principally i agree to the whole concept of leadership (Imamat) however its only refers to Hazrat Ali is highly questionable ................... provided the knowledge , experience , administrative capability , leadership quality, power to make judgment in adverse situation, and ability to unite muslims from various nation/tribe.
**in all respect three caliphs were superior to Hazrat Ali (keeping aside last part of hazrat Osman regime). **if we see hazrat ali life from the eyes of historian his era was fraught wid controversies and approx 50% muslim did not even consider him caliph (living in syria and egypt controlled by hazrat Muaiviah) and he could not rose to occasion as a true leader to turn the odds in his favour.
some scohlar try to present hazrat ali as he was someone divine and superior to all the sahaba does not seems true.
Beside that shia imamat concept is also does not seem trure. as** not only muhajireen but also ansar ( who were local of madina ) did not supported hazrat ali*. instead they wanted to make* Hazrat Saad Bin Ubada** (sardar of banu khazruj ) the caliph. but most of shia scholars keep abusing first two caliphs for this. the fact was Hazrat Ali was not considered as a serious option for calphship due to his inexperience, young age and at that time he had not that leadership quality to keep different tribes of arab united.
on the other hand hazrat abu bakar and hazrat were seasoned sardars of queresh and very well known 4 their ability to setlle the disputes among arab. beside they were close associates of prophet.
further the performance of first two caliphs speak volume of their taqwa, administrative capabilty and leadership qualities.
Even in his famous book** "THE 100"** Michael H Heart ranked Hazrat Omer bin Khattab as 56th **most influential personalty ever lived in this world. the book contains the list of the ppl whose action influenced the world geography, history and culture. (Hazrat omer is the only muslim Beside **prophet Muhammad who is ranked no 1 in the list by Michael H Heart)
u r quoting from sah bukhrai. There is a Hadith in Sahih Bukari Volume 1 **in which **Hazrat Omer bin Khattab has been praised for his knowledge. beside other hadiths in which it has narrated that** Hazrat Abu Bakar** did Imamat when Prophet was ill before his death.
so one shud avoid cherrypicking ?
Maverick my friend, there is much to clarify to you but I will in this post just like to correct myself for the Hadith reference I gave earlier. The hadith was not recorded by Ismail Bukhari but Ahmed Ibn Hanbal. My apologies. Here is the correct reference:
The Prophet of Islam(pbuh&hf), said:
"Whosoever dies without recognizing the Imam of his time dies the death of the ignorance (Jahiliyyah)."
Ahmad b. Hanbal, al-Musnad