those whom Abū Bakr and ʿUmar fought. Abū Bakr fought the apostates and the People of the Book despite the severe weakness that befell the Muslims upon the death of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—the apostasy of most of the desert tribes, and the faltering resolve of the city-dwellers. Many of them (1) also harbored doubts about fighting those who withheld zakat and others.

Then ʿUmar undertook to fight two mighty nations—Persia and Byzantium—which, ordinarily, the people of the Hijaz and Yemen were not known to be capable of vanquishing. Yet he vanquished them and conquered their lands. ʿUthmān then brought further conquests in the East and West to completion. Thereafter, under the Umayyad caliphate, still more territories were conquered in the East (2) and West, including Transoxiana, al-Andalus, and other lands conquered during the caliphate of ʿAbd al-Malik.

It is thus evident that, had anyone other than Abū Bakr and ʿUmar assumed authority after the death of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—such as ʿAlī or ʿUthmān, he would not have been able to accomplish what they did. ʿUthmān did not accomplish what they did, despite Islam’s strength in his time; and ʿAlī was less capable than ʿUthmān. His supporters were more numerous than theirs, while his enemy was smaller and closer to Islam than theirs; yet even so, he did not vanquish his enemy. How, then, could he have vanquished the apostates, Persia, and Byzantium with so few supporters and such a powerful enemy?

This demonstrates the virtue of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, and the fullness of Allah’s favor through them upon Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and upon the people after him (3), and that (4) one of Allah’s greatest blessings (5) was the appointment of