A Comparative Analysis of the Appeal to Verse 110 of Surah Al-Imran for Validating the Companions' Conduct in the Selection of the Caliph.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty of Theology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

2 ilam uni

Abstract
One of the reasons that a number of Sunnis have cited to prove the legitimacy of Abu Bakr is the meaning of verse 110 of Surah Al-Imran.God (PBUH) as “the best of the nation” and their fulfillment of the duty of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong indicates the correctness of their action in choosing Abu Bakr. Because if this were not the case, they would have committed wrongdoing. This research, using sources of narration and a descriptive-analytical method and in some cases exploratory, seeks to validate the aforementioned claim. To achieve this goal, the content elements of the claim have been divided into the following three categories: 1) The addressee of the companions in the verse; 2) The formation of the concept of goodness; and 3) The enjoining of all good deeds and forbidding all evil deeds by the companions. To prove the claim of the Sunnis, it is necessary that these three components be proven. In the next step, a logical analysis of each of these three components is addressed. The achievement of the article is that, given the relative nature of the concept of goodness and the conditional nature of the description, the addressee of the verse is all those who perform the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil, and this attribute cannot be proven for all the companions who pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr. Also, there was no consensus on the allegiance to Abu Bakr by all the companions.
Subjects


Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 15 September 2026