In His Name, the Most High

"Adhere to my sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly-guided successors after me. Hold on to it and cling on to it stubbornly.
ﻓﻌﻠﻴﻜﻢ ﺑﺴﻨﺘﻲ ﻭﺳﻨﺔ ﺍﻟﺨﻠﻔﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﻤﻬﺪﻳﻴﻦ ﺍﻟﺮﺍﺷﺪﻳﻦ ﺗﻤﺴﻜﻮﺍ ﺑﻬﺎ
ﻭﻋﻀﻮﺍ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﺑﺎﻟﻨﻮﺍﺟﺬ
(al-Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah)


This was the hadith quoted by a sunni friend when I was asked why do I prostrate on Turba (a sand or clay tablet) while performing my salat. I was told it was never in the sunnah of Muhammad and the sunnah of the 4-rightly guided caliph to prostrate on a sand tablet for their sujud; and a good muslim is urged to hold on to 'the sunnah of Muhammad and sunnah of rightly-guided khalifa. He concluded by saying: "as we all know the 4-rightly-guided caliph are Abu Bakar, Umar, Uthman and Ali".

This is a typical belief of muslim majority as its an age-long belief passing through the generations.

The hadith is of different versions but all pointed to the summary quoted above.

NB: This is not an avenue to dissect who should be among the rightly guided caliph and of what criteria or the scrutiny of the so-called 'hadith of merits'. I simply limit this article to the baseless argument of saying Khulafai Rashidun were 4 and their names and order were spell out.

ACCEPTANCE

*The fact that this hadith or other versions was never recorded in the two sunni "most authentic book of hadith"....

*The fact that 98% of its versions were narrated by al-Irbadd ibn Sariya whom many Sunni scholars dubbed liar and many accepted his narration...

*The fact that all the versions of this hadith pointed to the fact that it was part of the last sermon of the holy prophet (saws) whereby we expect large gathering of sahaba to heard him and naturally relate the saying rather than a one-man-narrator...

*The fact that question might be asked: Is there a difference in the sunnah of the holy prophet (saws) and that of the rightly guided caliph?

For the sake of brevity, I tend to concur with this hadith and even made a justification for it in the fact that Qur'an says:

"Obey Allah, and Obey the prophet and THOSE WHO ARE VESTED IN AUTHORITY (ulul Amr) among you"

We can rationally deduced that the "ulul- Amr" mention here are the same with "khulafau Rashidun(rightly-guided caliph)" in the hadith above. And it is not that they have a sunnah different from that of their master -Muhammad (saws) but we can reason that matters might arise after the demise of the holy prophet which he didn't directly give a verdict into but the understanding of the sunnah of the prophet should give a better sense of judgment to the Rightly guided caliph.

REFUTATIONS

*We challenge all the Sunni scholars (past and present) of this world to provide just a SINGLE hadith (even if its a weak one) where the holy prophet (saws) said the "khulafai Rashidun" were FOUR!

*The door of dialogue and refutation is widely open for Sunni scholars to provide us even a weak hadith where the holy prophet made mention of their names and in that order: Abu Bakar - Umar - Uthman - Ali.

If the holy prophet neither say they were FOUR nor made mention of their name or arrangement; what audacity does anybody has to say they were 4 and even mention their names and orderliness?

This is self-interest rather than lying against the prophet.

Some scholars reasoned that truly the holy prophet never made mention of their names or orderliness but the merit he gave each of them speak volume to their orderliness as sunni claimed.

I say: This is erronous.

* Even during the appointment of Abu Bakar at the Saqifah where many drew out their swords and had heated debate as to who should be appointed as Muhammad's successor (while the lifeless body of their prophet was not yet buried), Neither Abu Bakar nor Umar put forth such argument to make a claim for themselves.

*Equally, why did Caliph Umar not made such argument to appoint his successor at his death bed rather he appointed a six-man Shura committee to appoint one among themselves? Remember, Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf asked Imam Ali (a.s): "If you will abide by the Sunnah of the prophet and those of the two sheikhs (Abu Bakar and Umar), then you will become the next Caliph)". Imam Ali refused and said: "whatever I find not in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the prophet, I would rather use my own sense of judgment".

Uthman on the other hand accepted and he was declared the successor of Umar.

So where does the so-called "merit" applied in ordering them?

As contrary to the sunni self-acclaimed Number FOUR being the number of Khulafau Rashidun, the holy prophet (saws) ordered muslims to follow TWELVE successors as stated in the following hadiths:

I) Sahih Bukhari:
Narrated Jabir bin Samura: I heard Muhammad saying, "There will be twelve Muslim rulers." He then said a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, "All of
them (those rulers) will be from Quraish."( ^ Sahih Bukhari 89.329)

2)Sahih Muslim :
Narrated Jabir bin Samura: I heard Muhammad saying, "The (Islamic) religion will continue until the Hour (day of resurrection), having twelve Caliphs for you, all of them will be from Quraysh."[ Sahih Muslim :Book 020: Number 4477, 4478,
4480, 4481, 4482, 4483]

3)Sunan Abu Dawood :
The Prophet said: "This religion remains standing until there are twelve vicegerents over you, all of them agreeable to the nation, all of them from Quraysh." [Sunan Abu Dawood : Book 36: Number 4266]

4)Sunan al-Tirmidhi :
The Prophet said: "There will be after me twelve Amir (Prince/Ruler), all of them from Quraysh." [ Sunan al-Tirmidhi (Arabic) Chapter of Fitan, 2:45 (India) and 4:501 Tradition # 2225 (Egypt) Hadith
#2149 (numbering of al-'Alamiyyah)]

NB: these hadith are plentiful but those four were mention for the sake of brevity.

We (Shia) have over many centuries after the demise of the holy prophet (saws) presented our 12 Imams as being successor of the holy prophet, it is alarming that Ahl Sunna wal Jama'a (past or present) have NEVER reach any conclusion as who were those 12 as many of their Khalifas were monsters, murderers, adulterers and devil incarnates.

Wa Salam Alaykum

Hmm