‘Ali searched for conciliation with Abu Bakr and pledging allegiance to him, whereas he did not want to give bay’ah

حدثنا أبو العباس محمد بن يعقوب ثنا جعفر بن محمد بن شاكر ثنا عفان بن مسلم ثنا وهيب ثنا داود بن أبي هند ثنا أبو نضرة عن أبي سعيد الخدري رضي الله عنه قال ثم لما توفي رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم قام خطباء الأنصار فجعل الرجل منهم يقول يا معشر المهاجرين إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم كان إذا استعمل رجلا منكم قرن معه رجلا منا فنرى أن يلي هذا الأمر رجلان أحدهما منكم و الآخر منا قال فتتابعت خطباء الأنصار على ذلك فقام زيد بن ثابت فقال إن رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم كان من المهاجرين و إن الإمام يكون من المهاجرين و نحن أنصاره كما كنا أنصار رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم فقام أبو بكر رضي الله عنه فقال جزاكم الله خيرا يا معشر الأنصار و ثبت قائلكم ثم قال أما لو ذلك لما صالحناكم ثم أخذ زيد بن ثابت بيد أبي بكر فقال هذا صاحبكم فبايعوه ثم انطلقوا فلما قعد أبو بكر على المنبر نظر في وجوه القوم فلم ير عليا فسأل عنه فقال ناس من الأنصار فأتوا به فقال أبو بكر بن عم رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم و ختنه أردت أن تشق عصا المسلمين فقال لا تثريب يا خليفة رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم فبايعه ثم لم ير الزبير بن العوام فسأل عنه حتى جاؤوا به فقال بن عمة رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم و حواريه أردت أن تشق عصا المسلمين فقال مثل قوله لا تثريب يا خليفة رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم فبايعاه

Abu al ‘Abbas Muhammad ibn Ya’qub narrated to us―Jafar ibn Muhammad ibn Shakir narrated to us―’Affan ibn Muslim narrated to us―Wuhayb narrated to us―Dawood ibn Abi Hind narrated to us―Abu Nadrah narrated to us from―Abu Sa’id al Khudri radiya Llahu ‘anhu who reports:

After Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam passed away, the spokespersons of the Ansar stood up and one of them said, “O gathering of Muhajirin! When Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam would appoint a man from you, he would join him with a man from us. So we realise that this matter should be borne by two men, one from you and the other from us.”

The lecturers of the Ansar all agreed with this. Then Zaid ibn Thabit stood up and said, “Undoubtedly, Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam was from the Muhajirin and the Imam will be from the Muhajirin. We will be his helpers just as we were the helpers of Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.”

Abu Bakr radiya Llahu ‘anhu then stood up and said, “May Allah reward you with goodness, O gathering of Ansar. And your spokesman has spoken the truth.”

He then said, “If that is the matter, we would not have reconciled with you.”

Zaid ibn Thabit radiya Llahu ‘anhu then took hold of Abu Bakr’s hand and said, “This is your man so give bay’ah to him.” They then left.

When Abu Bakr climbed the pulpit, he looked at the faces of the people who were before him. Not finding ‘Ali anywhere among the crowd, he asked about him. Consequently, some men from the Ansar brought him. Abu Bakr said to him, “O cousin and son-in-law of Rasulullah salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, do you want to disunite the Muslims?”

‘Ali said, “There is no blame upon you [for what you say], O Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah.” after which he pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr.

Abu Bakr did not see Zubair ibn al ‘Awwam so he asked about him. After he was brought, Abu Bakr said, “O cousin and helper of the Messenger of Allah, do you want to be the cause of disunity of the Muslims?”

Zubair responded in a similar way, “There is no blame upon you [for what you say], O Khalifah of the Messenger of Allah.” Thus they both pledged allegiance to him.”

Al Hakim comments, “This hadith is sahih according to the standards of al Bukhari and Muslim but they have not reported it.”[1]

No doubt the hadith is sahih as stated by al Hakim. All the narrators are reliable.

‘Abdul A’la ibn ‘Abdul A’la: Reliable.[2]

Dawood ibn Abi Hind: Reliable and mutqin (good memory).

Abu Nadrah, al Mundhir ibn Malik. Tabi’i. Reliable.

This hadith is nothing less than a precious jewel according to the muhaddithin. Al Bayhaqi and Ibn ‘Asakir after quoting this hadith have reported the following from Ibn Khuzaimah:

أخبرنا أبو الحسن علي بن محمد بن علي الحافظ الإسفرائيني ثنا أبو علي الحسين بن علي الحافظ أنبأ أبو بكر محمد بن إسحاق بن خزيمة و إبراهيم بن أبي طالب قالا ثنا بندار بن بشار ثنا أبو هشام المخزومي ثنا وهيب ثم فذكره بنحوه قال أبو علي الحافظ سمعت محمد بن إسحاق بن خزيمة يقول جاءني مسلم بن الحجاج فسألني عن هذا الحديث فكتبته له في رقعة و قرأت عليه فقال هذا حديث يسوي بدنة فقلت يسوي بدنة بل هو يسوي بدرة

Abu al Hassan ‘Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al Hafiz al Asfarayini informed us―Abu ‘Ali Hussain ibn ‘Ali al Hafiz narrated to us―Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzaimah and Ibrahim ibn Abi Talib informed saying―Bindar ibn Bashar narrated to us―Abu Hisham al Makhzumi narrated to us―Wuhayb narrated to us … then he mentioned the same narration.

Abu ‘Ali al Hafiz reports that he heard Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzaimah saying, “Muslim ibn al Hajjaj came to me and asked me about this hadith. So I wrote it for him on a piece of paper and read it out to him. Muslim commented, ‘This hadith is worth a badanah (a large sacrificial cow/camel).’

I responded, ‘This hadith is not only equal to a badanah; instead, it is equal to a badarah (a bag that contains 1000 or 10 000 gold coins).’”[3]

A badarah is something that catches one’s eyesight. It is said: it is complete like the badr (full moon). It is also said: a bag containing 10 000 coins.[4]

‘Abdullah, the son of Imam Ahmed, narrated it in Kitab al Sunnah.[5] Hafiz Ibn Kathir narrated it and then said:

وهذا إسناد صحيح محفوظ و فيه فائدة جليلة و هي مبايعة علي بن أبي طالب إما في أول يوم أو في اليوم الثاني من الوفاة و هذا حق فإن علي بن أبي طالب لم يفارق الصديق في وقت من الأوقات و لم ينقطع في صلاة من الصلوات خلفه

This chain of narration is both authentic and correctly memorised. And the hadith imparts very important information: On the first or second day of the Nabi’s salla Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam demise, Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib pledged allegiance to Sayyidina Abu Bakr. And this is certainly true, for Sayyidina ‘Ali never distanced himself from the close company of Sayyidina Abu Bakr throughout his life and never missed performing a single salah behind him.^{^[6]}

Ibn ‘Asakir documented it as well.[7]

Next⇒ ‘Umar commanded six men to form the shura (committee) [al shura al sudasiyyah]

[1] Al Mustadrak vol. 3 pg. 77.

[2] Tahdhib al Tahdhib vol. 6 pg. 96.

[3] Sunan al Bayhaqi vol. 8 pg. 143; Tarikh Dimashq vol. 30 pg. 278.

[4] Lisan al ‘Arab.

[5] Kitab al Sunnah vol. 2 pg. 554 Hadith: 1292.

[6] Al Bidayah wa al Nihayah vol. 5 pg. 248.

[7] Tarikh Dimashq vol. 30 pg. 278.

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