required for every Muslim, rather than for the Prophet (s) himself. However, why did these leaders deprive themselves of such an honor? Perhaps they sensed the danger of sedition, and thus wanted to choose a leader for the umma as soon as possible. But, how long would it take to perform the burial ceremony? Since then, 14 centuries have passed. We do not know if those who directed the affairs of the Muslims in that gathering felt a concern for Islam or feared for the unity of Muslims. However, they have passed away and returned to their Lord and He will judge them according to His knowledge. Since then however, a division was created in the Muslim community which has never healed.

Sa'd b. 'Ubada, the chief of the Khazraj tribe, did not give allegiance to Abu Bakr and never followed his leadership in prayer. He migrated to Syria at the time of 'Umar and lived in Huran (a large town near Damascus). One night, he was found shot with an arrow and killed. It was said that jinns had killed him and had composed a poem about him: We killed chief of Khazraj, Sa'd b. 'Ubadah, by shooting two arrows in his heart. By fabricating this story, the murderer was freed from retaliation.

Ali (a), Banu Hashim, and a few companions of the Prophet (s) did not give allegiance to Abu Bakr. Some historians have written that Ali (a) did not give allegiance to Abu Bakr in the six months that Fatima (a) lived after the Prophet's (s) demise. However, this seems improbable, because Fatima (a) lived for less than six months after the Prophet's (s) demise, and secondly, Ali's (a) well-wishing for the Muslim community and fear for their disunity prevented him from delaying this. Moreover, the leaders of the community who wanted to strengthen their hold on the caliphate as soon as possible, would not let such an influential figure go without the allegiance.

With effort, they managed to convince and unite 'Abbas, Zubayr, and others who doubted the righteousness of Abu Bakr's caliphate, and their government was established.