the curtain of the chamber and seen them in rows behind Abū Bakr, which pleased him. How, then, could he have ordered him to march with Usāma’s army?!

Third: Had the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—intended to appoint ʿAlī, these men would have been powerless to thwart the command of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The majority of Muslims would have been too obedient to Allah and His Messenger to allow these men to defy his command. This is especially so since a third of the Muslims or more fought alongside ʿAlī against Muʿāwiya, without knowing of any explicit text in his favor. Had there been such a text, the majority of Muslims would have fought alongside him.

Fourth: He ordered Abū Bakr to lead the people in prayer, not ʿAlī. Had ʿAlī been the caliph, he would have ordered him to lead the Muslims in prayer. How could that be, when he never appointed ʿAlī over Abū Bakr?!

Indeed, the two authentic hadith collections report that, when he went to reconcile the people of Banū ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf, he said to Bilāl:

“When the time for prayer comes, tell Abū Bakr to lead the people in prayer.” (1)

He did likewise during his illness. When he wished to have the pilgrimage performed, he instructed Abū Bakr to perform it and sent ʿAlī after him as his subordinate. Abū Bakr was the imam who led the people—including ʿAlī and others—in prayer; he gave orders to ʿAlī and others, and they obeyed him. He appointed Abū Bakr over ʿAlī during the pilgrimage of the year 9, and Abū Bakr was their appointed commander and imam.