and he—may Allah be pleased with him—stood in the place of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upheld Islam without neglecting anything. Rather, he brought the people back in through the very gate by which they had departed, despite the great number of opponents among the apostates and others, and the many who withheld their support. Through him, their knowledge and religion attained such completeness that no one could rival him in that regard.
They called him “the Successor to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.” Then this verbal linkage came to an end with his death.
Abū al-Qāsim al-Suhaylī said:
“The subtle significance of the words of Allah Most High became manifest in both wording and meaning:
‘When he said to his companion, “Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us.”’
(Surah al-Tawbah: 40)
For they called him ‘the Successor to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,’ but this usage ceased with his death.”
Moreover, Alī learned some of the Sunnah from Abū Bakr, whereas Abū Bakr learned nothing from Alī. One indication of this is that the scholars of Kufa who had accompanied Umar and Alī—such as Alqama, al-Aswad, Shurayh, and others—preferred Umar’s opinion to Alī’s. As for the Successors of Medina, Mecca, and Basra, this was too evident and widely known among them even to require mention. Alī’s knowledge and jurisprudence became prominent(1) in Kufa only because he resided there among its people throughout his caliphate.
Of all Alī’s supporters who accompanied him, not one is known to have preferred him over Abū Bakr and Umar, whether in jurisprudence, knowledge, or religious standing. Rather, all his supporters who fought alongside him agreed with the rest of the Muslims in giving precedence to Abū Bakr and Umar, apart from those whom Alī himself denounced and censured. They were few, contemptible, and obscure.
They comprised three groups:
One group went to extremes concerning him and claimed divinity for him; these he burned with fire.