Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bayhaqī said:

Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Isfarāʾīnī informed us; Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ narrated to us; Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Khuzaymah and Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Ṭālib both said: Bandār ibn Bashʿār related to us; Abū Hishām al-Makhzūmī related to us; Wahīb related to us, from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, who said:

“When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away, the people gathered in the house of Saʿd ibn ʿUbādah, and among them were Abū Bakr and ʿUmar. A spokesman for the Anṣār rose and said: ‘You know that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was from the Muhājirūn, and that his successor must likewise be from the Muhājirūn. We were the Helpers of the Messenger of Allah, and we shall be the Helpers of his successor just as we were his Helpers.’

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb then stood and said, ‘Your speaker has spoken the truth; had you said anything else, we would not have followed you.’ He took Abū Bakr’s hand and declared, ‘Here is your companion—give him your allegiance.’ ʿUmar pledged to him, and so did the Muhājirūn and the Anṣār.

Abū Bakr then mounted the pulpit, looked at the faces before him, and did not see al-Zubayr. He sent for him, and when al-Zubayr arrived Abū Bakr said, ‘You—the son of the Messenger of Allah’s paternal aunt and his disciple—do you intend to break the unity of the Muslims?’ Al-Zubayr replied, ‘No blame, O Caliph of the Messenger of Allah,’ and he rose and pledged allegiance to him.

Abū Bakr again surveyed the assembly and did not see ʿAlī. He summoned ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, and when ʿAlī arrived Abū Bakr said, ‘You—the cousin of the Messenger of Allah and his son-in-law—do you wish to fracture the solidarity of the Muslims?’ ʿAlī answered, ‘No blame, O Caliph of the Messenger of Allah,’ and he pledged allegiance to him—this wording or something close to it.

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥāfiẓ said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Khuzaymah say, ‘Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj came to me and inquired about this ḥadīth, so I wrote it out for him on a sheet and read it to him. He remarked, “This ḥadīth is worth a she-camel.” I replied, “It is worth even more—rather, it is worth a purse of gold.”’

Al-Bayhaqī also transmitted the report through al-Ḥākim and Abū Muḥammad ibn Abī Ḥāmid al-Muqriʾ, both of whom narrated from Abū al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Aṣamm, from Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn Shākir, from ʿAffān ibn Muslim, from Wahīb with the same chain. In that version, however, it is al-Ṣiddīq himself who addresses the spokesman of the Anṣār instead of ʿUmar.

It further states that Zayd ibn Thābit took Abū Bakr’s hand and said, ‘Here is your companion; pledge allegiance to him and then depart.’ When Abū Bakr sat upon the pulpit he looked for ʿAlī and, finding him absent, asked about him. Some men of the Anṣār went and brought him … the report continues as above, then recounts the story of al-Zubayr after ʿAlī. Allah knows best.