Does Surah An-Naml, Ayah 62, Prove That Ali (RA) Was the Immediate Caliph?Authored by: Hafiz Muhammad Anwar Zahid (May Allah protect him)
❖ No One Except a Hypocrite Can Bear Hatred Towards Ali (RA) Until the Day of Judgment
Hazrat Imran bin Husayn narrates:
I was sitting in the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and Ali (RA) was seated beside him. Suddenly, the Noble Prophet ﷺ recited the following verse:
"Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate one when he calls upon Him and removes evil and makes you inheritors of the earth?"
Upon hearing this, Ali’s (RA) shoulder began to tremble. The Noble Prophet ﷺ placed his hand on Ali’s (RA) shoulder and said:
“O Ali, no one can love you except a believer, and no one can harbor hatred against you except a hypocrite.”
[Mizan al-I'tidal: 47/7; al-Khatib in al-Tarikh: 626/14; Sharh al-Sunnah by al-Baghawi: 114/14; Ibn Abi Shaybah in his Musannaf: 57/12 from another chain]
❖ No Connection Between This Verse and Ali (RA) Being the Caliph
Ali (RA) trembling after hearing this verse and the Prophet’s ﷺ statement about him holds no connection with establishing any caliphate claim from this verse. In fact, this entire narration comes from a questionable narrator:
✿ The Storyteller: Nafi‘ bin al-Harith al-Khu‘i al-Kufi al-A‘ma
His kunyah was Abu Dawood, and he was a storyteller by nature.
- Al-‘Uqayli said: He was an extremist Rafidi (Shiite).
- Al-Bukhari said: There are objections raised by scholars regarding him.
- Yahya ibn Ma‘in stated: He is nothing.
- Al-Nasa’i said: He is rejected (matruk).
He has also been referred to as Abu Dawood al-A‘ma and Abu Dawood al-Sibā‘ī. Some individuals deceptively referred to him as Nafi‘ bin Abi Nafi‘ to make him seem like a different person.
Qatadah ibn Da‘amah, his contemporary, stated:
"He is a liar."
- Al-Daraqutni said: He is rejected in Hadith (matruk al-hadith).
- Abu Zur‘ah: He is nothing.
- Ibn Hibban: It is not permissible to narrate from Abu Dawood at all.
❖ Fabricated Narrations and Timeline Discrepancies
Hammam said:
This Abu Dawood once came to Basrah and started narrating Ahadith from Zayd ibn Arqam and al-Bara’ (RA). When we informed Qatadah, he replied:
“He is lying. Before the plague of Jarf (118 AH), he was a beggar roaming the streets. And now he’s a Muhaddith?”
[Mizan al-I'tidal: Vol. 4, Pg. 272]
Abu Dawood would narrate from:
- Anas (RA)
- Zayd ibn Arqam (RA)
- al-Bara’ ibn ‘Azib (RA)
- Imran bin Husayn (RA)
- Ibn Abbas (RA)
These claims are highly suspicious, because:
- Imran bin Husayn (RA) passed away in 52 AH in Basrah.
- Anas bin Malik (RA) died in 93 AH.
- Al-Bara’ passed in 72 AH in Kufa.
- Zayd ibn Arqam in 68 AH in Madinah.
- Ibn Abbas (RA) passed in 68 AH in Ta’if.
Yet this narrator claims to have narrated from all of them!
❖ False Claims of Seeing Badr Companions
Imam Muslim reports from Hammam:
Abu Dawood claimed to have seen eighteen companions of Badr.
Qatadah replied:
Even Hasan al-Basri and Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib, who were older and more learned than him, did not narrate Hadiths from any Badr companions—except for Sa‘id, who narrated only one Hadith from Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas (RA).
[Introduction to Sahih Muslim, Vol. 1, Pg. 16]
✿ Ḥārith bin Ḥuṣayrah al-Azdī: The Second Narrator
This narration was transmitted from Abu Dawood through Ḥārith bin Ḥuṣayrah al-Azdī.
- Al-Nasa’i said: He is trustworthy.
- Yahya ibn Ma‘in said: Though reliable, he was a follower of the wooden beam (khushbi), upon which Zayd ibn Ali ibn Husayn was hanged.
- Abu Ahmad al-Zubayri: He belonged to the Raj‘i sect.
- Abu Hatim al-Razi: Had Sufyan al-Thawri not narrated from him, people would have abandoned his narrations.
[Mizan al-I'tidal: Vol. 1, Pg. 432] - Al-Daraqutni: He was an extremist Shiite.
- Ibn Hajar: Truthful, but made mistakes and accused of Rafdh (Shiism).
[Taqreeb: Pg. 59]
❖ Shiite Affiliation and Suspicious Background
‘Abd al-Husayn Sharaf al-Din al-Musawi, a prominent Shiite leader in Iraq, wrote in his book:
- Abu Hatim mentioned that Ḥārith was a Shiite and a freed slave.
- Abu Ahmad al-Zubayri said: He believed in Raj‘ah (return of the dead).
- Ibn ‘Adiyy: Despite his weakness, his narrations were written down. He was part of the fire-igniting Shiites of Kufa.
Dhanij said:
I asked Jarir whether he had seen Ḥārith bin Ḥuṣayrah. He replied:
“Yes, I have seen him. He was a very old man, often silent, but insistent on a particular significant matter.”
- Yahya ibn Ma‘in and al-Nasa’i said: He is trustworthy but a Khushbi (supporter of the wooden pole martyr Zayd).
He was considered a Shiite Sheikh and a trusted narrator among them.
(All these points are taken from Mizan al-I‘tidal)
❖ A Fabricated Claim via Shiite Narrators
Al-Nasa’i narrated through ‘Abbad ibn Ya‘qub, from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd al-Malik al-Mas‘udi, who narrated through Ḥārith bin Ḥuṣayrah, from Zayd ibn Wahb that:
"I heard Ali (RA) saying: I am the servant of Allah and the brother of His Messenger."
[al-Murāja‘āt: Pg. 78]
Conclusion:This entire narration and its interpretation regarding Surah An-Naml, verse 62, have no credible basis to establish Ali (RA)’s immediate caliphate. The narrators involved are either discredited, Shiite propagandists, or proven fabricators. Hence, no Shar‘i ruling or belief can be derived from such material.
