Question 260:  Was Bay’ah (allegiance) performed by Imam Ali (as) or was it not taken? Did the caliphate have Imam Ali’s (as) silent approval?

Answer 260: When Imam Ali (as) has been carrying the funeral of the holy Prophet (PBUH) such as washing and enshrouding -in accordance with the Will of the Prophet (s)- the event of Saqifah happened.

According to some narrations, Imam Ali (as) abstained from supporting and giving the bay’ah to Abu Bakr until after Lady Fatima (sa) passed away.[1] When the Imam (as) saw people turned their face away from him (as), he was compelled to give bay’ah to him.

Why didn’t Imam Ali fight is a typical Sunni argument? Some Shia narrations indicate that if Imam Ali had 40 men he would have fought, but his much smaller group of followers meant that if Imam Ali had fought for the leadership, the nascent and young Muslim state would have been ripped into shreds, and in all honesty, Islam probably wouldn’t exist today.

Assuming Imam Ali did give bayah, this does not mean to say he considered Abu Bakr’s rule legitimate. Nay, he only paid allegiance for the greater good, and that was to reconcile the nation. His views remained the same, and are expressed most famously in Khutbatul Shaqshaqiyya, delivered during his reign as caliph.

What was of dire importance to Imam Ali (as) and the other imams, to the extent that they sacrificed everything, even their lives for it, was the preservation of Islam. It was for the preservation of Islam that Imam Ali (as) would cooperate with the khalifahs and give them the best consultation he could, whenever needed.

The reason being that the imam didn’t want anything for himself; anything he wanted was for Islam’s flourishing and since, in any case, Abu Bakr and Umar were the heads of the Islamic state then, and opposing them, in that sensitive and pivotal time in which Islam was expanding its boundaries and there were conquests, and Islam had many adversaries, and the Roman and Persian empires were great threats, Imam Ali (as), through his deep insight, took the right stances, not making Islam any more vulnerable than it already was, and in this way, putting an end to the dreams of the enemies of Islam taking advantage of the circumstances.

What was asserted in the question about Imam Ali (as) accepting the caliphate of the khalifahs, isn’t correct, because on top of all the objections and oppositions he had before the martyrdom of Lady Zahra (as), in the following years, especially during his own rule, he would strongly criticize their actions and would question their caliphate itself. The third sermon of the Nahjul-Balaghah, known as the sermon of Shiqshiqiyyah, is clear evidence of this claim

In this sermon, the imam (as) says: “…Then I began to think whether I should assault or endure calmly the blinding darkness of tribulations…”

We must say that those taking care of the issue of caliphate acted so fast that they didn’t even wait for the prophet to be buried so that they could at least consult with the Harun of the Muslim nation (meaning Imam Ali (as)), and as was said, considering the pressure and propaganda that was dominant at the time and the danger of conflict breaking out between two of the Ansar’s tribes, they rushed in doing bey’ah with Abu Bakr without any further ado, although some of them regretted their bey’ah later, when Lady Fatimah (as) said some things to them and asked them to support Ali (as); they said: If you had told us these things earlier, we would have never preferred anyone over Ali (as)![2]

Did they give Imam Ali (as) a chance to voice his opinion? The only way such a thing seems possible is if he had abandoned the prophet’s body like everyone else and tried to get his right too! This is something that the imam was avoiding, or else he could have done that too. As he himself says: “We have a right that if we are given, then all the better, and if we are denied it, we prefer to, as the second person (and not the caliph), to ride the back of the camel, no matter how long that takes.”[3]

In addition to all of this, the Shia believe that imamate and leadership of the Muslim nation can only be determined by divine decree, therefore, considering all of the clear injunctions by the prophet about Imam Ali (as) being his successor, there remains no room for any of these theories and conjectures, because when there is a nass or legal injunction, all ijtihad and personal opinions are invalid.

For further information in this regards, please refer to the following answers:

Index: Shia consider Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman as Hypocrite, Q 265.

[1] . Tabari, Tarikh al-Umam wal Moluk, Vol. 2m Pg. 448, Istiqamat publication, Cairo.

[2] Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 30, pg. 124, Al-Wafa’ Publications, Beirut, 1404 (AH).

[3] Nahjul-Balaghah, pg. 472, Dar al-Hijrah Publications, Qom.