Respect Others Please!

Ali Zaki wrote: Allah and the Prophet (a.s.) know better the reason (if this incident, which I am not familiar with, occured and/or had any significance).

this is an event in undeniable history and its significance is clear, obvious and well known.

You have said that Abu Bakr was not appointed by the Prophet. I am confused, as you seem to now be saying that the prophet WAS telling the people by this appointment that he WAS appointing Abu Bakr.

surely you are confused.  because you have set a definition of the word IMAM beyond the limits of reality.  when i say that Abu Bakar (ra) was appointed as iman in masjid-e-nabvi i mean an imam who leads the prayers in masjid.  in other words an imam-masjid.  but as you cannot think of anything other than a supernatural imam as you think of Ali (ra) then probably no one can help you unless you help yourself.

Did the prophet ever appoint Abu Bakr as his successor?

the answer is no as well as yes.  prophet peace be upon him did not cleary say that who will be his successor because if he would have done this then every king and leader was going to take it as his right to appoint anyone of his personal choice as the successor.  so prophet peace be upon him due to his ultimate intelligence did not appoint any successor by name.  but in some ways prophet peace be upon him clearly indicated that who should be the successor.  during his life prophet peace be upon him lead the prayers for muslims.  during his last sickness when he was not able to lead the prayer the place of the leader in masji-e-nabvi to lead the prayer became vacant.  prophet peace be upon him made Abu Bakr (ra) to take his position and lead the prayers for muslims.  is this not a clear indication?  does it not clearly tell us that when prophet peace be upon him is not able to lead then Abu Bakr (ra) will lead?

as you said that you are not aware of this piece of history then i must tell you few more bits of this event.  during the sickness of prophet peace be upon him, due to some reason Omer (ra) once had to lead the prayer.  when prophet peace be upon him came to know about this he peace be upon him did not like it and said clearly that ONLY ABU BAKR (RA) WILL LEAD THE PRAYR.  dear Ali Zaki, if you still dont understand the significance of this event then no one can help you.

in the last i must appreciate your boldness and fairness in saying that you dont know.  i respcet this admittance.  we are all human beeings and we cannot have the knowledge of everything.  but we must understand that if we dont know about about something that it does not mean that no one in this world knows about that.  we must try to know.  and if you dont try to know then there is a great danger that you will waste your life in complete darkness.

may Allah give all of us the true knowledge.

a well wisher

dear Ali Zaki

just answer this question, if you can, that i have asked you two times.  why prophet peace be upon him appointed Abu Bakar (ra) to lead prayers in masjid-e-nabvi during his last sickness?  we know that in islamic sharia the person leading the prayers should be the best among all.  if Ali (ra) was the best of all then why prophet peace be upon him did not appoint Ali (ra) to lead the prayers?  why prophet peace be upon him appointed Abu Bakar (ra) as the imam in masjid-e-nabvi???

if you still do not understand my question then i can make it further clear.

a well wisher

Salam Brother

aservent wrote,

" I did not say that prophet Muhammad peace be upon him appointed Abu Bakar (ra) as the first caliph. "

"By appointing Abu Bakar (ra) as the imam of masjid-e-nabvi, prophet peace be upon him gave a clear sign that Abu Bakar (ra) would be the leader when prophet peace be upon is not there".

This reminds me alot of what I used to hear in church, i.e., that 1+1+1=1. Allah (s.w.a.) and his messenger are more merciful then to leave any doubt about this issue. See "The Last Caliph" for more on this.

Salam to MOCKBA,

The Shia belive that the souce of ALL of the knowledge of the 12 Imams comes exclusively from Quran and Sunna (of the Prophet (a.s.)). You will often see (in Shia books of Hadith) that the Imam will say, "I heard such and such from my grandfather (or my ancestor)" and this refers only to the Holy Messenger (a.s.), and not the literal grandfather (except in the case of Imam Hassan (a.s.) and Imam Hussien (a.s.)). The reason that an anterior "chain of narration" is not cited when an Imam (a.s.) gives a hadith is because of the concept of infallibility of the Imams. Which means that if someone is massom (infallible), then it is not proper to ask them for a source as all of their words can be accepted on their own merits.

Imam Ali (a.s.) is famous for his speeches, however, you will notice that all of the statements he makes are supported by Quran and Hadith (even if he doesn't explicitly state that this is from Quran). This becomes even more clear if you read any of his famous dua'as (such as Duya Kumail http://al-islam.org/kumayl/english.htm) in which he combines Quranic concepts in such a beautiful and elegant way that noone can question doubt that it comes from a divine source (i.e., the Holy Quran).

If you study the early history of the Shia, you will notice Shia's with names like Abu Bakr and Omar. However, due to the polarization of the Umma after the tragedy of Karbala (and the Ummayids), this changed.

The Shia did not try to seperate themselves, and in fact, the Imams who were allowed to preach and teach in the open had students of many different backgrounds and schools of thought. The seperation of the Shia occured mainly due to the policies of the Ummayid and Abbasiad Caliphs who made it their policy to murder anyone who claimed to be a Shia, thus challenging their authority and legitimacy. The Shia today do not try to seperate themselves, however, they also do not hide their obedience to and love for the Ahly Al'Bayt (which many do not like to see expressed).

Salam