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the other the different conflicting lines of Shi'ites, whose intricacies we shall soon
have to face.
To return: in this first elective council the choice fell upon Abu Bakr. He was a man
distinguished by his piety and his affection for and close intimacy with Muhammad. He was
the father of Muhammad's favorite wife, A'isha, and was some two years younger than his
son-in-law. He was, also, one of the earliest believers and it is evident that this, with
his advanced age, always respected in Arabia, went far to secure his election. Yet his
election did not pass off without a struggle in which the elements that later came to
absolute schism and revolution are plainly visible. The scene, as it can be put together
from Arabic historians, is curiously suggestive of the methods of modern politics. As soon
as it was assured that the Prophet, the hand which had held together all those clashing
interests, was really dead, a convention was called of the leaders of the people. There
the strife ran so high between the Ansar, the Muhajirs and the Muslim aristocrats of the
house of Umayya, that they almost came to blows. Suddenly in the tumult, Umar, a man of
character and decision, "rushed the convention" by solemnly giving to Abu Bakr
the hand-grasp of fealty. The accomplished fact was recognized—as it has always been in
Islam—and on the next day the general mass of the people swore allegiance to the first
Khalifa, literally Successor, of Muhammad.
On his death, in A.H. 13 (A.D. 634), there followed Umar. His election passed off
quietly. He had been nominated by Abu Bakr and nothing remained
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