They Deceive People by Talking about the So-Called the Four "Righteous" Caliphs
Published in Arabic in November 14, 2016
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Firstly: the term ''righteous caliphs'' is part of the religious terminology pertaining to the Sunnite religion:
1- The term ''righteous caliphs'' (i.e., in Arabic: Al-Kholafaa Al-Rashidoon) is one of the main terms used and propagated by Sunnites in their Sunnite religion, which has nothing to do whatsoever with Islam (i.e., Quranism), as the Sunnites like to differentiate the deified ad sanctified four pre-Umayyad caliphs by setting them apart from the rest of ''non-righteous'' caliphs such as the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Fatimids, and the Ottomans. This is done by Sunnites, past and present, to assert sanctification, glorification, and deification of these four pre-Umayyad caliphs (whose names are: Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali). Hence, the Sunnites revere and worship such names as infallible deities that cannot possibly be criticized; Sunnites overlook any sort of criticisms of any other caliphs of any dynasty, from the Umayyads until the Ottomans, and hence, one can criticize such dynasties and their caliphs of any era and still be regarded as 'Sunnite', or rather a 'devout Sunnite' when one combines criticism of such caliphates and dynasties (e.g., Abbasids or Ottomans) with praising and lauding of the so-called "the four 'righteous' caliphs" who are great and supreme Sunnite gods. Sunnites would praise one to the skies if one would end one's verbal or written discourse about caliphs with declaring the Fatimids as Shiite apostates or infidel polytheists. We, Dr. A. S. Mansour, have been the first author and thinker to declare companions of the Arab conquests as non-Muslims who rejected faith and discarded the Quran, as we have proven in our book published here in Arabic and in English, titled "The Unspoken-of History of the Pre-Umayyad 'Righteous' Caliphs". We have been the first writer and Islamic thinker to prove that Arab conquests of the 7th century after Prophet Muhammad's death are the worst crime and sin against Islam and a rejection of the Islamic faith represented in the Quran. The history of thesefour pre-Umayyad 'righteous' caliphs, whom we like to call the criminal caliphs, can be summarized in two major crimes that had dire consequences in centuries that followed: 1) the crime of Arab conquests and invasions of other countries in the Ancient World, and 2) the major civil war (or internecine strife) among Arabs in Arabia during the reign of the fourth caliph Ali, the Shiites' supreme deity, but Sunnites have renamed this full-fledged civil war using a euphemistic appellation: ''the gravest unrest''.
2- Within the Islamic faith (i.e., Quranism), there is no room for deification, sanctification, and glorification except for God; we are not believing in persons, even prophets an messengers, but we believe the divine messages they had received from God. Therefore, Within real Islam, there is no such thing as 'sacred' or 'holy' history, and there is not any notion of 'sanctified' historical figures or personages that would be part of faith or belief; there is no such thing as 'saints'. Thus, all historical figures, without exceptions, are mere history without halos of any sort; there is no difference to us, Quranists, between Abou Bakr, Omar, Caesar, Persian emperors, Hitler, Napoleon, Lumumba, and Jomo Kenyatta when we study, examine, and research history; we judge historical accounts and figures using criteria of historical research and as per era and location and relevant conditions, without bias, deification, or prejudice. Things get complicated when any ruler in any given era would ascribe his deeds to the name of Islam, while he would commit heinous crimes and gravest sins. In that case, a Quranist researcher must use the Noble Quran as the criteria to judge if such and such deeds comply with or contradict the Quranic teachings. If such deeds of a certain ruler contradict Islam (i.e. the Quran), the Quranist researchers' responsibility entails that truth be made known and revealed to all people; even secular or non-religious researchers must do that if they are scientific and adhere to tools of historical research as they have a sound conscience. Accordingly, when we, Dr. A. S. Mansour, assert that the so-called 'righteous' caliphs are in fact criminal caliphs and sinners, we describe them accurately based on careful in-depth historical research within all available historical accounts, especially as far as the crime of Arab conquests is concerned; this crime is a flagrant violation of the Quranic sharia legislation of self-defense fighting. Hence, the four pre-Umayyad caliphs were never righteous; rather, they were immoral sinners.
