Khilafat-e-Rashidah — Page 60
60 KHILAFAT-E-R A SHIDAH The other group thought that the condition of choosing from the family members of the Holy Prophet sa was not necessary. The purpose was to have a Successor to the Holy Prophet sa. They thought that whoever was more competent should be entrusted with the responsibility. This second group was further divided in two sections. Although they agreed that there should be a Successor of the Holy Prophet sa , they differed on which people the Successor should be from. One group was in favour of a person who had been under his supervision for a long time, and for this, the deserving person should be from the Muh a jir i n [Immigrants], and especially the Quraish, whom the Arabs would obey willingly. The other group thought that, as the Holy Prophet sa passed away in Medina where the An sa r [Helpers] were in majority, they could fulfil this obligation best. Dispute between Muh a jir i n and An sa r A dispute arose between the An sa r and Muh a jir i n. The An sa r thought that, as the Holy Prophet sa lived among them during that part of his life which was related to an organizational system, and as there had been no such system in Mecca, they could understand the system better than any one else and were thus entitled to Khilafat. Their second argument was that as the territory, i. e. Medina, belonged to them, their word would carry more weight than that of the