Umar's Admission The Caliphate Was Usurped From Imam Ali (as)

First Dialogue With Abdullah Ibn Abbas(cousin of Imam Ali and the Prophet s.a.)

Umar:"O Ibn `Abbas! Do you know what stopped your folks [from getting the caliphate] after Muhammad (pbuh)?"

Ibn `Abbas narrates saying: "I hated to answer `Umar's question, so I said to him: `If I do not know, the commander of the faithful [i.e. `Umar] knows.'"

`Umar said: "[Some people simply] hated that both prophethood and caliphate be confined to your House (Banu Hashim); so, they were happy about their scheme. Quraysh sought it for thmselves, and were able to obtain it."

Ibn Abbas: "O commander of the faithful! Do you permit me to say something and promise to control your anger?" He answered in the affirmative;

Ibn `Abbas said: "As regarding your statement, O commander of the faithful, that Quraysh sought it for themselves and were successful in obtaining it, I say that had Quraysh sought what Allah had chosen for them, their choice would have been unobjectionable and unblamed. As regarding your statement that they hated to see both prophethood and caliphate in our House, I say that Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, has described (in the Quran) some people to be malicious, saying, `... that is so because they hated what Allah has revealed, so He rendered their deeds vain.'"

`Umar then said: "Impossible, O Ibn `Abbas, for I heard things about you which I hate to believe else your status in my eyes should be reduced."

Ibn Abbas asked: `What are they, O commander of the faithful? If they are true, they should not lower my status in your esteem, and if they are not, I am capable of defending myself against false charges.'

`Umar then said: `It has come to my knowledge that you say that they have deprived you (Banu Hashim) of it [caliphate] out of envy, oppression and injustice.'

Ibn Abbas said: `As regarding your statement, O commander of the faithful, that it was oppression, then that has become quite obvious to those who are ignorant as well as to those who are clement. As regarding your statement about envy, then Adam was envied, and we are his descendants who also are envious.'

`Umar then said: `Impossible, impossible; your hearts, O descendants of Hashim, have become filled with envy that can never dissipate.'

Ibn Abbas therefore said: `Wait, O commander of the faithful, do not attribute this to the hearts of among those whom Allah has purified with a perfect purification.'"

Reference:

Al-Tarikh al-Kamil by Ibn al-Athir who includes it at the conclusion of `Umar's biography among the events of the year 23 A.H., page 24, Vol. 3, and it is also quoted by the Mu`tazilite scholar in `Umar's biography, too, page 107, Vol. 3, of Sharh Nahjul Balaghah

As Recorded by Tabari:

Umar :"..Ibn Abbas! What prevented 'Ali from coming with us?'

Ibn Abbas replied, 'I do not know'.

Umar continued: 'Ibn Abbas your father is the paternal uncle of the Messenger of God. You are his cousin. What has prevented your people from putting you [in authority]?'

Ibn Abbas replied: that I did not know.

Umar continued: 'But I do know, they do not like you being put in charge of them'.

Ibn Abbas said: 'Why, when we are good to them?'

Umar replied: O God [grant] forgiveness. They do not like you to combine Prophethood and the caliphate among yourselves, less it bring about self-aggrandizement and pride. You will perhaps say, 'Abu Bakr did this'. No indeed, but Abu Bakr did the most resolute thing he could. If he had made (the caliphate) yours, he would not have benefited you despite your close ties of relationship [to the Prophet]".

Reference: 

(The History of Tabari, Volume 14, English translation, by G. Rex Smith, p136-137)

Second Dialogue With Abdullah Ibn Abbas(cousin of Imam Ali and the Prophet s.a.)

Umar:"How did you leave your cousin?"

Ibn `Abbas said he thought `Umar meant `Abdullah ibn Ja`far; so, he answered: "I left him in the company of his friends."

Umar said: "I did not mean him; I meant the greatest among you, Ahl al-Bayt(i.e. Imam Ali)."

Ibn `Abbas said: "I left him exiled, irrigating while reciting the Qur'an."

`Umar said: "O `Abdullah! I implore you not to be shy but tell me if he is still concerned about the issue of caliphate." Ibn Abbasanswered in the affirmative.

Then `Umar asked: " Does he claim that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has selected him for it?"

Ibn `Abbas answered: "Yes, indeed; moreover, I even asked my father if there was any statement made by the Messenger of Allah regarding selecting him for the caliphate, and my father informed me that that was the truth."

`Umar then said: "The Messenger of Allah held him in very high esteem through his speeches and actions in a way that left no argument nor excuse for anyone, and he kept testing the nation regarding him for some time; nay, even when he was sick [prior to his demise], he wished to nominate him for it, but it was I who stopped him."

Reference:

Imam Abul-Fadl Ahmed ibn Abu Tahir in his book Tarikh Baghdad, indicating his reliable source to be Ibn `Abbas. It is also quoted by the Mu`tazilite scholar who discusses `Umar in his Sharh Nahjul Balaghah, page 97, Vol. 3.

Third Dialogue Between Umar and Abdullah Ibn Abbas(ra)

`Umar said: "O Ibn `Abbas! I can see how wronged your friend [`Ali (as)] is."

Ibn `Abbas said: "O commander of the faithful, then affect justice on his behalf."

Ibn `Abbas said: "But `Umar pulled his hand from mine and went away whispering to himself for a good while. Then he stopped; so, I rejoined him,

and he (Umar) said to me: `O Ibn `Abbas! I do not think that his people denied him [the caliphate] for any reason other than his being too young for it.'

Ibn Abbas said to him: `By Allah, neither Allah nor His Messenger regarded him as too young when they both ordered him to take Sürat Bara'a (Qur'an, Chapter 9) from him [from Abu Bakr].' Having heard this, he (Umar) turned away from me and started walking fast; so, I left him alone."

This dialogue is quoted by authors of books of biographies in their discussions of `Umar, and it is quoted here from Sharh Nahjul Balaghah by the Mu`tazilite scholar; so, refer to page 105 of its third volume.

Categories: English