Fraud No. (33)_ If Two Caliphs Are Pledged Allegiance To, Then Kill the Other One of Them

Sahih Muslim - The Emirate - If allegiance is pledged to two caliphs - Hadith No.: 3444

On the authority of Abu Saeed Al-Khudri, he said: The Messenger of God said: If allegiance is given to two caliphs, then kill the other one of them.

First: The forger cited the hadith : “If allegiance is given to two caliphs, then kill the latter of them.”

Second: Imam al-Nawawi said in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, vol. 6, no. 326: “This is based on the case where it cannot be averted except by killing him,” meaning if the danger is not averted and the possibility of conflict, division and fragmentation increases due to two caliphs calling on people to pledge allegiance to them, and the group is divided and torn apart, then the hadith directs the Muslims after attempts to convince the newer caliph to give up, as the forger himself proved in one of the narrations of the hadith , then there is no way to preserve the unity of the nation and the group except by killing one of them, and there is no doubt that this calls for war from the Muslims because the caliph cannot be a caliph except with power and a group of followers, so he directs the nation to stand by the side of the first caliph to whom the people pledged allegiance initially and to support him against whoever transgressed against him.

Third: We say to every wise and intelligent person: What are the possible decisions when two men dispute over the rule and taking over the reins of leadership?

Either we leave the matter to the people to form parties for this or that according to their whims, so that there will be strife among all the people, as there is strife between the two caliphs, or the people leave the dispute to continue without paying attention to it until the enemies of the group come and devour the nation and eliminate the dispute, or the group seeks to resolve that dispute.

I will not choose one because the human mind in general knows what the group should do. But I remember the sermon of the first Caliph, Abu Bakr - may God be pleased with him - as he explained why we are not satisfied with two Caliphs: “It is not permissible for the Muslims to have two leaders, because whatever that may be, their affairs and rulings will differ, their group will be divided and they will dispute among themselves. There the Sunnah will be abandoned, innovation will appear, and sedition will increase, and there is no limit to that.” Al-Sunan Al-Kubra by Al-Bayhaqi, Vol. 8, p. 145.

I will not remind the deceiver of what the multiplicity of leaders did in Europe, whether in the Middle Ages or in the two world wars, of the calamities that the group brought before the enemies.