…ʿAli ibn Abi Ṭālib, and said, “O cousin of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his son-in-law through his daughter, did you mean to break the unity of the Muslims?” He replied, “No blame falls on me, O Successor of the Messenger of Allah,” and he rose and pledged allegiance to him. Such is the wording, or something very close to it.
Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū ʿAlī al-Naysābūrī said: “I heard Ibn Khuzaymah say, ‘Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj came to me and asked about this ḥadīth, so I wrote it out for him on a slip of paper and read it to him. He remarked, ‘This ḥadīth is worth a badinah (a sacrificial she-camel).’ I replied, ‘Worth a badinah? Rather, it is worth (1) a badrah.’ (2)”
Imām Aḥmad also transmitted it, on the authority of a reliable narrator from Wuhaib, in an abridged form (3). Al-Ḥākim included it in his “Mustadrak” (4) by way of ʿAffān ibn Muslim from Wuhaib, in an extended version similar to what has already been cited. We have likewise related it through al-Maḥāmilī, from al-Qāsim ibn Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab, from ʿAlī ibn ʿĀṣim, from al-Jurayrī (5), from Abū Naḍrah, from Abū Saʿīd, who mentioned the same account concerning the pledge of ʿAlī and al-Zubayr (may Allah be pleased with them) on that day.
Mūsā ibn ʿUqbah (6) reports in his “Maghāzī” on the authority of Saʿd ibn Ibrāhīm: “My father told me that his father, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, was with ʿUmar, and that Muḥammad ibn Maslamah broke al-Zubayr’s sword.”
Thereafter Abū Bakr addressed the people and apologized, saying, “By Allah, never for a single day or night have I coveted authority, nor have I ever asked Allah for it in secret or in public.” The Emigrants accepted his statement, and ʿAlī and al-Zubayr said, “We were [upset] (7) only because we were left out of the consultation; yet we see Abū Bakr as the person most entitled to it. He is the Companion of the Cave, and we are well aware of his honor and his virtue. Indeed, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ appointed him to lead the people in prayer while he was still alive.” (8)
Such conduct is becoming of ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him), and this is borne out by the reports that he prayed behind Abū Bakr, accompanied him to Dhu al-Qassah (9) after the death of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—as we shall relate—and offered him sincere advice and consultation in his presence.