A Comparison between Imam Ali's Situations and the Others

Adopted from the book : "Fadak in History" by : "Shahid Muhammad Baqir as-Sadr"

If you study the life of the prophet (s) and the history of his jihad,you will find that Ali astonished the earth and the heaven with his support to the prophet 1and you will find that Abu Bakr resorted to the high leadership position surrounded by many heroes of the Ansar to guard him2 in order to be safe from the calamities of the war.
It was he (Abu Bakr) himself,who fled from the battle of Uhud 3 as did Omar 4 and left the prophet to die at that terrible hour where the helpers became rare and banner of the Muslims declined.Only eight persons promised the prophet to die for him;three from the Muhajireen and five from the Ansar,whom Abu Bakr was not one of as it was mentioned by the historians. 5 in fact no one of the historians mentioned that he ever fought in that situation any kind of fighting.6

Why was he with the returning people not fled ? was not fighting the duty at that moment where the number of the defenders was not enough to stand against th e enemy,who struck the prophet with many strikes that made him offer the prayers while sitting?

We all might know that if some one was in the middle of battle field,he would not be safe from death by his enemy,unless he fled or he actually defended himself in the battle. Since Abu Bakr did not do any of these two things and yet he was safe, so it would mean that an opponent stopping in front of his enemy without defending and his enemy did not kill him.Did the polythiests pitied Abu Bakr and did not pity Muhammad, Ali, az-Zubayr,Abu Dijana and Sahl bin Hunayf? I have not reasonable interpretation for this situation except to say that he might stand beside the prophet and got a safe place because it was the farthest point from the dangers as the prophet was then surrounded by his sincere companions.This was not unlikely because we knew Abu Bakr's tact.He always liked to be beside the prophet (s) was the safest where the sincerest Muslims safeguarded and defended him devotedly.

If you studied the life of Imam Ali and the life of Abu Bakr,would you find in the life of the first any kind of extinction in his sincerity or a weakness in his rush for the sacrifice or lending on ease and comfort at the hour of the sacred war? Let you ponder again,would you find any languor? (Then turn back the eye again and again; your look shall come back to you confused while it is fatiguard. 67:4), because he would find splendor and death defiance in the way of Allah that you would never find the like and you would find a man that falsehood would never come to,neither from before him nor from behind him.He had the readiness for eternality like his great teacher Muhammad because they were but one! Then if you study the life of Abu Bakr during the prophet's lifetime, will you find but weakness and ineffectuality in the ideoligical life and in the military life? It was clear when he fled from the
battle of Uhud and the battle of Hunayn 7 and it was clear from his lagging to fo his duty when the prophet ordered him to go with the army under the leadership of Ussama8 and from his defeat at Khaybar when the prophet (s) sent him as the leader of an army to occupy the fort of the jews and he fled back.Then prophet sent Omar,who did the same as his friend.9 In that terrible situation the enthusiasm of Omar and his wonderful heroism during the peacetime, with which Islam became so strong as they claimed, evaporated. Omar went back with his follows, one cowarding the other.10 Then the prophet (s) said:"Tomorrow I will give the barner to a man,whom Allah and His messenger love and he loves Allah and His Messenger not to come back untill he wins".11 The prophet, in his speech, gave a hint to crush the feelings of the two unsuccessful leaders and a frank pride on great Ali, who loved Allah and His Messenger and Allah and His Messenger loved him.12

O you the two caliphs of the Muslims-or of some of the Muslims, did your prophet,whom you replaced,behave so? Did not you learn from him some of his lessons in jihad and suffering for the sake of Allah? Was not in your companionship with his for two decades any deterrent preventing you from doing what you did? Did not you hear the Quran,which you were entrusted with to guard and to spread its high idealities, saying : ( And whoever shall turn back to them on that day, unless he turn aside for the sake of fighting or withdraw to a company, then he, indeed becomes deserving of Allah's wrath, and his abode is hell;and an evil destination shall it be) 8;16.

