Moment 3 of 3
He would not name a successor
Madinah, 23 AH. Umar had been attacked while leading the dawn prayer and was dying.
Madinah23 AH1 min read
Umar had been given the leadership by Abu Bakr, directly. As he lay dying, people asked him to do the same — to name the man who would lead after him.
He refused to.
What he did instead was name a small council of senior Companions and leave the choice to them, with instructions to reach a decision within a set number of days. He would not put his own son in the group as a candidate.
The council chose Uthman ibn Affan.
This is a quiet moment, and easy to skip past. But it is one of the few times in the whole period where somebody with complete authority deliberately declined to use it — and it set a precedent that the community argued about for a long time afterwards.
In this moment: Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Zubayr ibn al-Awwam
Quick recall
How was the next caliph chosen after Umar?
Sources & review
Draft content — undergoing reviewThis content was written for SahabaMate and has not yet been checked by a reviewer against the works below. Treat it as a starting point, not a citation.
Tarikh ar-Rusul wa'l-Mulukتاريخ الرسل والملوك
Classical history · Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari
Kitab at-Tabaqat al-Kabirالطبقات الكبرى
Classical biography · Ibn Sa'd
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