FORMATIVE PERIOD OF ISLAM

Relationship between Ali and his predecessor Caliphs

Relationship between Ali and his predecessor Caliphs

Introduction

According to Islamic sources, on the Prophet's death, disagreements surrounding the succession to Muhammad split the early Islamic community into those who supported the caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (d. 13 AH/634 CE), a prominent early companion of the Prophet and member of the Prophet's tribe of Quraysh, and those who regarded Ali's familial relation to Prophet Muhammad as giving him exclusive rights to rule the Islamic community. Those who supported Ali and later looked to his family for leadership of the Islamic community became the Shi'i. After Abu Bakr, 'Umar b. al-Khattab (r. 13-23 AH/634-644 CE) and 'Uthman b. 'Affan (r. 24-35 AH/644-656 CE), both Qurayshis, successively led the Islamic community as caliphs before a mutiny resulted in 'Uthman's killing and prompted  sections of the Islamic community to call on Ali to assume leadership. This essay traces the relationship of the caliphate Ali with his predecessors Abu Bakr, Uthman, and Umar.

Discussion

When Ali assumed leadership, he faced significant resistance to his rule. During this period, known as the first Islamic civil war or fitna, Ali faced resistance from 'A'isha, Abu Bakr's daughter and wife of Prophet Muhammad, who along with her supporters lost to Ali's army at the Battle of the Camel in 35 AH/656 CE. Ali then faced 'Uthman's kinsman, Mu'awiya b. Abi Sufyan, the governor of Damascus, who claimed that Ali had not punished the killers of 'Uthman and who refused to recognize Ali as caliph. Mu'awiya and his army escaped defeat at the Battle of ?iffin in 36 AH/657 CE by enticing Ali to accept arbitration of the battle, an event that shortly thereafter caused a significant portion of Ali's army to desert him. These secessionists became the Kharijites, who rejected both 'Uthman and Ali and elected one of their own, 'Abd Allah b. Wahb al-Rasib?, a non-Quraysh?, to lead them as their imam. After a Kharijite murdered Ali, Mu'awiya assumed leadership of the Islamic community, ushering in the Umayyad Caliphate.

Despite the fractious nature of early Islamic history, Sunnis came to look on the first four leaders (Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, and Ali) as especially pious and legitimate, referring to them as the “rightly guided” caliphs (al-khulafa' al-rashidun). Unlike Shi'i, Sunnis did not posit any special religious or political role for Ali beyond his being one of the rightly guided caliphs. Likewise, Sunnis did not place any extra significance on his familial relation to Prophet Muhammad or look to Ali's progeny, known along with Ali as the imams, for religious or political guidance.

The terms caliph and imam, for Sunnis, both refer to the political leader of the umma. Shi'i and Kharijites, however, tend not to use the term caliph, and instead use imam as a way of distinguishing their particular leaders and their specific view on leadership, from the Sunni caliphs and the Sunni conception of the caliphate (for all Muslims, the term imam also designates a leader of prayers in ...