English translation of Maktubat Imam Rabbani (selective 100) | Mujaddid Alf sani | Sheikh Ahmad sirhindi

www.Love-Real.com info@love-real.com

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 |

Hamd be to Allahu ta'ala. Salam to the slaves whom He has chosen! Our Prophet 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' asked for paper on his deathbed. "Fetch me paper! I will write a book for you lest you go wrong after me," he ordered. Hadrat 'Umar, together with a few other Sahabis, said, "The book of Allahu ta'ala will suffice for us! Let us ask him if he is talking in his sleep." However, Rasulullah's 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam' each word was wahy. As a matter of fact, the third ayat of Wannajmi Sura purports, "He does not talk nonsense. He always states the wahy." It causes disbelief to refuse the wahy. As a matter of fact, forty-fourth ayat of Maida Sura purports, "Those who disobey what Allahu ta'ala has sent are disbelievers." Furthermore, to think that the Prophet 'sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam' may talk in his sleep or such nonsense undermines the belief in him and the trust in his Shariat, a case which is also disbelief, being zindiq. How should we reconcile these important facts?

May Allahu ta'ala increase your understanding. May He bless you with the lot of walking on the right way! If those who strive to denigrate the three Khalifas and the other Sahabis by bringing forward such doubts become reasonable and realize the honor and value of the sohbat of the Best of Mankind and if they know that the Sahaba 'alaihimurridwan' had gotten rid of the desires of their nafs completely and had been purified from such bad habits as grudge and enmity by benefiting from this sohbat; that they were all great men of the din and Islam's eyeapples; that they strove with their utmost to strengthen the din and to help the Best of Mankind, that they sacrificed all their property to exalt Islam; that they left and sacrificed their clans and tribes, their children and wives, their homes and homelands, their waterways, fields, trees and rivers, for their excessive love of Rasulullah 'alaihissalam', that they loved Rasulullah 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' more than their own lives; that they were honored with seeing the wahy, the angel; that they saw miracles and wonders; that they realized by seeing what should be believed without seeing; that what is knowledge for others was experience for them; and that they are praised and lauded by Allahu ta'ala in the Qur'an, they will realize that these doubts are sheer fibs, and they will pay no heed to them. They will not even consider it necessary to find out the unsound places in these fibs or to eliminate the wrong points in them. All the Sahaba have this superiority. How could we ever describe the superiority of the Khulafa-i rashidin, the four Khalifas, who are the most superior among them? Hadrat 'Umar 'radiAllahu anh' is such an 'Umar that Allahu ta'ala declared to His Messenger about him: "O my Prophet! Allah and those Believers who follow you will suffice for you!" in the sixty-fourth ayat of Anfal Sura. Hadrat Abdullah Ibni Abbas informs that the ayat was revealed upon Hadrat 'Umar's conversion to Islam. Such slanders fabricated about the Sahaba are based on no truth. They are contrary to the obvious, known facts. They are refuted by the Qur'an and by hadiths. However, lest the question should go unanswered and in order to expound the unsound places in the doubtful words, I have deemed it suitable to write a few prefaces with the help of Allahu ta'ala. Read carefully! A few prefaces are necessary to remove the doubt entirely. Each of the prefaces can serve as an answer.

First Preface: Not every thought or every word of our Prophet's conveyed wahy. The ayat, "He does not talk nonsense," in Wannajmi Sura is about the Qur'an. The books of tafsir write so, too. If his each word had conveyed the wahy, Allahu ta'ala would not have informed that some of his words were wrong. Nor would He have communicated that He had forgiven them. Allahu ta'ala declares to His beloved Prophet in the forty-third ayat of Tawba Sura, "Allahu ta'ala has forgiven you for your fault of giving permission to them."

