A Critique of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's Argument on the Siddiqin Verse of the Holy Quran in Favor of Abu Bakr

The question of succession to the Prophet Muhammad has since been one of the most controversial issues dealt with between Shiites and Sunnis. While Shiite scholars hold that imamate, especially the imamate of Imam Ali has been a topic to be decided on only by Allah, the Sunnis disregard the Divine decision and believe in certain superiority  for Abu Bakr. Among such Sunnis, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi is one of them. Viewing Abu Bakr as one of the truthful (siddiqin), he is regarded as one of those in whose case certain Quranic verses, i.e., al-Nisa, 69, and al-Fatiha, 6-7, are revealed. Based on other arguments, not only is it illogical to regard Abu Bakr as one of the truthful, but there is no connection between being a truthful and assuming the significant role of leadership of the community. Therefore, the claim for Abu Bakr's caliphate is rejected outright.