He—may Allah have mercy on him—was also asked about two men who disagreed. One said:

“Abū Bakr al-Siddīq and ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb—may Allah be pleased with them both—are more learned and have a deeper understanding of religion than ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib—may Allah be pleased with him.”

The other said:

“Rather, ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib is more learned and has a deeper understanding of religion than Abū Bakr and ‘Umar.”

Which of these two views is more correct? And are these two hadiths authentic: the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,

“The best judge among you is ‘Alī,”

and his saying,

“I am the city of knowledge, and ‘Alī is its gate”?

If they are authentic, do they establish that ‘Alī was more learned and had a deeper understanding of religion than Abū Bakr and ‘Umar—may Allah be pleased with them all?

If someone claims that the Muslims unanimously agree that ‘Alī—may Allah be pleased with him—was more learned and had a deeper understanding of religion than Abū Bakr and ‘Umar—may Allah be pleased with them all—is his claim correct or mistaken?

He replied:

All praise is due to Allah.

None of the recognized Muslim scholars has said that ‘Alī was more learned and had a deeper understanding of religion than Abū Bakr and ‘Umar, or even than Abū Bakr alone. Anyone who claims a consensus on this is among the most ignorant and dishonest of people. Indeed, several scholars have reported a scholarly consensus that Abū Bakr al-Siddīq was more learned than ‘Alī. Among them was Imam Mansūr ibn ‘Abd al-Jabbār al-Sam‘ānī al-Marwadhī, one of the leading Sunni scholars among the followers of al-Shāfi‘ī, who mentioned in his book, “Taqwīm al-adillah ‘alā al-imām,”