The Saqifa () was an assembly held shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632, at which Abu Bakr was chosen as his successor and became the first caliph. The Saqifa meeting is among the most controversial events in Islam, due to the exclusion of a large number of Muhammad's companions, including his family and notably Ali, his cousin and son-in-law. Ali and a large number of Muhammad's family were still at the prophet's funeral when the event took place.
Sunni Muslims hold that Muhammad left the choice of his successor to the community, and therefore regard Abu Bakr's selection by companions as legitimate. Shia Muslims maintain that Ali had already been designated as Muhammad's successor at the event of Ghadir Khumm, and therefore regard the events at Saqifa as having bypassed his rightful succession. The succession crisis became the initial cause of the division among Muslims that led to the emergence of the two main Islamic branches, Sunni and Shia.
Historiography The Arabic word denotes a covered communal place for conversation but the term is synonymous in historical texts with the specific meeting immediately after Muhammad's death in which his succession was debated.
Biased reports The earliest reports about the Saqifa affair were put into writing in the first half of the second century AH or later. By this time, the Muslim community was already firmly divided into Sunni and Shia camps. As a result, the reports of the Sunni Ibn Sa'd (), al-Baladhuri (), and even al-Tabari () reflect the Sunni beliefs, while those authors with Shia sympathies favored their views, including Ibn Ishaq (), al-Ya'qubi (), and al-Mas'udi (). Jafri thus emphasizes the need for surveying all reports to obtain a sound account of the event.
For instance, Ibn Sa'd presents a highly polemic account of the Saqifa affair in his Kitab al-Tabaqat al-kabir, where Ali is absent in particular. Jafri regards him as a pioneer of the Sunni "pious" technique, which preserves only the best qualities of companions and suppresses any controversial reports. Similarly, the late works of the Shia al-Tabarsi () and al-Majlesi () are polemic in nature with little historical value, claims Jafri.
Centrality of Ibn Ishaq The earliest report is that of Ibn Ishaq in his Sirat rasul Allah, the recension of which by the Sunni Ibn Hisham () has reached us. Uncharacteristically, Ibn Hisham refrains from modifying Ibn Ishaq's account of the Saqifa affair, which is thus a report written by a Shia author and approved by a Sunni editor-critic. Ibn Ishaq's account is the basis of the contemporary studies of Jafri and Madelung.
Other authors In his Ansab al-ashraf, the Sunni al-Baladhuri partly follows Ibn Sa'd's pious technique but also retains some of the controversial material about the Saqifa event in favor of Ali. On the other hand, the contentious content in the work of the Shia al-Ya'qubi is often dismissed by later Sunni authors as fabricated, while Jafri views his work as a valuable collection of documents which survived the tendentious efforts of the Sunni majority historians, who largely suppressed or dismissed divergent views. Madelung similarly believes that the Shia or Sunni partiality of a report alone does not imply its fabrication. The account of the Saqifa meeting by al-Tabari is mostly balanced and unbiased, notes Jafri, and the most detailed, writes Ayoub ().
Ibn Abbas The main narrator of the Saqifa event is Ibn Abbas (), Muhammad's cousin and an authority in Medina's scholarly circles. He witnessed the event himself and also received the first-hand account of his father Abbas, who was politically active then. Madelung accepts the authenticity of Ibn Abbas' narration, noting that it reflects his characteristic view point. The bulk of Ibn Abbas' narration concerns a Friday sermon by Umar in 23/644. Though this is omitted from most Sunni reports, Madelung and Jafri are confident that the second caliph delivered the speech to discourage those who might have planned to back Ali's nomination as caliph after Umar.
Event
During Muhammad's lifetime, Muslims in Medina were divided into two groups: the Muhajirun, who had converted to Islam in Mecca and migrated to Medina with Muhammad, and the Ansar, who were originally from Medina and had invited Muhammad to govern their city.
Ansar's meeting In the immediate aftermath of Muhammad's death in 11/632, a gathering of the Ansar took place at the Saqifa () of the Banu Sa'ida clan, while his close relatives prepared for the burial. The conventional wisdom is that the Ansar met there to decide on a new leader for the Muslim community among themselves, with the intentional exclusion of the Muhajirun. This is also what Umar stated in his speech. The leading candidate was possibly Sa'd ibn Ubada, a companion of Muhammad and a chief of the Banu Khazraj, the majority tribe of the Ansar, who was sick on that day.
For Madelung, the absence of the Muhajirun instead indicates that the Ansar met to re-establish their control over Medina under the belief that the Muhajirun would mostly return to Mecca after Muhammad. Alternatively, Jafri suspects that the Ansar met preemptively because they were fearful of Meccan domination and possibly aware of their designs for leadership.
Abu Bakr at the Saqifa Among three available traditions, Jafri chooses the one that appears in nearly all of his sources, according to which the news of the Saqifa meeting reached Abu Bakr, Umar, and Abu Ubaida when they were most likely in the house of Abu Ubaida, possibly to discuss the leadership crisis. Arnold and Jafri are confident that Abu Bakr and Umar had earlier planned or formed an alliance in anticipation of Muhammad's death, while Madelung attributes the planning only to Abu Bakr. In Ibn Ishaq's report, someone then informs Abu Bakr and Umar about the Saqifa meeting, "If you want to have command of the people, then take it before their [the Ansar's] action becomes serious." The two then rushed to the Saqifa, accompanied by Abu Ubaida, perhaps to prevent any unexpected development. Some encouraged the three men not to do so but they pressed on anyway, reports Umar.
