The Prophet Muhammad A simple Guide to his Life
Prophetic Wisdom
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this issue was finally resolved by deciding that only
a member of the Quraysh tribe should be appointed
as the Prophet’s successor. Accordingly, Abu Bakr,
who belonged to the Quraysh tribe, was appointed
as first caliph.
There was an apparent contradiction in this. Why
should the Prophet ever have made such an
observation? There was, however great wisdom
behind it. That is, the caliph, or the ruler, having to
impose commands on a vast society, required of
necessity, that people should be willing to submit to
or obey him. Obedience had to be voluntary, for
ensuring submission by force would have failed to
achieve the aim of the Islamic Caliphate.
In ancient Arabia over the centuries, the Quraysh
had come to acquire the position of leadership, so
that the public readily accepted the leadership of a
person who belonged to this tribe. That was why
the Prophet indicated his preference for a Quraysh
as his successor. This was not a command of an
eternal nature. This meant only that in any
community or nation it should be a member of a
group, which enjoyed a political status such as that