Second Preface: In words through ijtihad and in decisions made by the mind, it was permissible to object to Sarwar 'alaihi wa ala alaihissalawat wattaslimat' and to disagree with him. The second ayat of Hashr Sura purports, "O you owners of wisdom, take warning from others!" [It is written in the tafsir of Baidawi that it is inferred from this ayat that qiyas is permissible and necessary.] It is commanded in the hundred and fifty-ninth ayat of Al-i 'Imran Sura, "In your work consult your Sahaba!" While taking warning and while consulting, opinions and words can be refused and changed. As a matter of fact, in the holy war of Badr there were two different opinions: to kill the slaves captured or to set them free in return for money. Hadrat 'Umar was of the opinion that they should be killed. The Prophet suggested to set them free. The wahy that was revealed concurred with Hadrat 'Umar's proposition. It was declared that it was a guilt to take money. Our Prophet declared: "If torment had come upon us, none of us would have been saved, except 'Umar and Sad bin Muaz." For, Sad 'radi-Allahu ta'ala 'anh' also had wanted the slaves to be killed.

[The holy war of Badr took place in the month of Ramadan in the second year of the Hegira. The Muslim fighters left the city of Medina on the twelfth day of the month of Ramadan. They stayed in Badr for three nights. They returned to Medina in nineteen days. In this ghaza (holy war) the enemy army was about a thousand strong. They all wore armors of iron. There were a hundred horsemen and seven hundred camel-riders among them. Mus'ab bin Umayr was carrying the white banner of the muhajirs. Abu Aziz, Mus'ab's brother, Abdurrahman bin Abu Bakr Siddiq, Hadrat Abu Huzaifa's father, Utba, his brother, Walid, his uncle, Shayba, Hadrat Ali's brother, Uqayl, his uncle, Abbas, his uncle Haris's sons, Abu Sufyan and Nawfal, and Rasulullah's son-in-law, Abul As bin Rabi, were in the enemy army. Seventy of the unbelievers were killed. And seventy were captured. The Muslim army consisted of three hundred and thirteen soldiers, eight of whom were on duty somewhere else. Three hundred and five people took part in the war. Sixty-four of them were from the Muhajirs. There were three horsemen and seventy camel-riders. Fourteen people, six of whom from the Muhajirs, became martyrs. The names of the three hundred and thirteen people are written in the book Jaliyat-ul-Akdar, by Hadrat Khalid-i Baghdadi.]

Third Preface: It is possible that prophets err and forget. And it happened too. As it is related in the hadith of Zulyadayn, once Rasulullah 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' made the last salam after the second rakat of a prayer of namaz that was fard and which consisted of four rakats. Zulyadayn said: "O Rasulallah! You performed the namaz in two rakats. I wonder if you forgot (that it was of four rakats)?" It being realized that Zulyadayn was right, Rasulullah got up and performed two more rakats and then performed the sajda-i sahw. While it is possible for him to forget when he is not sick and he does not have any trouble whatsoever but just as a requirement of being human, it must certainly be possible for him to talk without thinking, unwillingly during his illness of death, when he is suffering severe pains, which is a requirement of being human. Why should it not be possible, and why shouldn't the Shariat be trusted any more only because of this? For, Allahu ta'ala informed His Prophet through wahy that he had erred and forgotten and distinguished what was right from what was wrong. For, it is not possible for a prophet to remain in error. He is immediately informed that he is wrong. If it were not so the Shariat would not be trusted at all. This means to say that what would cause the Shariat not to be trusted any more is not erring or forgetting, but its remaining without being informed or corrected after erring or forgetting. And this second case is not possible. That is, he will immediately be informed. Fourth Preface: Hadrat 'Umar - and the other three Khalifas 'radiAllahu ta'ala anhum', too - had been given the glad tidings that they would go to Paradise. The Qur'an and hadiths inform that they will go to Paradise. That they will go to Paradise has been said so often that it has become a tawatur. To disbelieve it is either vulgar ignorance or pig-headedness. Our imams of hadith wrote these pieces of information in their books, taking them from the Sahaba and from the Tabiin, who were their teachers. Even if all the hadith communicators of the seventy-two sects gathered together they would not equal one-hundredth of the savants of hadith of the Ahl as-sunnat Madhhab. That it does not exist in their books does not show that it does not exist at all. What will they say about the glad tidings in the Qur'an? For example, the hundred and third ayat of Tawba Sura purports, "Allahu ta'ala loves those who were first to become Believers, those who surpassed others in all kinds of virtue, also both the Muhajirs who came from Mecca and the Ansar who met them in Medina and helped them, also those who led in the front and those who followed them in goodness. He loves them all. And they love Allahu ta'ala, too. Allahu ta'ala has prepared Paradise for them. They will stay in Paradise eternally." The tenth ayat of Hadid Sura purports, "Those who warred against the unbelievers and spent their property in the way of Allah before Mecca was conquered and those who did these after the conquest of Mecca are not equal, they are not the same. The former group are surely higher. Allahu ta'ala has promised them all the Husna, that is, Paradise." Since those who warred and sacrificed their possessions before and after the blessed city of Mecca was conquered were blessed with the glad tidings of Paradise, what should be said about the greatest ones of the Sahaba, who surpassed all others in sacrificing their possessions, in jihad-i fi sabilillah and in being muhajirs? Who on earth could assess the degree of their greatness? It is written in books of tafsir that the expression, 'they are not the same,' in this ayat, was intended for Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddiq 'radiAllahu anh'. For, he is ahead of all those who are ahead in sacrificing possessions, in performing jihad. While explaining the glad tidings, "Certainly, Allahu ta'ala loves those Believers who have promised you under the tree," in the eighteenth ayat of Fat'h Sura in his book of tafsir titled Ma'alimut-Tanzil, Muhyissunna Imam-i Baghawi says: Jabir bin Abdullah 'radiAllahu anh', said that Rasulullah 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam' had stated, "None of those who promised me under the tree will go to Hell!" This unanimous promise is called Biat-urridwan. For, Allahu ta'ala loves them. [They were fourteen hundred people.] To say 'disbeliever' about a person who is blessed with the glad tidings of Paradise by the Qur'an and by hadiths causes disbelief and is the most detestable thing.

