“May Allah reward your tribe with every good, O community of Helpers, and keep firm the one who has spoken among you. By Allah, had you chosen any other course, we would never have come to terms with you.”

Then Zayd took Abū Bakr’s hand and said, “Here is your leader; give him your pledge.”

When Abū Bakr seated himself upon the pulpit, he looked out over the assembly and did not see ʿAlī. He asked about him, whereupon some of the Helpers stood up and brought him. Abū Bakr said, “Cousin of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his son-in-law, do you intend to split the ranks of the Muslims?” ʿAlī replied, “No reproach, O Successor of the Messenger of Allah,” and he pledged allegiance to him.

Abū Bakr then missed al-Zubayr. He inquired until they brought him, and he said, “Son of the Prophet’s paternal aunt and his disciple (ḥawārī), do you intend to fracture the unity of the Muslims?” He answered, “No reproach, O Successor of the Messenger of Allah,” and the two of them pledged allegiance to him.

Aḥmad related part of this report in his Musnad—up to the words “when we came to terms with you”—through ʿAffān on the authority of Wahīb, and he transmitted the complete version through a reliable narrator from ʿAffān.

Al-Zuhrī narrated, from ʿUbaydallāh, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that ʿUmar said in one of his sermons:

“ʿAlī and al-Zubayr, together with those who were with them, held back from us, and the Helpers as a whole held back as well. They gathered in the portico of Banū Sāʿidah, while the Emigrants rallied around Abū Bakr. We were in the house of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when a man called from behind the wall, ‘Come out, son of al-Khaṭṭāb!’ I went out and he said, ‘The Helpers have assembled; reach them before they decide on a matter that will plunge us and them into war.’”

In the same narration he added: “The Emigrants and the Helpers accompanied me, and we rushed upon Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah. Someone shouted, ‘You have killed Saʿd!’ I retorted in anger, ‘May Allah kill Saʿd, for he is the cause of a wicked sedition.’”

This comes from the ḥadīth of Juwayriyah ibn Asmāʾ on the authority of Mālik, and a similar report was transmitted by al-Zubayr.