وَمِنۡ كَلَامٍ لَهُ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ
From one of his statements
فِي مَعۡنَى الۡأَنۡصَارِ
On the meaning of the term Anṣār
قَالُوا: لَمَّا انۡتَهَتۡ إِلَى أَمِيرِ الۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ أَنۡبَاءُ السَّقِيفَةِ بَعۡدَ وَفَاةِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيۡهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ، قَالَ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ: مَا قَالَتِ الۡأَنۡصَارُ؟
When, after the death of the Prophet, news reached Amīr al-Muʾminīn about the happening in Saqīfah of Banū Sāʿidah, [1] he enquired what the Anṣār said.
قَالُوا: قَالَتۡ: مِنَّا أَمِيرٌ وَمِنۡكُمۡ أَمِيرٌ.
People said that they were asking for one chief from among them and one from the others.
قَالَ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ: فَهَلَّا احۡتَجَجۡتُمۡ عَلَيۡهِمۡ بِأَنَّ رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيۡهِ وَآلِهِ وَصَّى بِأَنۡ يُحۡسَنَ إِلَى مُحۡسِنِهِمۡ، وَيُتَجَاوَزَ عَنۡ مُسِيئِهِمۡ؟
Amīr al-Muʾminīn said: “Why did you not argue against them (the Anṣār) that the Prophet had left his will that whoever is good among the Anṣār should be treated well, and whoever is bad he should be forgiven?”
قَالُوا: وَمَا فِي هَذَا مِنَ الۡحُجَّةِ عَلَيۡهِمۡ؟
People said: “What is there against them in it?”
فَقَالَ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ: لَوْ كَانَتِ [في بعض النسخ: كَانَ] الْإِمَارَةُ [في بعض النسخ: الْإِمَامَةُ] فِيهِمْ لَمْ تَكُنِ الْوَصِيَّةُ بِهِمْ. ثُمَّ قَالَ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ: فَمَاذَا قَالَتْ قُرَيْشٌ؟
Amīr al-Muʾminīn said: “If the Government was for them, there should have been no will in their favour.” Then he said: “What did the Quraysh plead?”
قَالُوا: احۡتَجَّتۡ بِأَنَّهَا شَجَرَةُ الرَّسُولِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيۡهِ وَآلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ.
People said: “They argued that they belong to the lineal tree of the Prophet.”
فَقَالَ عَلَيۡهِ السَّلَامُ: احۡتَجُّوا بِالشَّجَرَةِ، وَأَضَاعُوا الثَّمَرَةَ.
Then Amīr al-Muʾminīn said: “They argued with the tree but spoiled the fruits.”
Notes:
[1] From what happened in the Saqīfah of Banū Sāʿidah, it appears that the greatest argument of the Muhājirūn against the Anṣār, and the basis of the former’s success, was this very point that since they were the kith and kin of the Prophet, no one else could deserve the Caliphate. On this very ground, the big crowd of Anṣār became ready to lay down their weapons before three Muhājirūn, and the latter succeeded in winning the Caliphate by presenting their distinction of descent. Thus, in connection with the events of Saqīfah, aṭ-Ṭabarī writes that when the Anṣār assembled in Saqīfah of Banū Sāʿidah to swear allegiance on the hand of Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, somehow Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ also got the hint and reached there. ʿUmar had thought out something for this occasion, and he rose to speak, but Abū Bakr stopped him, and he himself stood up. After praise of Allāh, and the immigration of the Muhājirūn and their precedence in Islām, he said:
They are those who were the first to worship Allāh on earth and the first to believe in Allāh and His Messenger. They are the Prophet’s friends and his kith and kin. These, alone therefore, most deserve the Caliphate. Whoever clashes with them commits excess. (aṭ-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 457)
When Abū Bakr finished his speech, al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir stood up and, turning to the Anṣār, said: “O group of Anṣār! Do not give your reins in the hands of others. The populace is under your care. You are men of honour, wealth, tribes, and gathering. If the Muhājirūn have precedence over you in some matters, you too have precedence over them in other matters. You gave them refuge in your houses. You are the fighting arm of Islām. With your help Islām stood on its own feet. In your cities, prayer of Allāh was established with freedom. Save yourselves from division and dispersion, and stick to your right unitedly. If the Muhājirūn do not concede to your right, tell them: ‘There should be one chief from us and one from you.’”
