Note 10 — Chapter I · ELECTION OF ABU BEKR. A.H. XI. A.D. 632.

The tradition regarding Zobeir and Talha, perhaps arose from their attempt at the Caliphate, and refusal to acknowledge Aly, five and twenty years afterwards. As to Aly himself, the traditions vary. By some he is said to have been among the first to swear fealty to Abu Bekr. But the more general tradition is that he did not do so till Fâtima, who had a grudge against Abu Bekr for her father’s patrimony, died (Life of Mahomet, p. 516). There are other tales, but they all bear the stamp of Abbasside fabrication; such as of Omar threatening to burn Aly’s house over his head; Zobeir rushing out with a sword, &c. We are even told that Abu Sofiân taunted Aly and Abbâs with allowing an insignificant branch of the Coreish to seize the Caliphate from them; likened them to a hungry donkey tethered up, or to a tent-peg made only to be beaten; and offered to help them with horse and foot, but that Aly declined his offer. These stories are childish and apocryphal. There is absolutely nothing in the antecedents of Aly, or his subsequent history, to render it in the least probable that during the first two Caliphates, he advanced any claim whatever, or indeed was in a position to do so. It was not till the reign of Othmân that any idea arose of a superior right in virtue of his having been the cousin of Mahomet and husband of Fâtima.

It is said that as the people crowded to the hall, where Sád lay sick, to salute Abu Bekr, one cried out: ‘Have a care lest ye trample upon Sád, and kill him under foot.’ ‘The Lord kill him, as he deserveth!’ was the response of the heated Omar. ‘Softly, Omar!’ interposed Abu Bekr, ‘blandness and courtesy are better than curses and sharp words.’ Indeed, throughout this chapter Abu Bekr appears to great advantage.