(Hadith of Qirtas and did Sayyiduna Umar refuse to write Wasiya of Prophet in regards to Sayyiduna Ali?)

The Shia use some hadiths from Sunni literature and claim that Prophet (Peace be upon him) wanted to write a Wasiyah (will) for Sayyiduna Ali i.e he wanted him to be caliph after him, but Umar (RA) stopped Prophet (Peace be upon him) from writing it.

Here is one narration from Sahih Bukhari

Narrated Ibn `Abbas: When the time of the death of the Prophet (ﷺ) approached while there were some men in the house, and among them was `Umar bin Al- Khatttab, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Come near let me write for you a writing after which you will never go astray." `Umar said, "The Prophet (ﷺ) is seriously ill, and you have the Qur'an, so Allah's Book is sufficient for us." The people in the house differed and disputed. Some of them said, "Come near so that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) may write for you a writing after which you will not go astray," while some of them said what `Umar said. When they made much noise and differed greatly before the Prophet, he said to them, "Go away and leave me." Ibn `Abbas used to say, "It was a great disaster that their difference and noise prevented Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) from writing that writing for them. [Sahih Bukhari, 9.468]

A Salafi influenced scholar Maulana Ishaq who has recently passed away, he used to give many lectures on unity between Sunnis and Shias. The author has heard him categorically saying that this was mistake on part of Umar (RA).

However there are other hadiths which do not mention that Umar (ra) said it, rather many Sahaba present there said it. Plus the Prophet verbally made his will clear. Here is the hadith:

Narrated Sa`id bin Jubair: Ibn `Abbas said, "Thursday! What (great thing) took place on Thursday!" Then he started weeping till his tears wetted the gravels of the ground . Then he said, "On Thursday the illness of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was aggravated and he said, "Fetch me writing materials so that I may have something written to you after which you will never go astray." The people (present there) differed in this matter and people should not differ before a prophet. They said, "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) is seriously sick.' The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Leave me alone, as the state in which I am now, is better than what you are calling me for." The Prophet (ﷺ) on his death- bed, gave three orders saying, "Expel the pagans from the Arabian Peninsula, respect and give gifts to the foreign delegates as you have seen me dealing with them." I forgot the third (order)" (Ya'qub bin Muhammad said, "I asked Al- Mughira bin `Abdur- Rahman about the Arabian Peninsula and he said, 'It comprises Mecca, Medina, Al- Yamama and Yemen." Ya'qub added, "And Al- Arj, the beginning of Tihama.") [Sahih Bukhari 4.288]

This hadith does not mention that Umar (ra) said those words whereas it is mentioned that people present there (this can include Ahlul Bayt too) said it. Plus the Prophet made his will clear by mentioning three things.

In another hadith of Bukhari, Kitab ul Jiziya, again no mention of Sayyiduna Umar is made. [Vol. 4, Book 53, Hadith 393]

In third narration of Bukhari, Kitaab ul Maghazi, again no mention of Umar RA is made. [Vol. 5, Book 59, Hadith 716]

One hadith actually makes it clear that Sayyiduna Ali did not want the will to be written. Here is the hadith:

Al- `Abbas held `Ali by the hand and said, "Don't you see him (about to die)? By Allah, within three days you will be the slave of the stick (i.e., under the command of another ruler). By Allah, I think that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) will die from his present ailment, for I know the signs of death on the faces of the offspring of `Abdul Muttalib. So let us go to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) to ask him who will take over the Caliphate. If the authority is given to us, we will know it, and if it is given to somebody else we will request him to recommend us to him. "`Ali said, "By Allah! If we ask Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) for the rulership and he refuses, then the people will never give it to us. Besides, I will never ask Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) for it." [Sahih Bukhari 8.282]

There is a hadith narrated from Mawla Ali himself in Musnad Ahmed 1/90 which states: Ali (a.s) said that Prophet ordered me to bring the Pen and Paper “AND I REFUSED BECAUSE I FEARED THAT IF I GO OUT TO BRING PEN AND PAPER THEN MAYBE PROPHET COULD PASS AWAY BEHIND ME, SO IN SPITE OF PROPHET’S ORDER I DID NOT GO TO BRING THE PEN AND PAPER”

These hadiths make it absolutely clear that Sayyiduna Ali (ra) was not sure about whom caliphate would be given, nor did he want it to be written. Had it been God given right of Ahlul Bayt to receive caliphate then Sayyiduna Ali would not have refused to bring the pen and paper.