No sooner al-Ḥubāb sat down after saying this then ʿUmar rose and spoke thus:
This can’t be that there be two rulers at one time. By Allāh, the Arabs will never agree to have you as the head of the state, since the Prophet was not from amongst you. Certainly, the Arabs will not care the least objection in that the Caliphate is allowed to one in whose house Prophethood rests, so that the ruler should also be from the same house. For those who dissent, clear arguments can be put forth. Whoever comes in conflict with us in the matter of the authority and rulership of Muḥammad (ṣ) he is leaning towards wrong, is a sinner, and is falling into destruction. (aṭ-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 457)
After ʿUmar, al-Ḥubāb again stood up and said to the Anṣār, “Look, stick to your point, and do not pay heed to the views of this man or his supporters. They want to trample your right. If they do not consent, turn him and them out of your cities and appropriate the Caliphate. Who else than you can deserve it more?”
When al-Ḥubāb finished, ʿUmar scolded him. There was use of bad words from that side also, and the position began to worsen. On seeing this Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrāh spoke with the intention of cooling down Anṣār and to win them over to his side and said : “O Anṣār! You are the people who supported us and helped us in every manner. Do not now change your ways and do not give up your behaviour.”
But the Anṣār refused to change their mind. They were prepared to swear allegiance to Saʿd, and people just wanted to approach him when a man of Saʿd’s tribe, Bashīr ibn ʿAmr al-Khazrajī, stood up and said: No doubt we came forward for jihād, and gave support to the religion, but our aim in doing thus was to please Allāh and to obey His Prophet. It does not behoove us to claim superiority and create trouble in the matter of the caliphate. Muḥammad (ṣ) was from Quraysh and they have a greater right for it, and are more appropriate for it.
As soon as Bashīr uttered these words, division occurred among the Anṣār, and this was his aim, because he could not see a man of his own tribe rising so high. The Muhājirūn took the best advantage of this division among the Anṣār, and ʿUmar and Abū ʿUbaydah decided to swear allegiance to Abū Bakr. They had just got forward for the act when Bashīr first of all put his hand on that of Abū Bakr; and after that ʿUmar and Abū ʿUbaydah swore the allegiance. Then the people of Bashīr’s tribe came and swore allegiance, and trampled Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah under their feet.
During this time, Amīr al-Muʾminīn was occupied in the funeral bath and burial of the Prophet. When afterwards he heard about the assemblage at the Saqīfah and he came to know that the Muhājirūn had won the score over Anṣār by pleading themselves to be from the tribe of the Prophet, he uttered the fine sentence that: they argued on the lineal tree being one, but spoiled its fruits, who are the members of his family. That is, if Muhājirūn’s claim was acceded for being from the lineal tree of the Prophet, how can those who are the fruits of this tree be ignored? It is strange that Abū Bakr, who connects with the Prophet in the seventh generation above, and ʿUmar, who connects with him in the ninth generation above, may be held of the tribe and family of the Prophet, and he who was his first cousin, he is refused the status of a brother.
