3. The words of the Prophet (g)

as narrated in the hadith of Safeenah: "Caliphate in the footsteps of the Prophet will last for

'Ali ibn Abi Tklib 31 1 thirty years, then Allah (s) will grant power to whomever He wills."13 This hadith is indicative of the validity of 'Ali's caliphate, as his caliphate brought to a close the thirty year period of caliphate in the footsteps of the Prophet (gg that are mentioned in this hadith, and this was the basis of the scholars' opinions.14 A h a d ibn Hanbal said: "The hadith of Safeenah about the caliphate. is sound, and I based my opinion about the caliphate on it."15 Abdullah ibn &mad said: "I said to my father: 'Some people are saying that he ('Ali) was not a caliph.' He said: 'This is a bad and compt view.' He said: 'The Companions of the Messenger of Allah (g) used to address him as Amir al-Mu'mineen; should we disbelieve them? He led people on hajj, cut off the hand of the thief and stoned the adulterer; could the one who did that be anything other than a caliph?'"'6 Ibn Taymiyah said concerning the hadith of Safeenah: "It is a well-known hadith that was narrated by Hammiid ibn Salamah, 'Abdul-W&th ibn Sa'eed and al-'Awwh ibn Hawshab from Sa'eed ibn Jamhh from Safeenah, the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (g). It was narrated by the authors of asSunan such as Abu Diiwood and others, and Imam m a d and others based their views on it when affnming the caliphate of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs. A b a d regarded it as sound and quoted it as evidence against those who were not certain about the caliphate of 'Ali (&) because the people were divided concerning him. m a d said: 'Whoever does not regard 'Ali (&) as the fourth caliph is more misguided than his family's donkey,' and he forbade accepting such a person's proposal of ~naniage."'~ The commentator of at-Ghhriwiyyah said: "And we affirm 'Ali as caliph after 'Uthmh (may Allah be pleased with them both).

31 2 The oath of allegiance to 'Ali, his characteristics & his way of life When 'Uthmin (&>) was murdered, and the people swore allegiance to 'Ali (&), he became a true leader to whom obedience became obligatory. He was the caliph of his time, following in the footsteps of prophetic leadership, as indicated by the hadith of Safeenah....'"' 4. It was narrated that 'Ikrimah said: "Ibn 'Abbh said to me and his son 'Ali: 'Go to Abu Sa'eed, and listen to him.' So we went and found him working in a garden. He took his garment and wrapped it around himself, then he began talking to us until he mentioned the building of the mosque. He said: 'We were canying bricks one at a time, and 'Ammk was canying bricks two at a time. The Prophet (g) .- started removing dust from him and saying: "Poor 'Ammzr! He will be killed by a group that is in the wrong. He will call them to paradise, and they will call him to hell." 'Ammir said: "I seek refuge with Allah (s) from tribulation."'" '' According to a report narrated by Muslim from Abu Sa'eed, he said to 'Ammir, when be started digging the ditch and he stxted wiping his head: "~oo?'son of Sumayyah, you will be killed by a group that is in the wrong."z1 Ihn Taymiyah said, after quoting the Prophet's words that 'Ammir would be killed by a group that is in the wrong: "This is indicative of the validity of 'Ali's leadership and the obligation of obeying him, and that the one who called people to obey him was calling people to paradise, and the one who called people to fight him was calling them to hellfire, regardless of whether his view was based on misinterpretation or he was a transgressor who had no such justification. This is the more correct of the two opinions held by our companions, and it is the view that those who fought 'Ali (4) were in the wrong. This is the view of the leading jurists, who derived many rulings from that with regard to fighting

'Ali ibn Abi Trilib rebels who have their own justification based on some misinterpretation. "When Y a y a ibn Ma'een objected Lo ash-ShZa'i quoting as evidence events from the life of 'Ali with regard to formulating rulings on fighting rebels who find justification in some misinterpretation, he said: 'Is he regarding both Talhah and azZubayr as wrongdoers?' Imam Ahmad responded by saying: 'Woe to you! What else could he do with regard to this issue?' - meaning that if he did not derive rulings on the basis of 'Ali's handling of events that occurred during his caliphate, he would not have any guidelines from the Rightly Guided Caliphs with regard to fighting rebels. Neither Ahmad nor any of the Sunni imams ever hesitated with regard to that."22 If someone were to say that the killing of 'Ammir took place at %ffeen when he was fighting alongside 'Ali (&), and those who killed him were with MuZ2wiyah, on whose side there was a group of the Companions, so how could that hadith refer to them as people who were calling to hellfire? The answer is that they thought that they were calling to paradise and they based their argument on what they thought was correct evidence, so there is no blame on them for following what they thought was correct. What is meant by calling to paradise is calling to that which leads to it, which is obeying the ruler. Thus 'Ammgr was calling them to obey 'Ali (&), who was the leader to whom obedience was obligatory at that time, whereas they were calling to something other than that, because of what appeared to them to be the right thing to do.23 Al-Nawawi said, after quoting the Prophet's words, "Poor son of Sumayyah, you will he killed by a group that is in the wrong":z4 "The scholars said: Tnis hadith is clear evidence that 'Mi (&) was in the right, and the other group was in the wrong,

31 4 The oath of allegiance to 'Ali, his characteristics & his way of life but they thought they were doing the right thing, so there is no blame on them for that. This is clearly a miracle of the Messenger of Allah @) for several reasons, including the fact that it foretold that '&& would be slain and that Muslims would kill him and they would be in the wrong, and that the Companions would fight one another and they would be two groups, one of which would be transgressing and the other group. All of that came to pass as clear as day. May Allah send blessings and peace upon His Messenger, who did not speak on the basis of whims and desires, rather it was a revelation that was revealed.""