The Reality of Designated Successor in the Sunni'sTexts and Traditions with a Focus on the Prophet'sand the Companions' Statements

Being a designated successor is one of the most important terms in the Shia political thought. According to Shia ideology, the Prophet's successor is designated through wardship, which is in contradiction to the Sunni's political ideology that the Prophet has never designated his successor. Moreover, some other Sunnis believe that all of the traditions regarding Ali's (a.s) wardship to the Prophet are fake; while, a number of Sunni scholars believe that the narrated traditions about Imam Ali's (a.s) wardship has meant his wardship to the Prophet's properties. The key issue of this study is to investigate the meaning, sense and application of the issue of wardship in the Sunni ideology. Thereupon, the findings of this study prove that Sunni's traditions and historical texts indicate that the application of the term "Imam Ali's wardship to the Prophet" has a political sense and the term "Imam Ali's wardship" in the Prophet's and the companions' words as narrated in their texts of tradition has had a general application until the thirteen's century which has conveyed the same application as the Shia ideology has had.