death that so-and-so be given such-and-such, and another person such-and-such, setting this down as a bequest, either because he believes it to be a right that he is obligated to discharge or because he fears that it may be so.

Nor did Umar have anyone whose fate he needed to fear for after his death. He had excluded his own relatives from authority, and he knew that Alī was too just and God-fearing to wrong them. Even supposing that Alī would have taken revenge upon those who [had not](1) initially pledged allegiance to him, the Banū Adī would have been the least likely of all people to face such retaliation, for they(2) possessed neither power nor great numbers. All of them loved and revered Alī; none of them hated Alī, nor did Alī hate any of them. Alī had not killed a single one of them, either during the Age of Ignorance or after Islam. Likewise, all the Banū Taym(3) loved Alī [and Alī loved them](4), and Alī had not killed a single one of them, either during the Age of Ignorance or after Islam.

A second reply is as follows:

Whenever Umar was corrected, he would retract his view. On more than one occasion, he acknowledged that the truth had become clear to him and returned to it, for(5) that is repentance. He would say:

“A man was wrong, and a woman was right.”

He would renew his repentance whenever he learned that there was something for which he should repent. This was his practice during his lifetime, while he wielded authority throughout the land; how, then, could he fail to do so at the time of death?

He could also have devised some means by which Alī would assume authority without revealing anything for which he would be censured(6), just as he devised a means for Uthman. Had he known that the right belonged exclusively to Alī, he would have had many ways of designating him that would have remained hidden from most people.