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At the time of his death, the Second Caliph left the matter of Caliphate between six persons. Yes! This had to happen because whenever anyone strays away from his natural path, then it is necessary that their conditions will change for the worse and they will fall into trouble. But with reference to this Shura, we shall present some explanation and derive conclusions from it. We shall prove that this was absolutely in contravention to Quran, hadith and Ijma. Please note! I request you to ponder deeply on this matter: It is very clear that the Second Caliph appointed such persons to the Shura to ensure that Hazrat Ali (a.s.) does not attain caliphate. Because Abdur Rahman bin Auf, for his worldly gains, despaired of Ali (a.s.) and sided with Uthman.

Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqaas was his cousin and held the same views. Since Talha bin Abdullah was from the Bani Tamim, he did not vote for Ali (a.s.). Finally Uthman considered himself the most deserving for the post!

Thus, from the members of Shura, Ali (a.s.) only had the support of Zubair. This situation has been elucidated by Amirul Momineen (a.s.) in Nahjul Balaghah using metaphors and similes. But we have heard the oft-mentioned traditions that the Second Caliph said, "If Ali hadn't been there, Umar would have perished." Notwithstanding his confession at Ghadeer Khum, "Without Ali, Umar did not take a decision. Congratulations to Abul Hasan! You have become my master and the master of all believing men and women."

Astounding! Though he confesses that if Ali (a.s.) had not been present, he would have perished and in the absence of that lofty personality, Umar never took a decision, and even after accepting the fact that Ali (a.s.) was the master of all believers, Umar acted in a manner opposed to it. What type of a contradictory behavior is it and how terrible consequences emerged from it?

There are such shameful pages of history that I am unable to quote them. Yes! The result of this contradictory action was that Abdul Rehman in a gesture of flattery, appointed Uthman bin Affan to Caliphate!

Masoor bin Mukhrema, the nephew (sister's son) of Abdur Rahman, reports, "This time we had not imagined that anyone except Ali bin Abi Talib will be the Caliph. We were sure that the next day we will see Ali at the seat of Caliphate. But my uncle Abdur Rahman went from door to door and mobilized the support of people like Amr-e-Aas and Mughirah bin Shu'bah. At dawn, we heard that Uthman and not Ali (a.s.) had attained the Caliphate!"

Inter alia, we can comment on the statement of Ghazzali that he said: Justifying the deeds of the companions is necessary. But I say, "Justification or no justification -each character is recorded in history and we can simply refer to it. I don't consider the beliefs of Ghazzali to be an obstacle in the fulfillment of my duty to justify or run down someone's deeds because history is itself the judge of the time.

Adapted from: Analysis of the History of Aale Muhammad (pbuh)" by: "Qadi Bohlool Afandi"