Fifth Preface: Hadrat 'Umar's preventing the others from bringing paper was not disobedience. May Allah protect us against such a situation! Our Prophet's viziers, assistants each had the best moral character. Would any of them ever do such irreverence? Even the lowest Sahabi who was honored with attending his sohbat once or twice or even any person who had been honored with iman and become one of his Ummat cannot be imagined to have disobeyed him. Can such a thing ever be thought about those great people who were among the greatest of the Muhajir and the Ansar and who were the dearest to him? May Allahu ta'ala make them reasonable enough not to think ill of those great men of the din and not to speak without due reflection, without understanding or observing the matter.

Hadrat 'Umar's purpose was to ask, to understand. As a matter of fact, he said, "Ask him." That is, he meant to say, "Bring the paper if he really wants it. If he does not want it, let us not bother him at this critical time." For, if he had wanted it through wahy or command, he would have asked for it again and with importance; he would have written what he had been commanded to. A prophet 'alaihissalam' has to announce the wahy. If his asking for the paper was not through wahy, through command, but if he was to write so out of ijtihad or because he wished so, that critical time might not be convenient to do it. His Ummat would do ijtihad after his death. Through ijtihad they would deduce commandments from the Qur'an, which is the basis of the din. While he was alive and the wahy was being revealed, his Ummat were doing ijtihad. The wahy being stopped after his death, it would certainly be acceptable for men of knowledge to do ijtihad. Our Prophet did not repeat or emphasize his demand for paper. On the contrary, he gave it up. Thus, it was realized that it was not wahy. It would never be wrong to hesitate for a while in order to see if it was a comment made in sleep. Angels wondered why Hadrat Adam became the Khalifa and in order to know they asked, as is purported in the thirtieth ayat of Baqara Sura: "O our Allah! Are you going to create slaves who will instigate faction and shed blood on the earth? We are saying our tasbih and hamd to Thee. We are paying our taqdis to Thee." Likewise, when Hadrat Zakariyya (a prophet) was given the good news that he would be given a son named Yahya, he said, as quoted in the eighth ayat of Maryam sura, "Is it ever possible for me to have a son? My wife is barren. And I have gotten old." And Hadrat Maryam 'radiAllahu anha', as quoted in the twentieth ayat of Maryam Sura, "Is it ever possible for me to have a child? I have never come together with a man. Nor have I ever sinned." While it is not considered as a sin for prophets, angels and the great to ask such questions, why should it be a fault that Hadrat 'Umar asked about the bringing of paper? Why should it put him into a doubtful position?

