[Section: The Rafidite’s claim that Umar—may Allah be pleased with him—made the succession after him a matter of consultation and departed from the practice of his predecessors]

Section (1)

The Rafidite (2) said:

“He made the succession after him a matter of consultation, thereby departing from the practice of his predecessors. He neither entrusted the matter to the people’s choice nor expressly designated an imam after him. Instead, he lamented the loss of Sālim, the freedman of Abū (3) Hudhayfa, and said, ‘Had he been alive, I would have had no doubt concerning him,’ even though the Commander of the Faithful, Alī, was present. (4)

“Among those from whom the choice was to be made, he included both the more excellent and the less excellent (5), although the more excellent is entitled to precedence over the less excellent. He then impugned (6) every person whom he had selected for the consultative council and indicated that he disliked bearing (7) responsibility for the Muslims’ affairs after his death, as he had borne it (8) while alive. Yet he did bear that responsibility [after his death] (9) by confining the imamate to six men. He then reduced their number (10), making it four, then three, and finally one: he entrusted the choice to Abd al-Rahmān ibn Awf, after describing him