may Allah bless him and grant him peace, a servant whom Allah gave the choice between this world and the Hereafter.” It was the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who had been given that choice, and Abū Bakr understood him best among us. Thus, Abū Bakr had the greatest understanding of what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, meant and intended by his words, although they all shared an understanding of them.
This is comparable to the report in the authentic collection that ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, was asked:
“Did the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, leave anything with you?”
In another wording:
“Did the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, entrust you with anything concerning what he entrusts to people?”
He replied:
“No, by Him who split the seed and created the living soul, except an understanding of His Book that Allah grants a servant, and what is in this document. It contains provisions concerning blood money, the release of captives, and that a Muslim must not be killed in retaliation for an unbeliever.”
On the basis of this hadith and other authentic hadiths like it, scholars have established that all claims that ‘Alī and the Prophet’s household possessed knowledge imparted exclusively to them by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, are lies attributed to them. Examples include the claims concerning al-Jafr, al-Bitāqa, al-Jadwal, and other such things, as well as the accounts that the esoteric Qarmatians transmit from them. Indeed, more lies have been attributed to Ja‘far al-Sādiq, may Allah be pleased with him, than to anyone else. Lies have likewise been attributed to ‘Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, and other imams of the Prophet’s household, may Allah be pleased with them, as has been explained and discussed at length elsewhere.
Similarly, some ascetics and claimants to knowledge of spiritual realities fabricate accounts about Abū Bakr and others, claiming that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would address him with truths that ‘Umar understood while present. They may then claim to have come to know those truths themselves, whereas their actual substance is heresy and unbelief.