3- Another historical fact within the Sunnite religion is that these four immoral criminal caliphs have been elevated from the status of being merely historical figures into the status of godhead; they remain until now the supreme deities of the Sunnites, and no one dares to criticize them or to discuss their history and pose questions about them. Sunnites expect all researchers to glorify and sanctify these four caliphs in particular as infallible and unerring gods; hence, their heinous crimes committed within the major crime called Arab conquests have become religious duty or rituals in the Sunnite religion, under the appellation ''Sunnite jihad'', which is in fact terrorism adopted now by all terrorist Wahabi organizations to revive the ways/traditions and follow the footsteps of the 'holy' four caliphs. It is noteworthy that the dynasties caliphs followed the footsteps of the 'holy' four caliphs and imitated their crimes (massacres, raids, looting, rape, enslavement, etc.); these crimes were committed by most caliphs: the Umayyads, the Abbasids, the Ottomans, the Andalusians. In our modern times, the same crimes have been committed by ISIS and other Wahabi terrorists: Salafists, the MB, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, etc. who ascribe their horrors forcibly to Islam, but Islam (the Quran alone) is innocent of them and their horrible crimes. Hence, the so-called religious wars in the past 14 centuries had nothing to do with Islam; rather, since the Arab major civil war in Arabia in the 7th century A.D., all civil strife in all eras revolved around power, authority, and wealth. The Muhammadans have made it a religious sharia to fight one another for the sake of the crown/throne using religious doctrinal mottoes and banners; we have covered this topic in detail in many previous articles and books authored by us and published on our website. One salient evil corrupt notion of the Sunnites is to divide the globe into two separate camps: the camp of peace/Islam in the countries ruled by them, and the camp of war/disbelief in countries ruled by non-Muhammadans. Yet, inside the Muhammadans' countries or ''camp of peace'', they engage into civil wars and internecine strife until now, and they are still worshipping the four supreme deities: the immoral sinful pre-Umayyad caliphs who led Arab conquests and the Arabian civil war, events that had twisted, distorted, and deformed the meanings of Quranic verses and are still the bases for all bloodshed and massacres committed in the last 14 centuries in the Arab countries. There is little hope of the Muhammadans being reformed or undertaking religious reform. More details on the Arabian civil war are found in our book about this topic and another book about the Karbala massacre committed by the Umayyads. It is a disgrace that the Muhammadans, past and present, have followed the footsteps of the four evil, devilish, sinful pre-Umayyad caliphs, deified by them as the 'righteous' caliphs!
Secondly: the term ''righteous caliphs'' is a religious term never used in the early historical accounts and sources:
1- We have reviewed and edited all the volumes of "The History by Al-Tabari"; Al-Tabari was a well-known historian who died in 310 A.H., and he writes in the introduction of his book the following: (…We write here history of past monarchs, their news, their accounts, as well as eras of prophets and messengers of God, and giving each prophet and king their respective ages, as well as histories of past caliphs and their personal biographies, ages, years of reign, and all events that occurred in their lifetimes …). We notice here how Al-Tabari never uses the term ''righteous caliphs'' at all, even when he mentions that the second of the four pre-Umayyad caliphs, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, was the first to use the title "Amir Al-Moumineen'' (i.e., Prince of the Faithful) and how all his successors used the same honorific title. However, the term ''righteous caliphs'' was mentioned once by Al-Tabari to describe the Abbasid caliphs, and NOT the four pre-Umayyad caliphs, within the context of singing praises of the Abbasid caliph Harun Al-Rasheed; we quote part of this context here: (… this poet was heavily in debts … he came to the Abbasid caliph Harun Al-Rasheed to sing his praises in verse … when asked by Harun Al-Rasheed, the poet said that in his poem, the sun signifies Abraham, the moon stands for Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the stars refer to the righteous caliphs who are the ancestors of Harun Al-Rasheed … Harun Al-Rasheed granted the poet 100000 dirhams to pay his debts …).
