It is sometimes asked why the Prophet\u2019s Companions ignored his clear designation of \u02bfAl\u012b as his successor and the leader of the believers. After all, it was his Companions who accompanied him on his preaching and military expeditions, and not long had passed between the Prophet\u2019s speech at Ghad\u012br and his death. In the present Chapter, we will attempt to answer this question by studying history and seeing that the Companions did not always follow the Prophet\u2019s commands; ignoring the proclamation of Ghad\u012br was only one instance of their disobedience.<\/p>\n
The Prophet appointed \u02bfAl\u012b as his successor because this was God\u2019s command and to prevent any contest for leadership of the community upon his death. In such a situation, one may wonder why the Companions, who had made so many sacrifices for the sake of Islam, ignored the Prophet\u2019s order concerning Imam \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s authority and bestowed leadership of the Muslims upon others.<\/p>\n
An exAm\u012bnation of the Prophet\u2019s Companions exposes the fact that, in spite of all the praise given them, many of them did not fully submit to All\u0101h and sometimes would prefer their own personal decisions over God\u2019s orders. Many instances of their disobedience can be found in both the verses of the Qur\u2019an and in the\u00a0a\u1e25\u0101d\u012bth<\/em>, all of these have been recorded in Sayyid Sharaf al-D\u012bn\u2019s book,\u00a0al-Na\u1e63\u1e63 wa al-Ijtih\u0101d.<\/em>\u00a0And some of the cases will be considered below.<\/p>\n A verse of\u00a0S\u016brat al-M\u0101\u02beida<\/em>\u00a0shows that some of the Prophet\u2019s Companions did not always accept his judgments fully: \u2018But no, by your Lord! They will not believe until they make you a judge in their disputes, then do not find within their hearts any dissent to your verdict and submit in full submission.\u2019 (Q4:65). The Qur\u2019an stresses that acceptance of the Prophet\u2019s judgments is a sign of a person\u2019s belief in God, while rejecting his judgments would make them into disbelievers. This warning assumes a lack of absolute obedience to the Prophet\u2019s decisions and judgments.<\/p>\n During the Battle of Badr, some Muslims took some disbelievers captive in order to ransom them for money, while this should not have been done until after the war was over. God criticized their action by revealing the following verse: \u2018Had it not been for a prior decree of All\u0101h, surely there would have befallen you a great punishment for what you took\u2019 (Q8:68). This verse applies to the Prophet\u2019s Companions who took part in the Battle of Badr, some of whom were amongst Islam\u2019s finest martyrs. If these Companions disobeyed God in this way, what could we say about the lesser Companions?<\/p>\n In the year 3\/624, Ab\u016b Sufy\u0101n was preparing to attack Medina and encamped his forces at mount Uhud. The Prophet assembled an army to fight them and ordered fifty troops, led by \u02bfAbd All\u0101h b. Jubayr, to take up positions at a place called Jabal \u02bfAynayn to protect the Muslim army rear from attack. The Prophet insisted that they stay there no matter whether the Muslims were defeated or victorious. Notwithstanding the Prophet\u2019s insistence, forty of the archers decided that their presence in that location was unnecessary and, seeing that the Muslims were about to defeat the enemy, abandoned their positions, against their commander\u2019s advice, to collect booty. As a result, Kh\u0101lid b. Wal\u012bd, leading the enemy cavalry, took the opportunity to attack the unprotected location and kill the remaining ten soldiers before attacking the Muslims\u2019 army from behind and turning their victory into a defeat (Ibn Hish\u0101m,\u00a0S\u012bra<\/em>\u00a03\/83).<\/p>\n In the year 6\/627, the Prophet set out for Mecca to perform the rites of \u1e24ajj along with some of his Companions, but they were not equipped for warfare. When they reached a place called \u1e24udaybiyya, which was on the edge of Mecca at that time, the disbelievers did not allow them to pass. For this reason, both sides agreed that no \u1e24ajj should be carried out that year but that the following year the Muslims would be allowed to perform their rituals. \u02bfUmar b. Kha\u1e6d\u1e6d\u0101b was displeased with the agreement and furiously asked, \u2018Will not this agreement be a disgrace to us in our religion?