Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him—who said:

“The best of this nation after its Prophet is Abū Bakr, then Umar—may Allah be pleased with them both.”

The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, agreed to pledge allegiance to Uthmān after Umar—may Allah be pleased with them both. It is established that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The Prophetic caliphate will last thirty years, then become kingship.”

He also said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Follow my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs after me. Hold fast to it and cling to it with all your strength. Beware of newly introduced matters, for every innovation is misguidance.”

The Commander of the Faithful, Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him—was the last of the rightly guided caliphs.

The general body of the adherents of the Sunnah—scholars, devout worshippers, rulers, and soldiers—have agreed in saying: Abū Bakr, then Umar, then Uthmān, then Alī—may Allah be pleased with them all. The evidence for this and the virtues of the Companions are abundant; this is not the place to discuss them.

Likewise, we believe in “exercising restraint regarding the disputes that arose among them,” and we know that some of what has been reported concerning those disputes is false. They exercised independent judgment: either they were correct and earned two rewards, or they were rewarded for their righteous efforts and forgiven their errors. Whatever sins they committed—Allah having already promised them the finest reward—Allah forgives them through repentance, good deeds that erase sins, calamities that expiate them, or other means.

They are the best generation of this nation, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The best of generations is my generation, among whom I was sent, then those who follow them.”

And this is the best nation brought forth for mankind.