Sahaba - The Blessed

accounts of the bloody ventures which some of his descendants
–whose number is hardly below one hundred– undertook and
misled an untold number of Muslims with the help of the hordes of
supporters that crowded around them. Such demolishers of Islam
were not seen among the descendants of the Shaikhayn. People
who descended from them, especially Abdullah bin ’Umar, Hadrat
Âisha, Sâlim, Qâsim, Ubaydullah bin ’Umar ’Umarî, and many
others, were sources of guidance who led people to happiness.
Men of Tasawwuf such as Shihâbuddîn Suhrawardî and
Fakhruddîn Suhrawardî, who came after the Twelve Imâms, and
book-owners like Fakhruddîn Râzî Waliyyuddîn were all people
who attained guidance owing to the fayz they received from the
descendants of the Shaikhayn. If a person’s being of Hashimite
descent or having an abundant progeny were something conducive
to his superiority, Hadrat Alî would –may Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us
against such a disastrous belief– necessarily be superior to the
Messenger of Allah. If it should be argued that “Those
superiorities apply among those who are below prophethood; they
become null and void on the prophetic level,” then it should be
admitted that they lose their validity also on levels where
prophetic attributes are perpetuated although in similarity. True,
they are effective with people below those levels. As a matter of
fact, Hadrat Alî was superior to all the Sahâbîs who lived during
his caliphate. This is the belief held by the scholars of Ahl as-
Sunnat. What we have written so far are answers to Nasîruddîn
Tûsî’s book Tajrîd.
Question 22: Why should superiority be an indispensable
criterion for assuming office as Khalîfa? We might as well put it
that way: Superior as Hadrat Alî was, the unlearned people would
have refused to pay homage to him because he had killed the
fathers and friends of the Qoureishî people, because he had never
shown remission in his invitation to Islam, and because he was
hasty in his chastisements. Since Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa
sallam’ was a best psychiatrist, he may have preferred to appoint
someone else for the office of caliphate.
Answer 22: Allâhu ta’âlâ sent prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawât-uwa-t-taslîmât’
for the rectification of peoples and for the
establishment of peace and welfare among them. It is therefore a
prophet’s duty to choose a person who will represent his prophetic
attributes best. If he chooses someone else, he will have misused
his authority and committed an injustice. It is senseless to say that
the Qoureishî people would have refused to pay homage to
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