that Banū Taym were among the weakest tribes and that the leading men of Quraysh belonged to those two tribes.

This and similar evidence is such that (when)(1) a rational person reflects upon it, he knows that they gave Abū Bakr precedence only because Allah and His Messenger had given him precedence, for he was the best of them, their leader, and the one among them dearest to Allah and His Messenger. Islam accords precedence solely on the basis of piety, not lineage, and Abū Bakr was the most pious of them.

Another line of argument is that it has been established through mass-transmitted reports from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—that the best people of this ummah are its first generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them,(2) and then those who follow them(3). This ummah is the best of nations, as indicated by the Quran and the Sunnah.

Moreover,(4) anyone who considers the condition of the Muslims during the Umayyad caliphate—let alone during the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs—will know that the people of that time were better and more virtuous than the people of the present day, and that(5) Islam was stronger and more manifest in their time. If the first generation denied the right of the expressly designated Imam who had been appointed over them, withheld from their Prophet’s household their inheritance, placed a wicked and unjust man in authority, and excluded a just and learned man despite knowing the truth, then those people would be among the worst of creation, and this ummah would be the worst of nations, for this would be the deed of its best members—so what of the deeds of its worst members?!

Another line of argument is that it is known through mass transmission, to the general public and the learned elite alike, that Abū Bakr, Umar, and Uthmān—may Allah be pleased with them—had, with the Prophet—may Allah bless