A Historical Critique of al-Qaffārī's View Regarding Disagreements Among Muslims After the Holy Prophet (SAWA)

For a long time, some have maintained that the formation of Shīʿism is related to the events during and after the assassination of ʿUthmān (35 AH). According to this view, it is assumed that from the death of the Prophet (SAWA) (11 AH) until the killing of ʿUthmān, Muslims were united, cohesive, and without disagreement, and that disputes and disagreements only began with ʿUthmān's death. This perspective has been emphasized in numerous works, primarily by those driven by biased and fanatical religious orientations against Shīʿism. ʿAbd al-Nāṣir al-Qaffārī, a contemporary Wahhabi author continuing the anti-Shīʿī ideas of Ibn Taymiyyah al-Ḥarrānī (d. 728 AH) and Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Najdī (d. 1206 AH), has endeavored to advance this view against the Shīʿa. He has raised this claim in the introduction to one of his books, titled Uṣūl Madhhab al-Shīʿah al-Ithnā ʿAshariyyah: ʿArḍan wa Naqdan (The Principles of the Twelver Shīʿī School: Presentation and Critique), which originated from his doctoral dissertation at King Saud University in Riyadh. In this introduction, he states his intention to present the doctrinal principles of the Twelver Shīʿa and scientifically critique Shīʿī beliefs and history without introducing religious biases. However, his prejudiced language and unscientific method are evident from the outset. Although his views and method in theological and historical debates have been critiqued by Muslim scholars, given that his statements are exploited by many divisive speakers and promoters of discord, a scientific critique of his perspective seems necessary. In explaining the origin and beginning of disagreements among Muslims, al-Qaffārī believes that Muslims after the Prophet's death and before ʿUthmān's assassination, based on "authentic transmitted reports and sound reason", enjoyed harmony, cohesion, and unity. This continued until ʿUthmān was killed amidst the sedition (fitnah) of the deviant and misguided, after which Muslims fell into sectarianism and disagreement.
By concealing numerous instances of disagreement and dispute among Muslims in the period between the Prophet's death and ʿUthmān's assassination, he seeks to portray the event of ʿUthmān's killing as the first and most widespread cause of disagreement among Muslims. He attempts to suggest that no disagreements existed over crucial and central issues among Muslims, and that the era of the first and second caliphs was a golden age of unity and cohesion in Islamic history. By citing the statements and views of Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Qaffārī demonstrates his intellectual debt to him and strives to furnish his own view with a credible precedent and foundation. In this borrowing, he attributes the cause of innovations (bidʿah) appearing after ʿUthmān's death to the "ignorance of the ummah" (jahl al-ummah). He identifies two factors for this ignorance in Islamic society of that era: first, "the distance and separation of Muslims from the center of Islamic governance, namely the city of Medina"; and second, "the absence of people of knowledge and faith, i.e., the Companions of the Prophet (SAWA), from among the populace". This article seeks to examine this view and its supporting evidence by relying on primary Shīʿī and Sunnī sources, employing scientific critique and utilizing historical reports.
Due to space limitations and to avoid excessive detail and lengthy discussions, this research will rely on a single significant historical event that occurred precisely in the interval between the Prophet's death and ʿUthmān's assassination. It will demonstrate that, firstly, the supposed unity claimed by al-Qaffārī and his predecessors and followers is flawed, and secondly, the evidence presented regarding the cause of disagreement in the affair of ʿUthmān's assassination is disputable and refutable. Shortly after the Prophet's death, a group of Muslims, contrary to the explicit command and recommendation of the Prophet (SAWA) and in the absence of some of his most important close relatives and family members, convened secretly in Saqīfah to appoint a caliph. This event was opposed by a significant number of people and Companions and led to numerous subsequent incidents. This occurred while the event of Saqīfah took place in Medina and involved a group of the Companions. Consequently, neither distance from Medina nor distance from the Companions was the cause of disagreement among Muslims. Rather, not only before ʿUthmān's assassination but in the short interval following the Prophet's death, the greatest sedition and widespread dispute among Muslims was engineered in Medina by some of the Companions themselves.