Umar narrates that "the Muhajirun" joined Abu Bakr, and then Umar suggested they go to the Ansar gathered at the Saqifa. Madelung rejects this, noting that Abu Bakr, Umar, and Abu Ubaida were the only members of the Muhajirun in the Saqifa meeting, possibly accompanied by a few relatives and clients. For Madelung, the near absence of the Muhajirun at the Saqifa also explains why there are no other reports about the event, arguing that the Ansar must have been reluctant to recount their defeat later.
Abu Bakr's remarks Once there, Umar says he "realized that they [the Ansar] intended to cut us off from our root [i.e., the Quraysh] and to usurp the rule from us." Abu Bakr then rose and warned the Ansar that Arabs will not recognize the rule of anyone outside of Muhammad's tribe, the Quraysh. The Muhajirun, Abu Bakr argued, were the best of Arabs in lineage and location, as quoted by Ibn Ishaq. Abu Bakr also noted that the Muhajirun had accepted Islam earlier and were closer to Muhammad in kinship, adds al-Baladhuri. The Quraysh's relation with Muhammad is also noted by al-Ya'qubi and al-Tabari, and also by the contemporary Momen. Madelung, however, considers it unlikely that Abu Bakr brought up the Quraysh's kinship with Muhammad as that would have invited questions about the rights of the Banu Hashim, Muhammad's clan and his closest kin.
Returning to Ibn Ishaq's account, Abu Bakr then reportedly invited the Ansar to choose Umar or Abu Ubaida as Muhammad's successor. Umar reports that he was displeased with this offer because he considered Abu Bakr to be more entitled to rulership than himself. Madelung regards this as a manoeuvre by Abu Bakr to present himself as an acceptable alternative to Umar and Abu Ubaida for the Ansar, adding that Abu Ubaida lacked prominence while Umar had apparently just discredited himself before the meeting by publicly denying Muhammad's death.
Violence at the Saqifa Ibn Ishaq's account continues that Habab ibn Mundhir, a veteran of the Battle of Badr, countered Abu Bakr with the suggestion that the Quraysh and the Ansar should choose their separate rulers among themselves. A heated argument then followed, reports Umar, until he asked Abu Bakr to stretch his hand and pledged allegiance to him. Others followed suit, he claims, adding that, "Then we jumped upon Sa'd until one of them called out: 'You killed Sa'd ibn Ubada.' I said, 'May God kill Sa'd.'"
The outburst of violence at the Saqifa indicates that a substantial number of the Ansar must have initially refused to follow Umar's lead, writes Madelung. Otherwise, he argues, there would have been no need to beat up their chief Sa'd ibn Ubada. Sa'd remained defiant until his murder by a "jinn" during the reign of Umar, possibly at the instigation of the second caliph.
Ali
Absence from the Saqifa Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law was preparing Muhammad's body for burial, alongside other close relatives, and was likely unaware of the ongoing Saqifa meeting. Following Umar's pledge to Abu Bakr, the Saqifa account of the Kufan al-Nakha'i () adds, "But the Ansar, or some of them, said: 'We will not swear allegiance to anyone but Ali.'" Caetani dismisses this report because of its Shia coloring, while Madelung accepts it, noting that al-Nakha'i is not known for Shia sympathies and his account is otherwise distinctly Sunni. Similarly, al-Ya'qubi writes that the Ansar al-Mundhir ibn Arqam interrupted the proceedings and nominated Ali for succession. The contemporary Jafri, Lalani, and Momen state that some advocated the case of Ali at the Saqifa.
Madelung is not certain whether the succession of Ali was discussed at the Saqifa but considers it likely, commenting that the Ansar would have naturally turned to Ali because of their family ties with the prophet. Umar in his sermon explained that they had pressed the Ansar for an immediate oath of allegiance at the Saqifa because, he claimed, they might have had otherwise elected one of their own to succeed Muhammad. Referring to this claim, Madelung suggests that Umar was partly fearful that the Ansar would put forward the case of Ali among themselves. This is also a proposal entertained by McHugo.
The case for Ali
Madelung is of the view that a broad , in which Ali was to be on option, would have led to the election of Ali. He suggests that the Ansar would have supported Ali because of their family ties with Muhammad. Among the Muhajirun, the candidacy of Ali would have likely been supported by the powerful Abd Shams clan of the Quraysh because of their close ties with the Banu Hashim and despite their conflicts. Their chief Abu Sufyan indeed offered his support to Ali after the appointment of Abu Bakr, but was turned down by Ali who said he was concerned about the unity of the nascent Islam. The joint support of the Ansar and Abd Shams would have carried Ali to the caliphate, conjectures Madelung. He adds that the straightforward logic of dynastic succession would have likely prevailed in a general in favor of Ali. Some others similarly consider it likely that Ali would have been elected in a formal assembly.
Merits