with one leader from the Emigrants and one from the Helpers—until al-Ṣiddīq made it clear that the caliphate may reside only in Quraysh. At that they returned to his view and came together under his authority, as we shall explain and highlight.

The Episode of the Saqīfah of Banū Sāʿidah

Imam Aḥmad relates: Ishāq ibn ʿĪsā al-Ṭabbāʿ narrated to us; Mālik ibn Anas narrated to us; Ibn Shihāb told me, on the authority of ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah ibn Masʿūd, that Ibn ʿAbbās informed him that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf returned to his quarters—(Ibn ʿAbbās said: I used to teach the Qur’an to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, and he found me waiting for him)—and this was at Minā during the last pilgrimage ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb performed.

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf said: “A man came to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and said, ‘So-and-so claims that if ʿUmar dies, he will pledge allegiance to such-and-such a person.’”

ʿUmar replied, “By Allah’s will, I shall rise before the people this very evening and warn them about those individuals who wish to seize their affair from them.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān continued: I said, “Commander of the Believers, do not do so. The season gathers the riffraff and the rabble, and they will overrun your gathering when you address the people. I fear you will utter words that they will spread far and wide without understanding them or putting them in their proper place. Wait until you reach Madinah—it is the abode of migration and the Sunnah—where you can meet privately with the scholars and nobles of the community. There you may speak with composure, and they will grasp your words and set them where they belong.”

ʿUmar said, “If Allah brings me safely to Madinah, I will speak to the people at the very first sitting I hold.”

When we arrived in Madinah toward the end of Dhū’l-Ḥijjah, and it was a Friday, I hastened to the mosque as early as a blind man heads out—­I asked Mālik, “What is meant by the blind man’s early setting-out?” He replied, “He does not care what time he leaves; he senses neither heat nor cold,” or words to that effect.

I found Saʿīd ibn Zayd already seated by the right-hand corner of the pulpit, ahead of me, so I sat opposite him, my knee touching his. Before long ʿUmar appeared. When I saw him I remarked, “He is going to say from this pulpit tonight a statement no one has ever uttered before.”

Saʿīd ibn Zayd took exception and said, “What could he possibly say that no one has said?”

ʿUmar then seated himself upon the pulpit, and when the people had fallen silent