Examination of the Viewpoint of Salah ul-Din al-Edlebi on Imam Ali's Caliphate

In The Method of Text Criticism from the Perspective of the Prophetic Hadith Scholars, Salah ul-Din al-Edlebi has examined some narrated hadiths from the holy Prophet (SA) and, on the basis of the criteria for criticizing the hadith texts, considers some of these hadiths as counterfeit. From amongst, in accordance to the (dependent) reason criterion, he considers the Caliphate of Imam 'Ali (AS) essentially as counterfeit and contradictory to reason. He considers the Shia belief in the Caliphate of Imam 'Ali (AS) after the holy Prophet (SA) as incorrect and contradictory to reason and opposite to common habit; on the same basis, he regards this Shii belief as counterfeit and made by the hadith counterfeiters. From al-Edlebi's perspective, the Shia claim about Ghadire Khom and the companions not protesting against Abu Bakr is opposite to common habit and contradictory to reason. The present research has challenged al-Edlebi's view in three points of criticizing his bases, methodology and content. It results in that al-Edlebi's view in this case is incorrect and Imam 'Ali's Caliphate not only is not in contrary to the reason criterion on the basis of Quran and definite tradition, but also the (dependent and independent) reason and the wise people's custom confirm it.