Sixth Preface: We have to have a good opinion about the Sahaba of our Prophet 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam'. We have to know that the best of times is his 'alaihi wa ala alihissalatu wassalam' time and that the Sahaba are the best, the highest people after prophets. Thus, it will be realized that after our Prophet's 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam' death the Sahaba, who are the best of all people, except for prophets, would not agree on something wrong and corrupt or put sinners and disbelievers in our Prophet's place. Why shouldn't all the Sahaba be superior to all other people, since the Qur'an declares that this Ummat is superior to all the past ummats? And they are the highest among this Ummat. No Wali can reach the grade of a Sahabi. Then, we should be reasonable and think well? If Hadrat 'Umar's preventing the paper from being brought had been disbelief, would Abu Bakr Siddiq 'radi-Allahu anh', who, as it is declared in the Qur'an, was the best Allah- fearing Muslim, have chosen him the Khalifa for his place? Would the Muhajirs and the Ansar have unanimously elected him the Khalifa? Allahu ta'ala praises the Muhajirs and the Ansar in the Qur'an. He informs that He likes all and promises Paradise to them all. Would they have elected him for the Prophet's place? If a person has a good opinion about the Sahaba of our Master, the Prophet, he will get rid of such loathsome suppositions and doubts. Loving requires a good opinion. If our Prophet's sohbat and those who attended the sohbat are not considered with a good opinion and if - may Allah protect us - they are slandered, this slandering blemishes the owner of the sohbat and the Sahaba. It even blemishes the Owner of the owner, [that is, Allahu ta'ala]. We should consider well how abominable such a case would be. It has been said that a person who slights the Sahaba has not believed in Allah's Prophet. For describing the greatness of the Sahaba, our Prophet 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam' stated, "He who loves them loves them because he loves me. He who bears hostility against them does so because he is my enemy." Then, to love the Sahaba means to love him.

When these six prefaces are comprehended there will no longer be any place for doubt. In fact, one will be equipped with various responses. These prefaces save one from doubt without any need to think. Besides, it is obvious that such doubts are out of place. The prefaces are intended not to explain the corruptness of such doubts, but to remind us of the fact which is so obvious. According to this faqir (Imam-i Rabbani means himself), such doubts can be exemplified as follows: If a clever person approaches a group of idiots and proves through various lies that a piece of gold happening to be in front of them at the moment is a piece of stone, the poor idiots, being unable to make out the unsound aspects of his lies because they do not understand that he is lying, will begin doubting. They will even begin thinking of the gold as stones. They will forget, or even disbelieve, what they have seen. But a clever person will believe what he sees clearly and will realize that the words disagreeing with it are wrong. Likewise, the Qur'an and hadiths have announced the greatness and the highness of the three Khalifas and even of all the Sahaba as obviously as the sun and shown it to everybody. Trying to traduce these great people through mendacious and falsely-adorned words is like misrepresenting the gold in front of the eyes as stone. O our Allah! After guiding us to the right way, do not let our hearts slip out of this way. Have mercy upon us! Only Thine mercy is so plentiful!

I wonder why they slander and speak ill of the great men of the din, who are Islam's eye- apples? It is not a worship, a virtue, a means to save one from Hell to speak ill of even one of those people who the Shariat calls disbelievers or sinners. What good is it, then, to slander those who helped the din, those who defended Islam? It is not commanded by the Shariat to curse even Abu Jahl or Abu Lahab, who were Rasulullah's great enemies. Perhaps it is more proper not to waste time mentioning their names.

Allahu ta'ala declares in the last ayat of Fat'h Sura, "They always do much good to one another." Then, to think that these great people were hostile against one another, to suppose that they bore grudges against one another, means to disbelieve the Qur'an. To say that they were hostile against one another and that they bore grudges against one another means to slander both sides and to cause them to fall out of favor and trust. It means to make the best people after the Prophets 'alaihimus-salawatu wattaslimat' the worst of people, to make the best of times the worst of times, if the people of that time are represented as having borne hostility and grudges against one another. Does anyone with iman ever say so or think so? In order to praise Hadrat Ali 'radiAllahu anh', to say that the three other Khalifas were hostile against him and that he bore grudges against them, too, means to slander both sides. Why should they not love one another? None of them had any ardent desire for the caliphate; why should they be hostile against one another, then? Abu Bakr Siddiq's word is well known: 'Excuse me from the caliphate." And Hadrat 'Umar said, "If there were anyone to buy it, I would sell this caliphate for one gold coin."