[1] From what happened in the Saqīfah of Banū Sāʿidah, it appears that the greatest argument of the Muhājirūn against the Anṣār, and the basis of the former’s success, was this very point that since they were the kith and kin of the Prophet, no one else could deserve the Caliphate. On this very ground, the big crowd of Anṣār became ready to lay down their weapons before three Muhājirūn, and the latter succeeded in winning the Caliphate by presenting their distinction of descent. Thus, in connection with the events of Saqīfah, aṭ-Ṭabarī writes that when the Anṣār assembled in Saqīfah of Banū Sāʿidah to swear allegiance on the hand of Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, somehow Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and Abū ʿUbaydah ibn al-Jarrāḥ also got the hint and reached there. ʿUmar had thought out something for this occasion, and he rose to speak, but Abū Bakr stopped him, and he himself stood up. After praise of Allāh, and the immigration of the Muhājirūn and their precedence in Islām, he said:
They are those who were the first to worship Allāh on earth and the first to believe in Allāh and His Messenger. They are the Prophet’s friends and his kith and kin. These, alone therefore, most deserve the Caliphate. Whoever clashes with them commits excess. (aṭ-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 457)
When Abū Bakr finished his speech, al-Ḥubāb ibn al-Mundhir stood up and, turning to the Anṣār, said: “O group of Anṣār! Do not give your reins in the hands of others. The populace is under your care. You are men of honour, wealth, tribes, and gathering. If the Muhājirūn have precedence over you in some matters, you too have precedence over them in other matters. You gave them refuge in your houses. You are the fighting arm of Islām. With your help Islām stood on its own feet. In your cities, prayer of Allāh was established with freedom. Save yourselves from division and dispersion, and stick to your right unitedly. If the Muhājirūn do not concede to your right, tell them: ‘There should be one chief from us and one from you.’”
No sooner al-Ḥubāb sat down after saying this then ʿUmar rose and spoke thus:
This can’t be that there be two rulers at one time. By Allāh, the Arabs will never agree to have you as the head of the state, since the Prophet was not from amongst you. Certainly, the Arabs will not care the least objection in that the Caliphate is allowed to one in whose house Prophethood rests, so that the ruler should also be from the same house. For those who dissent, clear arguments can be put forth. Whoever comes in conflict with us in the matter of the authority and rulership of Muḥammad (ṣ) he is leaning towards wrong, is a sinner, and is falling into destruction. (aṭ-Ṭabarī, vol. 2, p. 457)
After ʿUmar, al-Ḥubāb again stood up and said to the Anṣār, “Look, stick to your point, and do not pay heed to the views of this man or his supporters. They want to trample your right. If they do not consent, turn him and them out of your cities and appropriate the Caliphate. Who else than you can deserve it more?”
When al-Ḥubāb finished, ʿUmar scolded him. There was use of bad words from that side also, and the position began to worsen. On seeing this Abu ‘Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrāh spoke with the intention of cooling down Anṣār and to win them over to his side and said : “O Anṣār! You are the people who supported us and helped us in every manner. Do not now change your ways and do not give up your behaviour.”
But the Anṣār refused to change their mind. They were prepared to swear allegiance to Saʿd, and people just wanted to approach him when a man of Saʿd’s tribe, Bashīr ibn ʿAmr al-Khazrajī, stood up and said: No doubt we came forward for jihād, and gave support to the religion, but our aim in doing thus was to please Allāh and to obey His Prophet. It does not behoove us to claim superiority and create trouble in the matter of the caliphate. Muḥammad (ṣ) was from Quraysh and they have a greater right for it, and are more appropriate for it.
As soon as Bashīr uttered these words, division occurred among the Anṣār, and this was his aim, because he could not see a man of his own tribe rising so high. The Muhājirūn took the best advantage of this division among the Anṣār, and ʿUmar and Abū ʿUbaydah decided to swear allegiance to Abū Bakr. They had just got forward for the act when Bashīr first of all put his hand on that of Abū Bakr; and after that ʿUmar and Abū ʿUbaydah swore the allegiance. Then the people of Bashīr’s tribe came and swore allegiance, and trampled Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah under their feet.
During this time, Amīr al-Muʾminīn was occupied in the funeral bath and burial of the Prophet. When afterwards he heard about the assemblage at the Saqīfah and he came to know that the Muhājirūn had won the score over Anṣār by pleading themselves to be from the tribe of the Prophet, he uttered the fine sentence that: they argued on the lineal tree being one, but spoiled its fruits, who are the members of his family. That is, if Muhājirūn’s claim was acceded for being from the lineal tree of the Prophet, how can those who are the fruits of this tree be ignored? It is strange that Abū Bakr, who connects with the Prophet in the seventh generation above, and ʿUmar, who connects with him in the ninth generation above, may be held of the tribe and family of the Prophet, and he who was his first cousin, he is refused the status of a brother.
