Candidate for Usurping the Caliphate [1]
The first trick they brought up was replacing Amir al-Muminin (peace be upon him) with someone else.The hypocrites first raised this matter among themselves. Then they officially came to the presence of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and raised the issue.
They explicitly mentioned the names of Abu Bakr and Umar as the one who, in their imagination, would replace Amir al-Muminin (peace be upon him)!
The revelation of verse 15 of Surah Yunus after narrating their speech was a decisive response to them, along with its proof.
Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) in another hadith described the more serious stage of this conspiracy, which explicitly mentions Abu Bakr and Umar, by reciting parts of the verse as follows:
“وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ ۖ قَالَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَرْجُونَ لِقَاءَنَا ائْتِ بِقُرْآنٍ غَيْرِ هَٰذَا أَوْ بَدِّلْهُ ۖ قُلْ لَا يَكُونُ لِيَ أَنْ أُبَدِّلَهُ مِنْ تِلْقَاءِ نَفْسِي ۖ إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ”
“When Our clear verses are recited to them, those who do not hope to meet Us say: ‘Bring us a Quran other than this one, or change it.’ Say: ‘It is not for me to change it on my own accord. I only follow what is revealed to me.'”
The intent of this divine speech is that they said:
“If instead of Amir al-Muminin (peace be upon him) , he appoints Abu Bakr and Umar, we will follow him.” [2]
Ghadir fi al-Qur’an: Vol. 1, pp. 351-353.
Bihar al-Anwar: Vol. 36, p. 148, Hadith 124.