2- It is noteworthy that the well-known historian Ibn Al-Atheer, who died in 630 A.H., who summarized the volumes of history authored by Al-Tabari, has never mentions in his writings the term ''righteous caliphs'' at all.
3- The term ''righteous caliphs'' is mentioned once in the historical account titled ''Al-Tabakat Al-Kobra'', authored by the well-known historian Ibn Saad, who died in 230 A.H., within a doubtful narrative revolving the dying About Bakr making a will to appoint Omar as his successor and talking to him in this respect, while saying that he implored the Almighty to make Omar one of the ''righteous caliphs'' who follow footstep of Muhammad, and then he uttered a benediction of Omar and implored God to help him as ruler. This account is anachronistic, fabricated, and false; the term ''righteous caliphs'' was not coined at all at the time to be used by Abou Bakr; besides, we have proven in our book titled "The Unspoken-of History of the Pre-Umayyad 'Righteous' Caliphs" that actually, Omar had murdered Abou Bakr with poison and buried him hurriedly by night without proper funeral. Hence, this narrative of Ibn Saad is a fabrication forged during the Second Abbasid Era.
4- The Ibn Hanbal Sunnite doctrine theologian and scholar-cum-author Ibn Al-Jawzy, who died in 597 A.H., was a fanatic, extremist bigot and scholar of fiqh, and he had written so many narratives of history of periods and eras never witnesses by him – this means that he fabricated all these narratives. Hence, Ibn Al-Jawzy filled his book of narratives titled "In Praise of Imam Ahmed Ibn Hanbal" with flagrant illogical lies, fabrications, and falsehoods. We have tackled such narratives in our book published here on our website titled "The Ibn Hanbal Doctrine - Root of Wahabism - and the Destruction of Iraq in the Second Abbasid Era". Ibn Al-Jawzy in his book of history titled ''Al-Muntazim'' had copied liberally from Al-Tabari and other past historians without taking great care of copying honestly, and he fabricated and authored numerous narratives and added to them series of narrators. In this book, Ibn Al-Jawzy celebrates and sings the praises of the Abbasid caliph Al-Motawakil, as he christened the Sunnite religion by naming it as such (imposing it all over Baghdad disguised as his version of 'real' Islam!) and allied himself to the Ibn Hanbal doctrine scholars, who made him persecute Sufis, Shiites, philosophers, Jews and Christians, and Al-Mu'tazala group thinkers. The term ''righteous caliphs'' is used several times in the book titled "Al-Muntazim" as religious term for the very first time, not just a historical one. Within narratives authored and fabricated by Ibn Al-Jawzy, he writes a biography of the well-known supreme-judge during the First Abbasid Era, Abou Youssef, who was the disciple of the scholar and imam Abou Hanifa (who was the founder of one of the four major doctrines adopted later on by Sunnites), and we quote here how Ibn Al-Jawzy uses the term ''righteous caliphs'': (… Harun Al-Rasheed attended discussions and debates of Malik Ibn Anas and Abou Youssef in Yathreb, as they disputed over zakat or tithes taken from fruits and vegetables, and what was practiced in that respect during the era of the righteous caliphs …) (source: ''Al-Muntazim'' vol.10/ p.159). This story is false because Malik Ibn Anas (who founded one of the major four Sunnite doctrines) never met with Harun Al-Rasheed at all an because the term ''righteous caliphs'' was never used by Abou Youssef nor by Malik Ibn Anas. This means that this false story was authored by Ibn Al-Jawzy to coin and spread the term ''righteous caliphs''. Another narrative of his in his book ''Al-Muntazim'' relates to events he witnessed in 241 A.H., when the caliph Al-Motawakil used torture and terror during his caliphate and persecuted and imprisoned Shiites in Iraq. The story is about killing Eissa Ibn Jaffer, a Shiite, by flogging him to death. The story by Ibn Al-Jawzy asserts that the caliph himself prepared and made the flogs by which this Shiite man was to be killed in his cell by the executioner. This Shiite man was killed in that brutal manner as he was accused of verbally abusing the ''righteous caliphs'' Abou Bakr and Omar as well as Aisha, wife of Muhammad, and he never denied his 'crime' and 'sin' nor repented, as per witnesses who testified to the caliph. The victim tried to appeal to the judge to show mercy, but the judge refused to issue a pardon for a slanderer who abused the ''righteous caliphs'' and he attended the flogging, and then his corpse was thrown under the sun for all people of Baghdad to see and then thrown to the River Tigris. We notice that in this narrative, the term ''righteous caliphs'' is used frequently, as in many narratives in the book titled ''Al-Muntazim'' by Ibn Al-Jawzy, and the term was later on used more often than not by authors in other decades and authors, as reverence and sanctification of the four immoral sinful caliphs grew exponentially within the generations to come.
