Interactions and Divergence of the Members of the Council of Six: Omar and the Guided Caliphs

One of Omar’s innovations during his rule was selecting six members from the clan of Quraish amongst the migrants and placed them in the council of guided caliphs, announcing them to be viable candidates to succeed the prophet Mohammad. The questionable point is that these members of the guided caliph council, with the exception of Imam Ali, at the time of Othman’s rule and afterwards Imam Ali’s rule, were never subservient to the caliph of the time and created many obstacles for the successors of the Prophet. In the present study, using an analytic method, we have strived to identify the root reasons for discontentment from the council of six towards Othman the thirdcaliph and Imam Ali. In truth, the second caliph’s innovation caused the public to take a special liking to the council (due to victories in war, conquered trophies, and spreading the nation by conquering the Sassanid and Byzantine empires in the time of Omar), and the members of the council, with the exception of Imam Ali, became arrogant and lost the respect the bore for the first and second caliph, at the time of the third and fourth caliph. The members of the council, unlike the time of the Sheiks, had no subordination towards the later caliphs and believed themselves to be equals to them. One of the major problems of the third and fourth caliphs, was the arrogance and greed of Abdul Rahman Bin Ouf, Sa’d Bin Abu Waqqas, Talha and Zubair, who were no longer content with just receiving hefty salaries, and demanded high ranking positions from Othman, and later welfare in addition to salaries and positions from Imam Ali, and having been refused by the Imam, created obstacles for his rule.