[Imam-i Rabbani 'rahmatullahi alaih' says in his book titled Radd-i Rawafid: Hadrat Ali admitted Abu Bakr Siddiq's caliphate willingly. The Shiis, who, too, knew this fact, had to say, "He admitted it unwillingly," and they said no more. However, after Rasulullah died, the Sahaba embarked on the job of appointing the Khalifa before the interment. They knew it was wajib, necessary. For, the Prophet had commanded that the guilty should be punished as it was prescribed by the Shariat, that they should be ready for war, in addition to other things which the government would do. It was wajib to elect the representative who would execute these wajibs. Therefore, Hadrat Abu Bakr 'radiAllahu anh' stood up and said, "If you worship Hadrat Muhammad, know that he passed away. If you worship Allahu ta'ala know that He never dies, His life is endless. You have to choose someone to carry out His commandments. Think, find, and choose!" Everybody said he was right. Hadrat 'Umar 'radiAllahu anh' immediately stood up and said, "We want you, o Aba Bakr!" All of those who were present there said, "We have elected you." Then Hadrat Abu Bakr mounted the minbar and looked around. "I cannot see Zubair. Call him," he said, When Zubair came Hadrat Abu Bakr said to him, "The Muslims have elected me as the Khalifa. Will you disagree with their unanimity?" "O you, the Messenger's Khalifa! I do not disagree with the unanimity," replied Zubair. He held out his hand in admittance. Then Hadrat Abu Bakr mounted the minbar and looked around. He could not see Hadrat Ali. He told others to call him. When Hadrat Ali came, he repeated his question to him, who, also, said, "I do not disagree," and held out his hand and did musafaha (shook hands in a manner prescribed by Islam) with him in admittance. Hadrat Ali and Zubair apologized to the Khalifa for being late for the election, and said, "We didn't come because we had not been notified in advance. We are sorry about it. We see that who is worthy of the caliphate among us is Abu Bakr. For, he was Rasulullah's companion in the cave. He is the most honored, the best of us. Rasulullah chose him as the imam from among us. He performed namaz behind him." If Hadrat Abu Bakr had not been worthy of the caliphate, Hadrat Ali would not have admitted him and would have said, "It is my right." As a matter of fact, he refused Hadrat Muawiya's being the Khalifa. He strove hard so that he himself would be the Khalifa although Hadrat Muawiya's army was very strong. Thus, he caused many people to die. Since he asked for his right at such a difficult situation, it would have been much easier to ask for it from Hadrat Abu Bakr if he had considered it his right. He would have asked to be chosen, and that would have been done immediately. After choosing Hadrat Abu Bakr the Khalifa and paying homage to him, Hadrat Ali sat in front of the minbar. In their next conversation he gave effective answers to the Khalifa's questions and supported him.

Ghaws-i azam, Sayyid Abdulqadir-i Geilani, one of the greatest guides of the Sufiyya-i aliyya, begins to write as follows on the eighty-fourth page of the Egypt-1322 edition, which coincides with the hundred and fourteenth page of the Istanbul-1303 edition of its Turkish translation, of his book titled Gunyat-ut-talibin, which he wrote in order to teach the Islamic din to his disciples and to all other young people and to correct their beliefs:

"According to the Ahl as-sunnat, Hadrat Muhammad's Ummat is higher than the ummats of other prophets. And the highest ones of this Ummat are the Sahaba, who had iman in him, who were honored with seeing his blessed face, and all of whom obeyed him and sacrificed their possessions and lives for his sake. It was their first duty to do his commands, and they were his assistants in everything he did. And the highest ones of the Sahaba were those heroes who paid their homage to Rasulullah and promised him that they were ready to die for his sake in Hudaybiyya. They were fourteen hundred people. The highest ones among them are those who were in the holy war of Badr, who were, like the soldiers of Talut, three hundred and thirteen people. [Also, there are three hundred and thirteen letters in the first volume of Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani's Maktubat.] The highest among them are the forty people who became Muslim first and the fortieth one is Hadrat 'Umar 'radiAllahu anh'. Thirty-four of them are men and six are women. The highest among them are the Ashara-i mubashshara, that is, the people who were given the glad tidings that they would go to Paradise. These are Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, 'Ali, Talha, Zubair bin Awwam, Abdurrahman bin Awf, Sad ibni Abi Waqqas, Said bin Zayd, Abu Ubaida bin Jarrah. Their highest ones are the Khulafa-i rashidin, that is, the four Khalifas, and the highest among them is Abu Bakr, then 'Umar, then Uthman, and then Ali 'radiAllahu anhum ajmain'. Of these four, Hadrat Abu Bakr served as Rasulullah's Khalifa for two years and four months. Hadrat 'Umar served as the Khalifa for ten years, Hadrat Uthman for twelve years, and Hadrat Ali for six years. After him, Hadrat Muawiya served as the Khalifa for nineteen years plus several months. Hadrat 'Umar 'radiAllahu anh' had formerly appointed him governor of Damascus. He had served as the governor for twenty years. The caliphates of the four were through the wish and unanimity of the Sahaba and because each was the highest of his time. They were not obtained by force, by using power, or by either one's cheating another one of his rights, who was higher than he. Abu Bakr Siddiq became the Khalifa with the unanimity of the Muhajirs and of the Ansar, as follows: when Rasulullah 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam' passed away, the Ansar-i kiram said, "Let one amir be from you and one amir be from us." Hadrat 'Umar 'radiAllahu anh' stood up and said, "O you, Ansar! Have you forgotten how Rasulullah called Abu Bakr, 'the imam of my Sahaba'?" They said, "We know, O 'Umar." Hadrat 'Umar went on, "Is anyone among you higher than Abu Bakr?" "We trust ourselves to Allah's protection from considering ourselves higher than Abu Bakr," was the answer from all the Ansar. Then, when Hadrat 'Umar asked, "Who among you would tolerate to remove Abu Bakr from the ranking office where Rasulullah appointed him?" The Ansar said, "None of us will tolerate it. We trust ourselves to Allah's protection from removing Abu Bakr." Cooperating with the Muhajirs, they appointed Hadrat Abu Bakr the Khalifa. Hadrat Ali and Zubair came there later. Both admitted the Khalifa. Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddiq stood up three times and said each time, "Is there anyone among you who has given up choosing me the Khalifa?" Hadrat Ali who was sitting in the front stood up and said, "None of us gives up. Nor shall we ever think of giving up. Rasulullah has put you ahead of us all. Who on earth can remove you back?" Thus, we have understood through strong and sound witnesses that who wanted Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddiq to become the Khalifa and uttered the most influential words was Hadrat Ali. For example, after the Camel Event, Abdullah bin Kawa' came to Hadrat Ali and said, "Did Rasulullah tell you anything about the caliphate?" Hadrat Ali replied, "First we mind our duty concerning the din. The archstone of the din is namaz. And we like and choose for the world what Allahu ta'ala and His Messenger have chosen from among us. We have therefore made Abu Bakr the Khalifa." As Rasulullah was sick during the final days of his life, he appointed Hadrat Abu Bakr the imam for his own place so that he would conduct the prayers of namaz being performed. Each time Hadrat Bilal-i Habashi called the adhan, he (Rasulullah) used to say, "Tell Abu Bakr to be the imam for the people." Rasulullah said many words signifying that after him Hadrat Abu Bakr would be the most suitable for the caliphate, and that each of 'Umar, 'Uthman and Ali was the most suitable for the caliphate among the people of his time."

