Ali was the first caliph
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
one of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Assalamalaikum,
First of all I wish you all Ramadan Mubarak and the blessings of this Holy
month. I was discussing the 4 great caliphs with a friend of mine. According
to him
what ever he had been taught was that the first 3 caliphs were (God
Forbid) not true caliphs and that
Hazrat Ali (Razi Allah Taal'a Anhu) was to be the first caliph, but the caliphate was taken away from him by the
first 3 of the 4 great caliphs. Could
you please elaborate on this? Because it is my belief that all the 4 great caliphs were indeed true caliphs as
opposed to by my friends belief. May Allah reward you and all the righteous
pious and God fearing people, and Allah
knows best.
W'Salam.
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no
person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
You are absolutely right that all of the first four
Khalifahs were rightly guided believers, and no one has taken the leadership by
force. It is nothing short of
mis-guidance to accuse any of these noble souls of taking the leadership by
force or deceit.
There is absolutely no evidence in the Glorious Quran that
the Messenger of Allah (saws) appointed anyone as his heir-apparent or
‘wasi’. If this appointment was so
pivotal to the establishment of Islam,
Allah Subhanah would have revealed it in the Holy Quran, just as He,
in His Perfect Wisdom and Knowledge,
revealed everything else for our guidance. It is not imaginable that the All Wise, All Knowing would forget
anything and leave us with hints and innuendoes to decipher ourselves; and then
hold us accountable on the Day of Judgement!
Those who claim this, actually imply that our Lord and Creator is Unjust
and a Tyrant! In their prejudice and
ignorance, they have just not recognized Allah!
The Messenger of Allah (saws) did not appoint an
heir-apparent or ‘wasi’; neither Abu Bakr, neither Umar, neither Uthman, nor
Ali ibn Abi Taalib. All the companions
had been given such a thorough training, and their level of piety and
God-consciousness was developed under the guidance of the Messenger of Allah
(saws) to a standard that was never witnessed by mankind. The office of Prophethood is not like a
kingdom of this world, where the king must name a crown-prince to rule when he
dies!
Many years after the death of the Prophet (saws) and
Hadrat Ali (r.a.), some unscrupulous and power-hungry people, to justify their own power-base and create
confusion in the Islamic Ummah created this whole appointment system of ‘wasi’
and succeeded in breaking the One Ummah of Islam into various sects and creeds
according to their own whims and fancies!
These sects base their beliefs on this one hadith of
Rasool-Allah.
When Allah's Messenger (saws) alighted at the
pool of Khumm, he took Ali by the hand and asked those present, "Do you
not know that I am closer to the believers than they themselves?" They
replied, "Certainly." He then
asked, "Do you not know that I am nearer to every believer than he
himself?" They replied, "Certainly." He then said, " O Allah, he whose ‘maula’ I am, has Ali as
his ‘maula’. O Allah, be friendly to those who are friendly to him and hostile
to those who are hostile to him."
Even if we are to believe that the Messenger of Allah
(saws) said the above words, it is absolutely incorrect to claim that from this
one episode, that the Prophet (saws) appointed Hadrat Ali (r.a.) as his
heir-apparent. It is absolutely
incorrect to claim that 70,000 from amongst the believers and companions of the
Prophet (saws) gave allegiance to Hadrat Ali (r.a.) on this occasion as the
appointed heir-apparent, and no sooner than the Prophet (saws) died, they ALL
turned against this one order and commandment of the Messenger of Allah (saws)
and held on to all the other commandments!
It is inconceivable to imagine that from amongst the 70,000 believers
and companions, not even a small percentage raised a voice! And we must remember that these believers
and companions were the same, who on one command of Allah and His Messenger
(saws), were ready to sacrifice all they had;
their property, their lives,
their family; everything… for
the Cause of Allah and His Messenger (saws).
It is absolutely inconceivable that all of them became renegade the
moment the Prophet (saws) breathed his last!
The Messenger of Allah (saws) said several similar
statements to honor the other close companions, but that did not make all of
them his heir-apparent! These sects
just disregard all the other hadiths and take this one hadith and form all
their beliefs from it!
Many years after the death of the Prophet (saws) and
Hadrat Ali (r.a.), these unscrupulous power-hungry people concocted stories of
enmity between Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali!
