As Umar lay dying, he appointed six Companions of the Prophet to determine which of them would become his successor. They were Muhammad’s foster son and son-in-law Ali; Uthman, an early wealthy convert who was twice Muhammad’s son-in-law; and four of the first male converts in Mecca: Talhah, Zubayr, Sa’ad and Abd al-Rahman.
Umar died, and he was buried in the third and last grave in A’isha’s old room. It was not a large room; A’isha recalled it as so small that when the Prophet did his prayer prostrations, she had to squish herself up in the corner. So after Muhammad, Abu Bakr, and Umar, there was no more space. At some point in the next days, Umar’s son killed five Persians in Medina as blood-revenge. Umar himself would certainly have executed his son for doing this, since Muhammad had specifically outlawed blood feuds in his last sermon. But with no Caliph in charge, the matter just waited.
The six-man shura went into a closed room and began to debate. Talhah was out of town at the time, so it was really only five. Abd al-Rahman proactively stated that he would not become Caliph, but instead would be the meeting’s moderator. Early deliberation made it clear that both Uthman and Ali had higher status than the other early believers, who formed a second rank of candidates. They would not put themselves forward unless Uthman and Ali were somehow ruled out, so tacitly it might be assumed that the same committee could make the next choice of Caliph, after either Uthman or Ali had passed away.
If you are Talhah, Zubayr, Sa’ad or Abd al-Rahman, and you are privately interested in becoming Caliph, who would you rather see become Caliph now? Your choices are Ali, who is about 45, and Uthman, who is 70. If you want to establish a long-lasting reign, you go with Ali, but what if you want to see another chance at Caliph turn-over within a year or two? Then you vote for Uthman. And that is what happened.
I’m presenting it in the most cynical light. The less cynical way is that these men knew each other very well and over a long time. Several of them had been in the Abyssinian migration together, while Ali had stayed in Mecca. They had many ties of friendship and family, and perhaps many other obligations that we no longer know about. Perhaps Uthman’s age made him seem more venerable and worthy of this honor.
In any case, the three day meeting adjourned with a vow of allegiance to Uthman. The believers who thought that Ali had been the real successor all along had to make the choice again to accept another leader for the sake of peace.
- After the Prophet, by Lesley Hazelton.
- The Heirs of Muhammad, by Barnaby Rogerson