4 of 5 · Dhu al-Hijjah 23 AH · November 644 CE · Madinah
'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf رضي الله عنه
The Choice After 'Umar
When 'Umar was stabbed, he refused to name a successor directly. He appointed a council of six of the ten promised Paradise, those with whom the Prophet ﷺ had died pleased, and told them to choose one among themselves within three days (Sahih al-Bukhari 3700).
'Abd al-Rahman proposed that the council members hand the decision to a smaller group, and then offered to withdraw his own name so that he could make the choice. He spent three days and nights consulting everyone he could reach, including men, women, elders, the people of the garrisons and those who had come on pilgrimage.
At the end of the third day he asked 'Ali and 'Uthman in turn whether they would rule by the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, and the practice of Abu Bakr and 'Umar. 'Uthman said yes; 'Ali said that he would strive to follow the Book and the Sunnah and his own best judgment. 'Abd al-Rahman then pledged allegiance to 'Uthman, and the people followed.
A trustworthy person is willing to give up the chance to rule in order to choose well.
Have you ever stepped aside so that someone else could be chosen fairly?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3700 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- al-Tabari, Tarikh al-Rusul wa'l-MulukHistorical report
- Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa'l-NihayahHistorical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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