For some period of time, probably two days but perhaps more, the people of Medina processed what had just occurred. The rebels, and some of the citizens, went to Ali to insist that he should become Caliph next. The six-man commission that had elected Uthman in 644 was now down to just three still alive: Ali, Talhah, and Zubayr. There was no process for handing on power; it had been done differently each time, and Uthman had expired before he could appoint a new process.
Ali recalled later that he had been physically mobbed by those begging him; they pushed and shoved and tried to grab his hand so they could swear allegiance. He says he drew back, trying to get away. Although Ali had seen himself as the successor to Muhammad all his life, the situation here in Medina was obviously radioactive. The next Caliph would have to sort out the murder of Uthman, the controversial appointments, and many possible reforms that would be very unpopular with the new aristocracy. Umar and Uthman had both been appointed or elected in an orderly way, and Ali would have accepted that. But this process had begun with murder.
In the end, Ali had to accept what was at hand. The mob was too insistent, and someone had to take charge or their beloved Muslim community might fracture. Perhaps the turning point was when Talhah and Zubayr showed up to swear allegiance, which was as close to a regular procedure as they were going to get. Umar’s oldest son refused to swear allegiance until he saw how many others—-maybe he had in mind the Umayyad nobles—-swore allegiance. Ali waved this off, perhaps recalling the scene of misery when Abu Bakr and Umar tried to force him to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr.
The original men of Medina, the Ansar (Helpers), were in favor of Ali. Recall that after the Prophet died, they had met privately to select leadership from Medina but had been stopped by the Meccans’ power play. They considered Ali a Medinan since his great-grandmother was from Medina. The men of Medina, too, had been left out of the wealth and power that Umar and Uthman handed out. They started to see the Meccans elevated over them even as Muhammad was accepting the Meccans’ surrender. Now they were living the austere, simple life that Muhammad had told them to embrace, while the Umayyads rose in power. They looked forward to the elevation of a simple Medinan to bring the community back to the ideals and standards of Muhammad. This may be part of why, as Ali recalled, people poured out of their houses to cheer him, stretching their hands out to him.
Indeed, one of Ali’s first actions was to open Uthman’s treasury and empty it in alms. He also undid some of the Umayyad promotions of Uthman, promoting Medinans at last. This was against pragmatic advice from the old guard: don’t fire the Umayyads, win them over by confirming them and promising rewards. Ask them to quickly administer a loyalty oath to the troops. Do what you want later. That’s how to be a Caliph.
But Ali announced that he did not want to be named the Successor, or Caliph. In his first sermon, he praised Abu Bakr and Umar, but he said that the title “Caliph” had been tainted by corruption. Therefore, he said, he would simply be the one who stands in front as he was doing then, when he preached and led prayers. So he would be the Imam, not the Caliph. In pragmatic usage, I’m sure everyone referred to him as the Caliph, and in Sunni history, he is considered the fourth Caliph. But the Shi’a took this seriously and they do not recognize the Caliphs at all, only this Imam. For now, Imam was a very real-world title, but eventually when the Sunni-Shi’ite split was complete, Imam became the spiritual title of the heirs of Muhammad through Fatima and Ali.
Ali was right to see this post, at this time, as radioactive. He would face three major challenges in quick succession, all of them representing different stages of Islam’s development. It might have forestalled the challenges if he had followed pragmatic advice, but Ali was idealistic. He is a tragic figure in history: so well suited to succeed his father-in-law, but by the time he actually did, other forces were overpowering the old ideals.
- The Prophet’s Heir, by Hassan Abbas
- After the Prophet, by Lesley Hazelton.
- The Heirs of Muhammad, by Barnaby Rogerson