Bakrism — Who Was Appointed As The Caliph After The Prophet?
﷽
ٱللَّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَجِّلْ فَرَجَهُمْ وَٱلْعَنْ أَعْدَاءَهُم
In today's topic we shall see who was appointed as the Caliph after the Prophet, may peace be upon him and his family. Firstly, the question is if there even is a Caliph that will be appointed after the Prophet. A common narrative pushed by many Bakris is that the Prophet never intended to appoint anyone after him as he felt that it should be left up to the Muslim Ummah. If we look at this logically, it doesn't make sense. Appointing a successor is one of the most important things a Prophet should do. In the Qur'an, every Prophet left a successor after him. As we have a lot of free will, we will naturally begin to deviate from the path of God. God sends us prophets to keep us in check, but there are periods in which a Prophet is not present, does it not make logical sense that the Prophet will leave successors for his nation so that the people remain guided after his passing? However, what is logic compared to the words of God and his prophet? Let us take a look at the Qur'an and Hadith:
وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ
“God promised those of you who believe and act righteously that He will appoint for them successors on the earth, just as He appointed successors for those before them.”[Sura No. 24, An-Nur, verse 55]
قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى جَاعِلٌۭ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةًۭ ۖ
"...Your lord said to the angels, 'Indeed I will place in the earth a Khalifah (Caliph)'..."
[Sura No. 2, Al-Baqarah, verse 30]
حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدَانُ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ، عَنْ يُونُسَ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ، أَخْبَرَنِي أَبُو سَلَمَةَ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ أَبَا هُرَيْرَة ـ رضى الله عنه ـ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " مَنْ أَطَاعَنِي فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ، وَمَنْ عَصَانِي فَقَدْ عَصَى اللَّهَ، وَمَنْ أَطَاعَ أَمِيرِي فَقَدْ أَطَاعَنِي، وَمَنْ عَصَى أَمِيرِي فَقَدْ عَصَانِي ".Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Whoever obeys me, obeys Allah, and whoever disobeys me, disobeys Allah, and whoever obeys the ruler I appoint, obeys me, and whoever disobeys him, disobeys me."
We see from the Qur'an and the Hadith that there will be a ruler after the Prophet. The word used in the Qur'an is Caliph, and the word used in the ahadith is "Ameer" or Ruler. Regarding this Ameer/Amir, it is very important to know who he is and to pay allegiance to him, we read:
" "مَنْ خَلَعَ يَدًا مِنْ طَاعَةٍ لَقِيَ اللَّهَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ لاَ حُجَّةَ لَهُ وَمَنْ مَاتَ وَلَيْسَ فِي عُنُقِهِ بَيْعَةٌ مَاتَ مِيتَةً جَاهِلِيَّةً
"One who withdraws his band from obedience (to the Amir) will find no argument (in his defence) when he stands before Allah on the Day of Judgment, and one who dies without having bound himself by an oath of allegiance (to an Amir) will die the death of one belonging to the days of Jahillyya."
[Sahih Muslim, Book 33, Hadith 90]
A similar hadith can be found in Riyad al-Saliheen. We see the importance of knowing who this Ameer is and binding ourselves to an oath of allegiance to this Ameer. So who is this Ameer? How many Ameers will there be after the Prophet? It is clear that these leaders will be appointed by Allah himself or the Prophet, or the Prophet will delegate the matter of choosing a successor for his successor to his successor. So who is this successor? Is it Abu Bakr? Surely it must be Abu Bakr, he is the first of the Rashidun Caliphs. Let us see what his successor, Umar ibn al-Khattab, who is known to be one of the greatest companions of the Prophet in Bakrism of all time, says about the topic.
حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يُوسُفَ، أَخْبَرَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ عُرْوَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ قَالَ قِيلَ لِعُمَرَ أَلاَ تَسْتَخْلِفُ قَالَ إِنْ أَسْتَخْلِف فقَدِ اسْتَخْلَفَ مَنْ هُوَ خَيْرٌ مِنِّي أَبُو بكْرٍ، وَإِنْ أَتْرُكْ فَقَدْ تَرَكَ مَنْ هُوَ خَيرٌ مِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَأَثْنَوْا عَلَيْهِ فَقَالَ رَاغِبٌ رَاهِبٌ، وَدِدْتُ أَنِّي نَجَوْتُ مِنْهَا كَفَافًا لاَ لِي وَلاَ عَلَىَّ لاَ أَتَحَمَّلُهَا حَيًّا وَمَيِّتًا.
Abdullah son of Umar narrates that Umar was asked: “Will you not appoint a successor?” Umar replied: “If I appoint a successor, someone better than me has already appointed [me]: Abu Bakr and if I refrain from doing so, someone better than me has already refrained from doing so: The Messenger of God (s.).”
