The two Sahih collections [also] (1) report that, on the day of the Saqīfa, he said in the presence of members of the Emigrants and the Helpers:
“You (2) are the best of us, our leader, and the dearest of us to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace.” (3)
Not one of them voiced any objection to this. Nor did any Companion say that another Emigrant had a greater right to the caliphate than Abū Bakr. No one contested his caliphate except some of the Helpers, who hoped that there would be one leader from the Helpers and another from the Emigrants. The invalidity of this arrangement had been established by mass-transmitted reports from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Thereafter, all the Helpers pledged allegiance to Abū Bakr (4), with the exception of Sa‘d ibn Ubāda, because he himself had been seeking the leadership (5).
(1) “Also” is an addition in A and B.
(2) N and M read: “that he.”
(3) This hadith is found in al-Bukhārī, 5/7 (Book of the Virtues of the Companions of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—chapter “The Merits of Abū Bakr al-Siddīq”); 8/168–171 (Book of Legal Punishments, chapter “Stoning a Pregnant Woman for Unlawful Sexual Intercourse If She Has Previously Been Married”); and al-Musnad (al-Ma‘ārif ed.), 1/323–327.
(4) The position taken by the Helpers, their gathering around Sa‘d ibn Ubāda, and their demand that there be one leader from among them and another from among the Emigrants are clarified by the hadiths cited in the two preceding notes. See also Ibn Hishām, al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya, 4/307–310.
(5) M reads: “It was he who sought authority.” Ibn Sa‘d recounts Sa‘d ibn Ubāda’s stance regarding the pledge of allegiance to Abū Bakr in al-Tabaqāt al-Kubrā, vol. [0–9], part [0–9], pp. 144–145, Leiden ed., 1321/1904. See also Ibn Kathīr’s account of Sa‘d’s later acceptance of Abū Bakr’s caliphate in al-Bidāya wa-l-Nihāya, 5/247, Cairo, 1351/1932. Ibn Taymiyya’s citation from Ahmad’s Musnad concerning this matter will appear shortly.