Just imagine these facts of history and decide for
yourself, if indeed there was any enmity between these noble companions of the
Messenger of Allah (saws).
It is well known that Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Taalib (r.a.)
married Hadrat Fatima bint Mohamed Rasool Allah (r.a.) and had two sons from
this marriage; Imam Hassan ibn Ali (r.a.) and Imam Hussain ibn Ali (r.a.).
After the death of Hadrat Fatema bint Mohamed Rasool Allah
(r.a.), Hadrat Ali (r.a.) married
several times and had in excess of 20 children, including 11 daughters. And in accordance of Islamic law, he had no
more than four wives at any one time.
At the time of his death, it is recorded that he had four wives and
nineteen slave girls.
Hadrat Ali (r.a.) married a woman from the tribe of Banu
Kilaab and her name was Muhaiyya bint Imr-ul-Qais. The children from this marriage were:
Abbas al Akbar bin Ali (Abbas Alamdar).
Uthman bin Ali.
Jaafar bin Ali.
Abdulla bin Ali.
Hadrat Ali (r.a.) later married Laila bin Masood
Nashaliyyah and the children from this marriage were:
Abu Bakr bin
Ali.
Obaidullah bin Ali.
Hadrat Ali (r.a.) also married a woman from the tribe of
Banu Taglab and the children from this marriage were twins: a boy and a girl
named:
Umar bin Ali
Ruqqayyah bint Ali
Hadrat Ali (r.a.) later married Asma bint Umais, who
incidentally was the widow of Abu Bakr as Siddiq (r.a.).
I just want to point out something here:
The above is all recorded history, but the impression our clergy give is that
Hadrat Ali (r.a.) only married Hadrat Fatema (r.a.). They mention Imam Hasan bin Ali and Imam Hussain bin Ali, but
never talk about his other children, especially the ones named Abu Bakr bin
Ali, Umar bin Ali and Uthman bin
Ali.
If what some sects of Islam say about the relationship
between Hadrat Ali (r.a.) and Abu Bakr as Siddiq, Umar Al Khattab and Uthman bin Affan is true, then why would Hadrat Ali (r.a.) keep the
names of his sons Abu Bakr, Umar and
Uthman? Hadart Ali (r.a.) only
married and fathered these children after the death of the Messenger of Allah
(saws). If Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman were indeed enemies of Hadrat Ali
(r.a.), as some people would have us
believe, why would Hadrat Ali (r.a.) name his children after
their names?
Some people have tried to explain this by saying that
Hadrat Ali (r.a.) kept these names, despite his enmity with Abu Bakr, Umar,
Uthman, because of political reasons!
That is absolutely absurd!
Those who claim this, actually dishonor and degrade the high position
and the noble character of Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Taalib (r.a.), and have just not
recognized the ‘maqaam’ of Hadrat Ali (r.a.).
By explaining that Hadrat Ali (r.a.) kept these names for political
reasons, they actually accuse Hadrat Ali (r.a.) of hypocrisy…. And I swear by
Allah, whoever claims thus are liars!! Hadrat
Ali’s (r.a.) bravery, courage, boldness, daring, heroism and fearlessness have
been praised by the Messenger of Allah (saws) himself, and has been
appropriately recorded in Islamic history.
The truth of the matter is that there was no enmity between all these
noble companions of the Messenger of Allah (saws). This enmity was manufactured and invented by unscrupulous and
venal people for their own political gains, years after the death of these
noble and close ‘sahabees’ of the Messenger of Allah (saws)! And by doing so, they succeeded in
breaking up Islam into various sects, and made each into a small kingdom of its
own! May Allah take full retribution
with the people who have played this mischief and caused chaos in the One
‘ummah’ of Islam.
The truth, in light of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of
the Messenger of Allah (saws), is that the Messenger of Allah (saws) did not
appoint anyone as his heir apparent or ‘wasi’! The believers were trained enough to choose an ‘Ameer’ or
‘Khalifa’ between themselves in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah. The truth is that there was no enmity
between the companions of the Messenger of Allah (saws), Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman
and Ali, and they all respected and loved each other in the Islamic Brotherhood
that was created by Allah and His Messenger (saws).
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