[Sahih al-Bukhari Vol. 9, Book 89, Hadith 325]
The words of Umar ibn al-Khattab show that the Prophet didn't appoint Abu Bakr, but at the same time, he claims that the Prophet never appointed anyone, which is a contradiction to the multiple ahadith and Qur'anic verses we presented above. So who lied here, did Abu Hurairah lie? Or did Umar ibn al-Khattab lie? Did the Qur'an lie? This presents a lot of problems for the Bakris and the Bakri methodology, Bukhari is the most authentic book that the Bakris have but it's contradicting not only itself but also the Qur'an? Umar ibn al-Khattab is but a companion, the Prophet's words have more weight, so shall we assume that Umar ibn al-Khattab lied? First, let us take a look at more ahadith, we can't make assumptions from just one singular hadith. The following is a list of links to Sunni Ahadith that states there will be twelve caliphs/ameers after the Prophet:
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:1821a
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:1821d
- https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7222
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:1822a
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:1821f
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:1821e
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:1821b
- https://sunnah.com/muslim:1820
- https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4279
- https://sunnah.com/abudawud:4280
Ok, OK, so, let us take a look at the facts. The Qur'an states that Allah will appoint Caliphs on the Earth. The Prophet said that there would be rulers after him, and he would appoint a ruler and that there would be 12 rulers. Umar ibn al-Khattab states that Abu Bakr was not appointed by the Prophet, and claims that the Prophet never appointed any Caliph. Umar's statement cannot be true as it contradicts not only the Qur'an but a lot of other prophetic sayings. Either Abu Bakr was appointed or there is someone else. There are twelve caliphs after the prophet so who were these twelve? Currently, the Bakris do not have a Caliph unless you follow self-proclaimed Caliphs, but according to the Qur'an Allah has to appoint them... If you purposely avoid Shiism and the Shia thought, you will find that in Bakrism there are too many problems. There is proof that Ali was appointed the first Caliph by the Prophet. This is a warning though, if you wish to remain a Jahil, then remain a Jahil. If what has been presented so far does not convince you, then as the Qur'an states, it is not your eyes that are blind, but the heart.
حدثنا يي بن حاد حدثنا أبو عوانة حدثنا أبو بلج حدثنا عمرو بن ميمون عن ابن عباس عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه لعلي رضي الله عنه: أما ترضى أن تكون مني بمنزلة هارون من موسى إلا أنك لست بنبي إنه لا ينبغي أن أذهب إلا وأنت خليفتي
Abdullah ibn Abbas narrates that the Prophet (s.) said to Ali: “Are you not satisfied that you have a position with me that Harun has with Musa, except that you are not a prophet? It shall not be, that I will leave, unless you are my successor.”
[Al-Musnad Volume 5, Page 27, Hadith No. 3062]
The Sunni scholar Ahmad Muhammad Shakir classifies Hadith No. 3062 on page 25 as Sahih,
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Raṣūl Allah said to ʿAlī: "Your position for me, is like the position of Hārūn [Aaron] for Mūsā [Moses], except that there are no prophets after me, and you (O' ʿAlī!) are my successor [khalīfatī] for every believer [muʾmeen] after me (my death)."
[Kitāb al-Ṣunnah, by Ibn Abī ʿAṣim, Page 565, Hadith 1188]
مَا تُرِيدُونَ مِنْ عَلِيٍّ مَا تُرِيدُونَ مِنْ عَلِيٍّ مَا تُرِيدُونَ مِنْ عَلِيٍّ إِنَّ عَلِيًّا مِنِّي وَأَنَا مِنْهُ وَهُوَ وَلِيُّ كُلِّ مُؤْمِنٍ مِنْ بَعْدِي" "
"What do you want from 'Ali?! What do you want from 'Ali?! What do you want from 'Ali?! Indeed 'Ali is from me, and I am from him, and he is the Wali of every believer after me."
حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ مُوسَى، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا شَرِيكٌ، عَنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ، عَنْ حُبْشِيِّ بْنِ جُنَادَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم " عَلِيٌّ مِنِّي وَأَنَا مِنْ عَلِيٍّ وَلاَ يُؤَدِّي عَنِّي إِلاَّ أَنَا أَوْ عَلِيٌّ " . قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ غَرِيبٌ صَحِيحٌ .
the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "'Ali is from me and I am from 'Ali. And none should represent me except myself or 'Ali." Abu Isa said this Hadith is Hasan Ghareeb Sahih.
[Al-Tirmidhi Book 49, Hadith 116]
There is also one very important event that we omitted, which is the event of Ghadeer Khumm. That event is a large topic and deserves its own article. The proof that we have presented should be enough. If this does not convince you of the truth, then nothing will. If this proves nothing to you, then indeed even if we put the sun and the moon in your hand, you will not believe it. For those sincere, I hope that this convinces you and that you learned something. We will write more articles, and from this website alone you will be able to learn everything there is to be Muslim.
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