Chapter: Alī ibn Abī Tālib’s Adherence During His Caliphate to the Precedents of Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with them—and May He Benefit Us Through Loving Them All

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn—may Allah have mercy on him—said: If someone asks, “During his caliphate, did Alī ibn Abī Tālib alter anything instituted by Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with them?” he should be told: Allah forbid! Rather, he followed them. Some examples of this will now be related—matters well known to those scholars whom Allah, Glorified and Exalted, has kept safe from the doctrines of the Rāfidah and the Nāsibah, and who have held fast to the straight path.

One such example is that when Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah honor his countenance—assumed the caliphate, he maintained the disposition concerning Fadak and accepted Abū Bakr’s report that he had heard the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—say: “We leave no inheritance; whatever we leave is charity.” I mean that Abū Bakr was the one who said he had heard this. When the caliphate passed to Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—he administered it in the same manner as Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—had done. He held that what Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—had done was right. Had he believed otherwise, he would have reversed it, and no critic’s reproach would have deterred him in the cause of Allah—contrary to the claims of the filthy Rāfidah. This is well known, and no one can claim otherwise.

As for what Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with him—had instituted, Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—did not alter it, but followed him in it.