Abdulqadir-i Geilani, after giving detailed information about the superiorities and the caliphates of Abu Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, Ali and Hasan in his book says: "When Hadrat Ali became a martyr, Imam-i Hasan wanted to give up the caliphate lest Muslims' blood would be shed and so that they would live peacefully. He ceded it to Hadrat Muawiya. He began to act in obedience to his commands. From that day on the caliphate of Muawiya 'radiAllahu anh' was right and sahih. Thus, the meaning of Rasulullah's hadith, 'This son of mine is a sayyid. That is, he is great. Through him Allahu ta'ala will reconcile two great groups with each other,' came about. As it is seen, Hadrat Muawiya became the Khalifa compatibly with the Shariat, since Imam-i Hasan obeyed him. Thus, the disagreement between the two groups of Muslims came to an end completely. The Tabiin, the Taba-i Tabiin and all Muslims over the world recognized Hadrat Muawiya as the Khalifa. As Sarwar-i alam (Rasulullah) said to Hadrat Muawiya, 'When you become the Khalifa, act mildly and administer them well!' so another hadith declares, 'The Islamic mill will go on for thirty-five years or thirty-seven years.' By saying 'mill,' our Master, the Prophet, wanted to signify the strength and soundness of the din. Thirty years of this duration of time being completed with the four Khalifas plus Hadrat Hasan, the remaining five or seven years was the time of Hadrat Muawiya's caliphate." Discoursing upon the predictions which Rasulullah made about future events, the second volume of Mawahib-i laduniyya states: "Ibni Asakir reports that Rasulullah stated to Hadrat Muawiya, 'After me, you will preside over my Ummat. Then do favors to the good and forgive the wrong- doers?' Again, Ibni Asakir informs that Rasulullah stated, 'Muawiya will never be overcome.' In the combat of Siffin, Hadrat Ali said, 'If this hadith had occurred to me, I would not have fought Muawiya.' [There is detailed information about Hadrat Muawiya in the Arabic book Annahiyatu an ta'n-i amir-ul-Muminin Muawiyata, by Allama Abdul' Aziz Farhari Hindi.]

Rasulullah pointed to Hadrat Hasan and said: 'Know that this son of mine is sayyid. In the near future Allahu ta'ala will reconcile two great groups of Muslim soldiers through this son of mine.' When Hadrat Ali was martyred more than forty thousand people elected Hadrat Hasan the Khalifa. He remained as the Khalifa for seven months in Iraq and Khorasan. Then, with a great army he marched against Hadrat Muawiya. When the two armies met, Hadrat Hasan, realizing that neither side would win unless many people died on the opposite side, wrote a letter to Hadrat Muawiya lest the Muslims' blood would be shed. He ceded the caliphate to him on some conditions.

Imam-i Baihaki says that Hadrat Ali said that he had heard Rasulullah say, 'Of my Ummat, some people will appear who will be called Rafidi. They will dissent from Islam.' "

Hadrat Ali's fighting against Hadrat Muawiya [contrary to what the historians suppose] was not for the caliphate. It was because it was fard to fight against baghis (the disobedient). It was intended to quell a riot. The ninth ayat of Hujurat Sura commands, "Fighting the rebels, make them obey!" However, because there were religious reasons for their rebellion, and because each of them was a savant in the grade of ijtihad, none of them can be slandered though they had a wrong ijtihad. They cannot be said to be disbelievers or sinners. Hadrat Ali said about the rebels, "Our brothers have revolted against us. They are not disbelievers or sinners. For, they have done what they inferred from the Qur'an." [There is detailed information about ijtihad in the two Arabic books titled Minhat-ul-wahhabiyya and Ulama'ul-muslimin wal-wahhabiyyun, which are reproduced by photocopy in Istanbul.]

Hadrat Imam-i Shafi'i 'rahmatullahi alaih' said, "As Allahu ta'ala has protected our hands from being imbrued with their blood, so let us keep quiet and not imbrue our tongues!" So had 'Umar bin Abdulaziz said.

O our Allah! Forgive us and our Muslim brothers preceding us! May prayers and salam be upon our Prophet Hadrat Muhammad, who is the dearest of creatures, and upon his close relatives and upon all his Sahaba 'ridwanullahi alaihim ajmain' until Doomsday! Amin.

[Note: the savants of the Ahl as-sunnat wrote very many books giving answers and advice to the Shiis. The names of thirty-two of these books and their authors are appended to the 29th chapter of the second fascicle of Endless Bliss.]