anyone, until the religion was established as it had been before. They called Abū Bakr the successor to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Thereafter, they called ‘Umar and others the Commander of the Faithful.

Al-Suhaylī and other scholars said:

“The words, ‘Do not grieve; indeed, Allah is with us,’ found expression in Abū Bakr’s case in language, just as they did in reality. Thus, they would say: ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and Abū Bakr is the successor to the Messenger of Allah.’ This verbal connection ended with his death, for they did not call anyone after him ‘the successor to the Messenger of Allah.’”

Furthermore, “‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib” learned some of the Sunnah from Abū Bakr, whereas Abū Bakr did not learn from ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib. This is illustrated by the well-known hadith in the Sunan collections concerning the prayer of repentance. ‘Alī said:

“Whenever I heard a hadith from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, Allah would benefit me through it as much as He willed. When someone else narrated a hadith to me, I would ask him to swear an oath; if he swore an oath to me, I would believe him. Abū Bakr narrated to me—and Abū Bakr spoke the truth—that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: ‘No Muslim commits a sin, then performs ablution properly, prays two units of prayer, and seeks Allah’s forgiveness, without Allah forgiving him.’”

Further evidence of this is that the leading scholars of Kūfah who accompanied ‘Umar and ‘Alī, such as ‘Alqamah, al-Aswad, Shurayh the judge, and others, would give preference to ‘Umar’s opinion over ‘Alī’s. Among the Successors of Medina, Mecca, and Basra, this was too evident and well known to require mention. It was in Kūfah that ‘Alī’s jurisprudence and knowledge became particularly prominent, owing to his residence there during his caliphate. None of ‘Alī’s followers who accompanied him is known to have preferred him over Abū Bakr