“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ preceded, after him Abū Bakr prayed, and ʿUmar came third; then a trial arose that addresses them with promises, and Allah will carry out therein whatever He wills.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī relates: ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥāfiẓ told us, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Muzakkī of Marw told us, ʿAbd Allah ibn Rūḥ al-Madāʾinī narrated to us, Shabābah ibn Sawwār narrated to us, Shuʿayb ibn Maymūn narrated to us, from Ḥuṣayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from al-Shaʿbī, from Abū Wāʾil, who said:

People said to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, “Will you not appoint a successor over us?”

He replied, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not appoint a successor—why, then, should I? Yet if Allah wills good for the people, He will unite them after me around the best among them, just as He united them after their Prophet around the best among them.” The chain of transmission is sound, although it is not found in the Two Ṣaḥīḥs.

We have already cited the report recorded by al-Bukhārī through al-Zuhrī, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Kaʿb ibn Mālik, from Ibn ʿAbbās. When al-ʿAbbās and ʿAlī left the presence of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, someone asked, “How is the Messenger of Allah this morning?”

ʿAlī answered, “Praise be to Allah, he is recovering.”

Al-ʿAbbās retorted, “By Allah, within three days you will be a slave to the staff! I can recognize death in the faces of the sons of Hāshim, and I see death in the face of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Let us go to him and ask him about this authority: if it is meant for us, we shall know it; if it is meant for others, we will request that he instruct them to deal kindly with us.”

ʿAlī replied, “I will not ask him that. By Allah, if he denies it to us, the people will never grant it to us after him.”

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq likewise transmitted the report from al-Zuhrī and concluded, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away when the forenoon of that day had grown intense.”

I say: This was on Monday, the day of his death, and it indicates that he ﷺ departed without leaving any specific testament concerning the leadership.

In the Two Ṣaḥīḥs Ibn ʿAbbās said, “The calamity—yes, the very calamity—was what prevented the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from writing that document.” We have already mentioned that he ﷺ asked for writing materials so that he might compose for them a statement after which they would never go astray. When the clamour and disagreement around him increased, he said, “Leave me, for what I am in is better than what you are calling me to.”

As we have also reported, he then declared, “Allah and the believers will accept none but Abū Bakr.”