As for the caliphate of Abū Bakr, no single question of religion is known to have remained a matter of settled dispute among them. This was because of al-Siddīq’s consummate knowledge, justice, and familiarity with the proofs by which disputes are resolved. Whenever a disagreement arose among them, al-Siddīq would present a decisive proof by which the disagreement would cease (1). Almost all the proofs that settled their disputes were initially advanced by al-Siddīq. On the few occasions when Umar or someone else advanced such a proof, Abū Bakr al-Siddīq affirmed it.

This indicates that al-Siddīq and those under his rule were superior to Umar and those under his rule, Uthmān and those under his rule, and Alī and those under his rule. Indeed, after the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—Abū Bakr was the best of the leaders, and those under his rule were the best of the Muslim community.

Moreover, with regard to the positions of al-Siddīq that came to be opposed after his death, his position is weightier than that of those who opposed him thereafter. The case of the grandfather and siblings follows the same pattern: the position of al-Siddīq, the majority of the Companions, and their leading figures was that the siblings are excluded from inheritance. This is also the position of groups (2) of scholars. It is the school of Abū Hanīfa and of a group among the followers of al-Shāfiī and Ahmad, such as Abū al-Abbās ibn Surayj among the Shāfiīs and Abū Hafs al-Barmakī among the Hanbalīs. It is also mentioned as one view reported from Ahmad.

Those who held that the siblings inherit alongside the grandfather—such as Alī, Zayd, and Ibn Masūd—differed (3) among themselves in well-known ways. Each of them adopted a position that the others opposed and that none of the other Companions shared. We have discussed this at length elsewhere,