Page:William Muir, Thomas Hunter Weir - The Caliphate; Its Rise, Decline, and Fall (1915).djvu/222



arrangements ʿOmar might have made for a successor, had his end come less suddenly upon him, it is perhaps unnecessary to inquire. But some more definite choice he would, in all probability, have formed. We know that the perils of disunion hung heavily on his mind. The unbridled arrogance of the Arabian tribes at Al-Kūfa and Al-Baṣra, flushed with the glory and spoils of war, was already felt to be a growing danger; while family rivalries among Ḳoreish themselves had begun to weaken their hold upon the people. So much is plain, that (ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān excepted) ʿOmar saw no one amongst them endowed with sufficient power and influence to hold the reins of government; none, at least, so prominent as to take the acknowledged lead. Again, the mode of nomination or election proper to Islām was yet uncertain. Abu Bekr on his death-bed appointed ʿOmar his successor; but the higher precedent of Moḥammad himself, who when laid aside simply named Abu Bekr to lead the prayers, was of doubtful meaning. Had Abu ʿObeida survived, ʿOmar was known to say that he would have chosen him; but he was gone, and ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān would none of the post. Weak and faint from the assassin's dagger, the emergency came upon the dying Caliph unprepared. So, relieving himself of the responsibility, he fell upon the expedient of nominating the chiefest of the Companions, on one or other of whom he knew the choice must fall, to be Electors.

ʿOmar hoped, no doubt, that the successor thus chosen would have the unequivocal support of those who elected 195