You might agree with me that the important position of Abu Bakr and Omar in Islam made them above committing the prohibited fleeing,so they have interpreted and found an excuse for their fleeing.We know that the space of interpretation was wide for the caliph Abu Bakr like when he justified the sin of Khalid bin al-Waleed when he killed a Muslim intendedly by saying: " He (Khalid) issued a fatwa but he misjudged".13

We may apologized if what we have said above requires an apology, but we were obliged to mention that because the Fatimite comparison needed detailed explanations.

____________
1- A-Tabari mentioned in his Tareekh , vol.2 p.65-66 that when imam Ali had killed (the keeper s of the banners ),the prophet noticed some of the polythesis of Quraysh and said to Ali : Attack them "Ali attack them He scatered them and killed Amr bin Abdullah aj-Jumahi.Then the prophet noticed another group of the polytheists of Quraysh. He said to Ali :Attack them" Ali attacked them. He scattered them and killed Shayba bin malik. Gabriel said : o messenger of Allah this is the real support " the prophet said : "He is from me and Iam from him " saying : " No sword but thulfaghar, and no youth but Ali ".Let us think of the prophet's answer to notice how he raised Ali above the concept of support that required multipilicity : Muhammad and Ali , to the unity and mixture when he said : "He is from me and I am from him " he did not want to separate Imam Ali from himself because they were a unity that did never separate. Allah had made this unity as exmple for the human beings to imitate and for the heroes and reformers to be guided according to his light to get the top of highness.I do not know how the companions or some of them tried to dissemble this unity and to put between these two heroes three persons (the three caliphs,Abu Bakr, Omar and Othman) that they had better not to seperate between Muhammad and Ali.

2- Oyoonul Athar by ibn Sayyid an-Nass, vol.1p.336.

3- As it was mentioned in the booksof the Shia.

4- Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol.3 p. 389-390.

5- Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol.3 p.388 and al-Imta' by al Maqreezi p.132.

6- Sharh Nahjul Balagha, vol.3 p.389.

7- Refer to as-Seera al-Halabiya,vol.2p.126 and refer to al-Bukhari's Sahih,vol.3 p.67.Al-Bukhari mentioned that someone of those, who fought in the battle of Hunayn, had said : "The Muslims fled and Ifled with them. I saw Omar among them. I said to him : What is wrong with the people? He said : it is the will of Allah. This showed that Omar was among the fleers.

8- As-Seera al-Halabiya,vol. 3 and ibn Sa'd's Tabaqat, vol.2 p.248-250.

9- Ahmad's Musnad, vol. 5 p.253, al-hakim's Mustadrak, vol. 3 p. 27,kanzul Ommal, vol.6 p. 394 and at-Tabari's Tareekh, vol. 2 p.136.

10- This was Ali's descriptionof the failed leader and the languid soldiers, who knew the weakness of each other; therefore they began to terrify the situation in order to find an excuse for their fight. Refer to at-Tabari's Tareekh, vol.2, p.136.

11- Al-Bukhari's Sahih,vol. 5 p. 18, Ahmad's Musnad,vol. 5 p. 353, at-Tirmithi's Sahih, vol.5 p. 596 and Muslim's Sahih, vol.4 p. 1873.

12- It was very probable that the army, which Ali led to conquer the Jewish colony, was the same army, which fled a day ago. We understand from this the great effect of t he leader on his army and t he connection between their feelings and his.Ali could make those soldiers, who cowarded Omar is the previous attack, victorious heroes by pouring in their souls some of his great soul effusing with enthusiasm and sincerity.

13- At-Tabari's Tareekh,vol.2 p.273 . Omar said to Abu Bakr : " in khalid 's sward there is justice . if it is not right , he deserves to be punished " He insisted on that .... Abu Bakr said "O umar,excuse him ! He interpreted and misjudged ".Refer to tareekh of ibn Shuhna printed on the margins of al-kamil , vol.11p.114.