"Verses of Ghadir" by: Al-Mustafa Center for Islamic Researches
The Holy Prophet (S)’s Succession Being a Simple Theme
The question of holding the Holy Prophet (S)’s position after his decease is simple, not complicated. The Ahl al-Bayt and their Shi`ah –followers- claim the Holy Prophet (S)’s nominating Imam `Ali (a.s.) as Muslims’ next leader and it is thus unacceptable for people of Quraysh,14 or any others, to choose anyone else since the Holy Prophet (S)’s nomination was only the conveyance of the Lord’s instruction. People of Quraysh, unfortunately, denied this nomination a few hours after the Holy Prophet (S)’s demise15 claiming that the Holy Prophet (S)’s ‘authority’ should be distributed among the twenty-three clans of Quraysh. Therefore, they selected Abu-Bakr who belonged to the Qurayshite clan of Taym ibn Murrah for the leadership. This man nominated `Umar ibn al-Khattab who belonged to the Qurayshite clan of `Adi as his successor. By the so-called Shura (the Advisory Council), `Umar nominated another Qurayshite man who belonged to the clan of Umayyah ibn `Abd-Shams, namely `Uthman ibn `Affan, as his successor.
They neither elected any of Ansar,16 because they were not from Quraysh and thus had no right in the authority of the Qurayshite Prophet (S), nor any of the Hashimites17 though they were the worthiest of this position, because they were, in the view of the conspirators against the leadership of Islam, just like the other Qurayshite clans most of whom did not want for the Hashimites to win the position of leadership after they had won the ‘position of Prophethood’!