Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: During the caliphate of Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), he used to teach the Qur’an to Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman bin Auf (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says: I have not seen anyone whose state would become as it did with Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) while reciting the Qur’an. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: Once, I came searching for Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him). I did not find him, so I waited for him at his house for his return from Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). When he returned, he said to me: If only you had seen the person who said this to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who was residing in Mina in those days. This was during the last Hajj that Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) performed. Then Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) that a man came to Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) and informed him that someone was saying: By Allah! If Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) passes away, I will pledge allegiance to so-and-so. When Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) received this news, he said that this evening I will stand and address the people and warn them against such people who wish to usurp the affairs of this Ummah. Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) says, I said: O Commander of the Faithful, do not do this today, for during Hajj all kinds of people are gathered. These people will dominate your gathering, and I fear that whatever you say among them today, they will make it into a tale. They will not preserve it and will use it incorrectly. Wait until you reach Madinah, for it is the home of migration and Sunnah. There, in the presence of the scholars and nobles of the people, you may say whatever you deem appropriate in comfort; they will preserve your words and use them correctly. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah! If I reach Madinah safely, I will speak on this subject in my first address to the people. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: At the end of Dhul-Hijjah, we reached Madinah. When Friday came, I hurried to the mosque like a blind man (i.e., without regard for time or weather), because Sayyiduna Abdur Rahman (may Allah be pleased with him) had already informed me about this. There I found Sayyiduna Sa’id bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) had arrived before me; he was sitting at the edge to the right of the pulpit. I sat beside him so that my knee was touching his knee. After a short while, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) also arrived. When he approached the pulpit, I said to Sayyiduna Sa’id bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him): By Allah! Today the Commander of the Faithful will speak from this pulpit words he has never spoken before. Sayyiduna Sa’id bin Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) did not agree with me and said: What is it that he will say today that he has never said before? When Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) sat on the pulpit and the muezzin gave the call to prayer, and when the muezzin became silent, Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up, recited the testimony of faith, and praised Allah as befits His majesty. Then he said:“Amma ba’du (as for what follows), today I wish to speak to you about something for which I have been given the opportunity. Perhaps this will be my last important address before my death. So whoever understands it should preserve it and convey it as far as his mount can reach, and whoever fears that he has not preserved it, I do not permit him to attribute any falsehood to me. Verily, Allah Almighty sent Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and revealed the Book to him. Among what was revealed to him was the verse of stoning. We recited it, understood it, and preserved it. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) carried out stoning, and after him, we also carried out stoning. I fear that after a long time has passed, someone may say: By Allah! We do not find the verse of stoning in Allah’s Book, and thus he will abandon an obligation that Allah Almighty revealed. The command of stoning in Allah’s Book is for the one who commits adultery, whether man or woman, if he or she is a muhsan (married), when proof is established or (the woman) becomes pregnant or confesses. Then we also used to recite: ‘Do not turn away from your forefathers, for turning away from your forefathers is disbelief on your part.’ Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Do not exaggerate about me as the son of Maryam was exaggerated about. I am a servant, so say: Allah’s servant and His Messenger.’ (Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said:) I have come to know that so-and-so among you says: If Umar dies, I will pledge allegiance to so-and-so. Let no one be deceived by this statement. Let no one say that the pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) happened suddenly and was completed. It did happen suddenly, but Allah Almighty protected it from evil, and there is no one among you who has the prominent status that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, he was the best among us. Indeed, Ali, Zubair, and others with them lagged behind us, and the Ansar also lagged behind us somewhat. They gathered in the Saqifah of Banu Sa’idah. The Muhajirun gathered around Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). While we were in the residence of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), a man called out loudly from behind the wall: O son of Khattab! Come out to me. I said: Stay away from me. I have other concerns besides you. The man said: An incident has occurred where your presence is necessary. The Ansar have gathered in the Saqifah of Banu Sa’idah. You should go to them before they make a new decision and later there is war between you and them. So I said to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him): Let us go to our Ansar brothers. So we set out to go to them. Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) met us, and Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) took his hand. He walked between me and him until we approached them. Two righteous men met us and mentioned what their people were saying. They asked: O group of Muhajirun! Where are you going? I replied: We are going to our Ansar brothers. They said: It is not appropriate for you to approach them. O group of Muhajirun! Decide your matter among yourselves. I said: By Allah! We will surely go to them. Then we proceeded and reached them, and they were in the Saqifah of Banu Sa’idah. Among them was a man sitting covered with a sheet. I asked: Who is this? The people said: This is Sa’d bin Ubadah. I asked: What is wrong with him? The people said: He is ill. When we sat down, the orator of the Ansar began to speak. He praised Allah as befits His majesty and then said: Amma ba’du! We are the helpers of Allah and the army of Islam, and you, O group of Muhajirun, are a part of us whom your people had set aside. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: They wanted to distance us from the origin and set us aside. When that man finished his speech, I intended to speak. I had prepared a speech in my mind that I liked. I wanted to stand before Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and improve the situation on his behalf. When I intended to speak, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Wait. I did not want to anger him. Then Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) began to speak. He was more forbearing and dignified than I. By Allah! He did not leave out anything from what I had prepared in my mind and liked. He spoke in a similar or even better manner, until when he finished, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) recited the testimony of faith and, after praising Allah, said: Amma ba’du! O Ansar! The goodness you have mentioned among yourselves, you are indeed worthy of it, but the Arabs recognize only this tribe of Quraysh for this matter (i.e., leadership), for they have the most distinguished lineage and residence among the Arabs. I am pleased for you with one of these two men; pledge allegiance to whomever you wish. Then Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) took my hand and the hand of Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him). The only thing I disliked about Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) was this. By Allah! If I were put forward and my neck were struck, and it was not for any sin, that would be more beloved to me than being made the leader of a people among whom Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) is present. However, if my situation changes near death, that is a different matter. When Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) finished his speech, a man from the Ansar said: I am the branch with which one scratches and the date palm that is protected (i.e., in difficult times, I am consulted and my people are with me). O group of Quraysh, one leader from us and one leader from you. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: At this, there was an uproar and voices were raised, until I broke through the disagreement and said: O Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), extend your hand. So Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) extended his hand, and I pledged allegiance to him. The Muhajirun and Ansar also pledged allegiance to him. We completely ignored Sayyiduna Sa’d bin Ubadah (may Allah be pleased with him), so a man from the Ansar said: You have killed Sayyiduna Sa’d (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I said: I was angry at that time. Allah Almighty killed Sa’d, for he wanted to create discord and evil. By Allah! We have not seen anything better in our matter than the pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). We feared that if we separated from them before the pledge of allegiance was made, they might make a new pledge after us, and then we would have to pledge allegiance to someone we were not pleased with or oppose them, which would lead to discord. So let no one be deceived by saying that the pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) happened suddenly, but it was completed. It did happen suddenly, but Allah Almighty protected it from evil. Beware! Now there is no one among you like Abu Bakr. Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates: Zuhri transmitted from Urwah bin Zubair that the two Ansari men who met the Muhajirun were Sayyiduna Uwaim bin Sa’idah and Sayyiduna Ma’n bin ‘Adi. Imam Malik narrates: Zuhri heard Sa’id bin Musayyib say one day: The words of the narration:“I am the branch with which one scratches,”the person who said this belonged to Banu Salamah, whose name was Hubab bin al-Mundhir.

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) Sayyiduna Umar’s (may Allah be pleased with him) statement that the pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) happened suddenly, but Allah Almighty protected it from evil, means: At the beginning of the pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), not everyone was included, and the word“sudden”is used for something in which not everyone is included, and there is a fear of evil in such matters. That is why Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Allah Almighty protected it from evil. By this is meant the evil that is expected in things that happen suddenly. It does not mean that there was any evil in the pledge of allegiance to Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him).