Fath al-Rabbani

Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) delivered a sermon from the pulpit of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) during his caliphate, in which he also said: I have learned that some among you say, "If Umar passes away, I will pledge allegiance to so-and-so," and let no man be deceived by the thought that the pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) happened suddenly. Beware! Even though it did happen in that way, beware! Allah Almighty protected us from the evil of a sudden pledge of allegiance. Today, among you, there is not a single man like Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), for whom people would travel long distances to see. Remember, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was the best among us. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him), and those with them went to the house of the daughter of the Messenger, Sayyida Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her), and all the Ansar gathered at the Saqifah of Banu Sa'idah, and the Muhajirun set out towards Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). I said to them: O Abu Bakr! Let us go to our Ansari brothers. We set out with the intention of going to them. On the way, we met two righteous men who informed us of the actions of the people and asked: O Muhajirun! Where are you going? I said: We are going to our Ansari brothers. Both of them said: O group of Muhajirun! If you do not go to them and resolve your matter yourselves, there is no harm upon you. But I said: By Allah! We will certainly go to them. So we proceeded until we reached them at the Saqifah of Banu Sa'idah. The people were gathered there, and among them was Sayyiduna Sa'd bin 'Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him). I asked: Who is this? They said: This is Sa'd bin 'Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him). I asked: What has happened to him? The people informed me that he was ill. When we sat down, one of their speakers stood up and praised Allah as He deserves, then said: We are the helpers (Ansar) of Allah and the army of Islam, and O Muhajirun! You are only a small part of us. Some among you wish to lower us from our position and deprive us of leadership. When that man fell silent, I (Umar) also intended to say something in the presence of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). I had prepared a speech that I liked very much, but I hesitated before Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), for he was more patient and dignified than I. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me: Wait a while. I did not wish to displease him, for he was more knowledgeable and honorable than I. By Allah! Whatever I wanted to say in my prepared speech, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said it all spontaneously, until he finished. Then he said: O Ansar! The virtue and excellence you have mentioned, you are indeed worthy of it, but the Arabs consider only the Quraysh deserving of the honor and virtue of the caliphate. They are superior to all Arabs in lineage and residence. Then he took the hand of me (Umar) and Sayyiduna Abu Ubaydah bin Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: I am selecting these two men for you; appoint whichever of them you wish as your leader. Of all the things Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said, only this displeased me. By Allah! If I had been brought forward and my neck struck, and no sin had brought me to that position, that would have been more beloved to me than becoming the leader of any people while Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was present. One of the Ansar said: I am the man from whom a solution to this matter can be sought, and I am the one to whom this matter should be referred. So, O group of Quraysh! One leader will be from us and one from you. I asked Imam Malik: What is the meaning of "ANA JUZAYLUHA AL-MUHAKKAK WA 'UDHAYQUHA AL-MURAJJAB"? He said: Perhaps he meant to say, "I am the one who understands the matter and is aware of it." There was an uproar and voices were raised, until I feared there would be fighting. I said: O Abu Bakr! Extend your hand. He extended his hand, I pledged allegiance to him, and the Muhajirun also began to pledge allegiance to him. After that, the Ansar also pledged allegiance to him. In the midst of this, we rushed upon Sa'd bin 'Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him). One of them said: You have killed Sa'd. I said: May Allah kill Sa'd. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah! Of all the matters that came before us, we found none stronger than the pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). We feared that if we left the people and no pledge was made, the people might pledge allegiance to someone else. Then either we would have to pledge allegiance to someone we did not like, or we would oppose them and there would be discord. Whoever pledges allegiance to a leader without the consultation of the Muslims, his pledge is of no value, and likewise, the one in whose favor the pledge is made will also be invalid. Both the one who pledges and the one who receives the pledge are deserving of being killed. Imam Malik said: Ibn Shihab narrated to me from 'Urwah bin Zubair that the two men we met on the way were Sayyiduna 'Uwaymir bin Sa'idah (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Ma'n bin 'Adi (may Allah be pleased with him). Ibn Shihab said: Sa'id bin al-Musayyib narrated to me that the man who said, "I am the man from whom a solution to this matter can be sought, and I am the one to whom this matter should be referred," was Sayyiduna Hubab bin Mundhir (may Allah be pleased with him).