—may Allah be pleased with him; and may Allah disgrace the Rāfiḍah.

Al-Thawri narrated—through Abū Hāshim al-Qāsim ibn Kathīr, from Qays al-Kharafī—that he heard ʿAlī say: “The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, went on ahead; Abū Bakr prayed, and ʿUmar was the third. Then a turmoil struck us, and whatever Allah willed came to pass.”

Sharik likewise transmitted it through al-Aswad ibn Qays, from ʿAmr ibn Sufyān, from ʿAlī with the same wording.

Ibn ʿUyaynah reported—through Zāʾidah, from ʿAbd al-Malik ibn ʿUmayrah, from Ribʿī, from Hudhayfah—that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Follow the two who will come after me: Abū Bakr and ʿUmar.”

Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn al-Wāsiṭī narrated it in the same manner from ʿAbd al-Malik, though Sufyān would sometimes practice tadlīs and omit Zāʾidah from the chain. Sufyān al-Thawrī also reported it—from ʿAbd al-Malik, from Hilāl, the freedman of Ribʿī, from Ribʿī.

ʿĀʾishah said: Abū Bakr declared, “There is no man upon the face of the earth more beloved to me than ʿUmar.”

She also related: During the illness that led to Abū Bakr’s death, some people entered upon him and said, “Can you appoint ʿUmar over us while you are about to meet your Lord? What will you say to Him?” He replied, “I will say: I entrusted them to the best among them.”

Al-Zuhrī said: “The first person to salute ʿUmar with the title ‘Commander of the Faithful’ was al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah.”

Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad related that ʿUmar said, “Let whoever takes this office after me know—whether near or far desires to dislodge him—that I have fought people for my own sake with the fiercest combat…"