Thirdly: the Arabic root (rashad) and its derivations in the Quranic text:
1- The ''righteous'' caliphs in Arabic is''Al-Kholafaa Al-Rashidoon'', and the Arabic plural adjective ''Rashidoon'' is derived from Arabic root ''rashad '', i.e., guidance; its derivations in the Quranic text sometimes denote reasoning mind or knowledge: "Moses said to him, "May I follow you, so that you may teach me some of the guidance you were taught?"" (18:66); "Test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage. If you find them to be reasonable enough, hand over their properties to them…" (4:6).
2- The meanings of ''guidance'', "the guide", and ''guided ones" dominate the derivatives of the root ''rashad '' in many other Quranic verses: "There shall be no compulsion in religion; the guiding way has become distinct from the misguiding way. Whoever renounces evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handle; which does not break. God is Hearing and Knowing." (2:256). "It guides to rectitude, so we have believed in it; and we will never associate anyone with our Lord." (72:2). "I will turn away from My revelations those who behave proudly on earth without justification. Even if they see every sign, they will not believe in it; and if they see the path of rectitude, they will not adopt it for a path; and if they see the path of error, they will adopt it for a path. That is because they denied Our revelations, and paid no attention to them." (7:146). "When the youths took shelter in the cave, they said, "Our Lord, give us mercy from Yourself, and bless our affair with guidance."" (18:10). "…Perhaps my Lord will guide me to nearer than this in integrity."" (18:24). "The one who had believed said, "O my people, follow me, and I will guide you to the path of guidance."" (40:38). "We gave Abraham his guidance before, and We knew him well." (21:51). "We do not know whether ill is intended for those on earth, or if their Lord intends guidance for them." (72:10). "…As for those who have submitted-it is they who pursue guidance." (72:14). "Say, "It is not in my power to harm you, nor to bring you to guidance."" (72:21). "…God has given you the love of faith, and adorned it in your hearts, and made disbelief, mischief, and rebellion hateful to you. These are the rightly guided." (49:7). "And when My servants ask you about Me, I Am near; I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me. So let them answer Me, and have faith in Me, that they may be rightly guided." (2:186). "You would have seen the sun, when it rose, veering away from their cave towards the right, and when it sets, moving away from them to the left, as they lay in the midst of the cave. That was one of God's wonders. He whom God guides is truly guided; but he whom He misguides, for him you will find no guiding friend." (18:17).
Lastly:
1- The misguided and misguiding corrupters and tyrants in all eras are the ones who use any religion as tool to justify their heinous crimes by twisting and distorting facts/truths, turning them into falsehoods and lies and turning fabrications into 'facts'; likewise, they turn guidance into misguidance and vice-versa. Moses' Pharaoh is their imam and model to follow, as he appointed himself as the guide to the guidance path: "…Pharaoh said, "I do not show you except what I see, and I do not guide you except to the path of guidance."" (40:29).
2- God says the following about the misguided ones: "Do those who disbelieve think that they can take My servants for masters instead of Me? We have prepared Hell for the hospitality of the faithless. Say, "Shall We inform you of the greatest losers in their works?" "Those whose efforts in this world are misguided, while they assume that they are doing well."" (18:102-104).
3- We assert here that 18:102-104 apply to the Muhammadans and their four deified immoral, sinful caliphs.