and grant him peace—Mecca was thrown into turmoil. Abū Quhāfah heard this and asked, ‘What is happening?’ They replied, ‘The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—has passed away.’ He said, ‘A momentous event! Who has assumed authority after him?’ They replied, ‘Your son.’ He asked, ‘Have Banū Abd Manāf and Banū al-Mughīrah accepted this?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘No one can withhold what He gives, and no one can give what He withholds.’”

His denial of consensus may therefore be answered in several ways.

First: Of those he mentioned, only Saʿd ibn Ubādah withheld his pledge of allegiance. All the others pledged allegiance to him, as the scholars who transmit these accounts agree. It has been said that a group from Banū Hāshim initially refrained from pledging allegiance to him, then pledged allegiance six months later, motivated by neither fear nor desire.

The letter that some writers claim he sent to Alī is, according to the scholars, a fabricated lie. Rather, Alī sent word to Abū Bakr, saying, “Come to us.” Abū Bakr went to them, and Alī offered him an apology and pledged allegiance to him.

The two Sahīh collections report that Āʾishah said (1): Fātimah sent word to Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with them both—asking him for her inheritance from the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—from the property Allah had granted him in Medina and Fadak, and what remained of the one-fifth share of Khaybar. Abū Bakr said: “The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘We leave no inheritance; whatever we leave behind is charity.’ And only