\u2019 (Ibn Hish\u0101m,\u00a0S\u012bra<\/em> 2: 317). \u02bfUmar and his like-minded friends were persuaded after talking to the Prophet, and the future events revealed that the agreement produced many benefits to the Muslims and Islam. Only two years after the agreement, Mecca was captured by the Muslims, and Ka\u02bfba was cleared of idols.<\/p>\n When the Prophet lay on his deathbed, he decided to send an army to fight a Byzantine force that was threatening Medina. He gathered an army, made Us\u0101ma b. Zayd their commander and ordered him to leave as soon as possible. He was so insistent about doing this that, in spite of his severe illness, he repeatedly said, \u2018Prepare the army of Us\u0101ma! God\u2019s curse be upon those who stay behind!\u2019 This event divided the Muslims into two groups: those who insisted on leaving and those who insisted on staying. The latter group argued that the Prophet\u2019s health was worsening and they could not tolerate being away from him. They wanted to stay until the Prophet\u2019s situation became stable (Shahrist\u0101n\u012b, Milal wa Nihal<\/em>\u00a01\/29\u201330). \u1e6cabar\u012b, describing the events of 11\/632, reports that some of the Companions did not think Us\u0101ma capable of leading the army and therefore refused to accompany him in the war. When the Prophet heard of this disobedience, he said, \u2018He is worthy of commanding the army. You used to say the same things before while he was capable of commanding\u2019 (\u1e6cabar\u012b,\u00a0T\u0101r\u012bkh<\/em>, 2\/29).<\/p>\n There is also another instance of the Companions\u2019 disobedience which concerns the last days of the Prophet\u2019s life. According to Ibn \u02bfAbb\u0101s, when the Prophet\u2019s health was deteriorating in the last few days of his life, he bid those assembled: \u2018Bring me ink and paper, so I can write something to prevent you from going astray!\u2019 \u02bfUmar commented that the Prophet was extremely ill and that the Book of God was enough for them. Thus, a commotion erupted between those who insisted on bringing ink and paper and others who refused. The Prophet who was angry with the commotion and quarrel, ordered, \u2018Stand up and go away! How could you quarrel before me? Ibn \u02bfAbb\u0101s adds, \u2018All troubles started on this day when they did not let the Prophet write his letter\u2019 (Bukh\u0101r\u012b,\u00a0Kit\u0101b al-\u02bfIlm<\/em>, tradition no. 114).<\/p>\n The above cases were a number of the Prophet\u2019s Companions\u2019 clear disobedience of his decisions, orders, and judgments, all of which reveal that ignoring the Prophet\u2019s orders was not an uncommon occurrence among his Companions and they could easily disagree with the Prophet\u2019s designation of \u02bfAl\u012b as his successor. With the length of time separating us from the Prophet\u2019s days, we might wrongly believe that his Companions always submitted to God and the Prophet\u2019s orders while, in fact, they were originally disbelievers who had converted to Islam. Some of them simply submitted to the divine orders and some of them were usually thinking of their own personal gain and interests. At least, we may say that not all those Companions were innocent or infallible.<\/p>\n Another set of instances which demonstrate the lack of complete submission to divine commands on the part of the Companions and show that they would sometimes follow their own interests, or that they accepted divine orders only as long as they were in line with their own benefits is the fact that, after the Prophet\u2019s death, they distorted some of the Islamic teachings claiming that the changes were intended to reform those teachings.<\/p>\n One of the innovations they introduced to the religion involved adding something to the call to prayer (adh\u0101n<\/em>). According to M\u0101lik in his\u00a0Muwa\u1e6d\u1e6da\u02be<\/em>, once, when the muezzin came to wake \u02bfUmar up for\u00a0fajr<\/em>\u00a0prayers, he said to \u02bfUmar: \u2018Prayer is better than sleep,\u2019 and \u02bfUmar thought that it would be a good idea to add this phrase to the call to prayer (tradition no. 6). Zarq\u0101n\u012b, in his annotations on the\u00a0Muwa\u1e6d\u1e6da\u02be<\/em>, reports that \u02bfAbd All\u0101h b. \u02bfUmar heard his father say to the muezzin, \u2018Whenever you get to the phrase \u2018Hasten to success\u2026\u2019 (\u1e25ayy \u02bfal\u0101 al-fal\u0101\u1e25<\/em>) add \u2018Prayer is better than sleep\u2019 (al-sal\u0101t khayr min al-nawm<\/em>) twice!