The Shia might say that these are Sunni narrations and they will not take them as proofs. Then here are proofs from Shia literature too.

Great Shia scholar rather one of their top- notch one i.e. Imam ut Ta’ifa al Tusi died in 407 AH, he said in Talkhees ush Shafi 2/372: It is narrated from Ali that he was asked “WOULD YOU NOT MAKE A WASIYAH AFTER YOU? IMAM ALI REPLIED, NO! BECAUSE PROPHET NEVER MADE ANY WASIYAH EITHER” IF ALLAH HAS WILLED FOR GOOD THEN ALLAH WILL GATHER PEOPLE TOGETHER JUST LIKE AFTER PROPHET ALLAH GATHERED THE BEST PEOPLE TOGETHER.

In another narration (2/372): When Ibn Muljam attacked Mawla Ali, he was asked while being injured: O Ameer ul Momimeen appoint someone caliph after you, Mawla Ali said: “NO

Now the point to remember is that if Imamat and Caliphate were a decree by Allah then did Mawla Ali break Allah’s rule?

This makes it absolutely clear that Prophet did not make any will regarding caliphate issue, and also the fact that Sayyiduna Ali (ra) believed that best people were gathered together on caliphate of first three caliphs.

Letter # 6 of Nahjul Balagha is also very important, which states:

To Mu'awiya on his (Ali's) right to the caliphate:

Sayyiduna Ali while accepting caliphate of first three caliphs said to Ameer Muawiya (ra): My Bayah was done by those people who did Bayah of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman… The right of Shura (consultation) is with emigrants and helpers (Mahajireen and Ansar). If they appoint someone as their Imam then “IN THIS ALLAH IS PLEASED” and if someone denies the appointed Imam by them then “HE WILL BE FORCED TO ACCEPT IT” if he still persists in rejecting then “HE WILL BE FOUGHT AGAINST” because he wants to leave the way of Muslims and adopt another way to create chaos.

This also proves that Umar (ra) was not wrong to be strict to get Ba’yah of Abu Bakr (ra) done when he came to Sayyidah Fatima’s house.

The Sahaba cannot be blamed on pen and paper issue because Prophet (Peace be upon him) was severely ill as it is itself mentioned in hadith, they wanted Prophet to take rest.

Nowhere does the hadith say that Prophet (Peace be upon him) wanted to write about Ali (a.s) being his successor. There is high possibility that Prophet wanted to write something else and hint towards is proven from hadith above that Prophet gave three orders.

Umar rather Sahaba including Sayyiduna Ali cannot be blamed for saying that Qur’an is present with us, because Qur’an states:

…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. (5:3)

So Islam was already perfected and complete code of conduct had been given by Qur’an.

Reconciliation: It is not clear what the Prophet (Peace be upon him) wanted to write, and one hadith mentions three verbal orders from Prophet (Peace be upon him) and none of them was about Caliphate issue. Sayyiduna Umar (RA) is documented to have accepted Sayyiduna Ali (a.s) as his Mawla on day of Ghadir Khum, had he wanted to hide something about Ali then he would not have accepted Sayyiduna Ali as his own Mawla.

There is a hadith which both Shias and Sunnis accept that even Sayyiduna Ali (ra) refused to change the name of Prophet to Muhammad bin Abdullah in treaty of Hudaybia. Now should we say he refused a categorical order of Prophet and thus be blamed? The author being Sunni would never imagine this to be a fault on Ali’s part because he loved Prophet immensely and believed him to be a true Prophet. He refused to change the name from Rasul Ullah to Muhammad bin Abdullah out of sheer love for Prophet. Similarly Sahaba refused out of sheer love for Prophet i.e. they wanted the Prophet to take rest and did not want to trouble him in his severe illness.