\u2019 (Zarq\u0101n\u012b, 1\/150).<\/p>\n Another shameful event is when the Companions deprived the Prophet\u2019s daughter, F\u0101\u1e6dima, of her inheritance. The Qur\u2019an stipulates that a dead person\u2019s children inherit their remaining belongings. It also refers to some Prophets\u2019 children inheriting from their fathers. In other verses still, the Qur\u2019an speaks about Solomon inheriting from David: \u2018Solomon inherited from David, and he said, \u201cO people! We have been taught the speech of the birds, and we have been given out of everything. Indeed this is a manifest advantage.\u201d\u2019 (Q27:16). In another verse, God reminds us of the fact that Zechariah asked God for a child to inherit from him: \u2018Indeed I fear my kinsmen, after me, and my wife is barren. So grant me from Yourself an heir, who may inherit from me and inherit from the House of Jacob, and make him, my Lord, pleasing (to You)!\u2019\u2019 (Q19:5\u20136). These verses shed light on the fact that the Prophets\u2019 children inherit from their fathers. Of course, these verses refer to the inheritance of material possessions, not knowledge or prophethood, because these are not inheritable. Otherwise, Zakariya\u2019s prayer to God to make his child \u2018and make him, my Lord, pleasing (to You)!\u2019 would not make sense because God\u2019s prophets are definitely pure people with whom God is pleased.<\/p>\n Against all of these verses, the First Caliph, Ab\u016b Bakr, claimed to have heard the Prophet say, \u2018We prophets do not leave an inheritance.\u2019 Based on this alleged \u1e25ad\u012bth, Ab\u016b Bakr deprived F\u0101\u1e6dima of her inheritance. If this were true teaching of Islam, the Prophet would certainly have told his children as inheritors about this. It is strange to see that the Prophet\u2019s wives inherited the houses in which they used to live, whereas his daughter was not allowed to receive any inheritance. Even if we admitted the authenticity of the \u1e25ad\u012bth, the Prophet may have meant that the Prophets are not rich worldly people to leave a great fortune behind when they die, while the simple things such as rugs, dishes, and clothes, certainly belong to their inheritors after the Prophets die.<\/p>\n According to the Qur\u2019an, when Muslims win booty in wars against the disbelievers, they should give away one-fifth of it:<\/p>\n \u2018Know that whatever thing you may come by, a fifth of it is for All\u0101h and the Messenger, for the relatives and the orphans, for the needy and the traveler, if you have faith in All\u0101h and what We sent down to Our servant on the Day of Separation, the day when the two hosts met; and All\u0101h has power over all things.\u2019 (Q8:41)<\/p>\n After the Prophet\u2019s death, when the booty came to Medina, the Caliph cut this share (A\u1e25mad b. \u1e24anbal 1: 348 and Qurtubi 8:10).<\/p>\n Another change to the Islamic practices was the cutting of the payment to those who were supposed to be kept from hostility towards Islam. As far as Qur\u2019anic instructions are concerned,\u00a0zak\u0101t<\/em>\u00a0is supposed to be divided between a number of groups: 1) the poor 2) the needy 3) the\u00a0zak\u0101t<\/em>\u00a0collectors 4) those whose hearts are to be reconciled, 5) freeing slaves 6) debtors 7) charities and 8) wayfarers who were without means (Q9:60). After the Prophet\u2019s death, they refused to pay the share of the fourth group, arguing that Muslims no longer needed to reconcile the hearts of those people and that paying them was only acceptable at the time when Islam did not have enough power, but that now the Muslims were powerful this could be dispensed with.<\/p>\n The above cases are only a handful of the Companions\u2019 contraventions of clear divine orders, which prove that ignoring the Prophet\u2019s order concerning Imam \u02bfAl\u012b\u2019s leadership was not a strange or farfetched affair.<\/p>\nResistance to the Prophet\u2019s Decisions and Judgments<\/h2>\n
Disobedience at the Battle of Badr<\/h4>\n
Disobedience in the battle of Uhud<\/h4>\n
Objections to the Treaty of \u1e24udaybiyya<\/h4>\n
The Army of Us\u0101ma<\/h4>\n
The Calamity on Thursday<\/h4>\n
Distorting Islamic teachings<\/h2>\n
Changes to the Call to Prayer for Fajr<\/h4>\n
Depriving the Prophet\u2019s daughter of her inheritance<\/h4>\n
Cutting \u2018the share of the Prophet\u2019s Family\u2019<\/h4>\n
Cutting the \u2018share of those whose hearts are to be reconciled\u2019<\/h4>\n