It need scarcely be added that the Sunnī writers deny every word of these traditions.
The strong hand of the Sunnī K͟halīfah ʿUmar kept the claims of ʿAlī in abeyance; but when ʿUmar died, the K͟halifate was offered to ʿAlī, on condition that he would govern according to the Qurʾān, and the traditions as received by the Sunnīs. The answer of ʿAlī not being deemed satisfactory, the election devolved upon ʿUs̤mān (Othman). ʿUs̤mān was assassinated A.H. 35, and ʿAlī was elected on his own terms, in spite of the opposition of ʿĀyishah, the favourite wife of the Prophet, who had become a great influence in Islām.
One of the first acts of ʿAlī was to recall Muʿāwiyah from Syria. Muʿāwiyah refused, and then claimed the K͟halīfate for himself. His claims were supported by ʿĀyishah. ʿAlī was eventually assassinated at Kūfah, A.H. 40, and upon his death his son Ḥasan was elected K͟halīfah, but he resigned it in favour of Muʿāwiyah, on the condition that he should resume it on the death of the latter. Muʿāwiyah consented to this arrangement, although secretly determining that his own son Yazīd should be his successor.
Upon the death of Muʿāwiyah, A.H. 60, his son Yazīd, “the Polluted,” obtained the position of Imām or K͟halīfah, without the form of election, and with this event commenced the great Shīʿah schism, which has divided the forces of Islām until this day.
The leading, or “orthodox” sect of the Shīʿahs, the Imāmīyahs, receive the following as the rightful K͟halīfahs:—
1. ʿAlī, the son-in-law of the Prophet.
2. Al-Ḥasan, the son of ʿAlī.
3. Al-Ḥusain, the second son of ʿAlī.
4. ʿAlī, surnamed Zainu ʾl-ʿAbidīn, the son of al-Ḥusain.
5. Muḥammad al-Bāqir, son of Zainu ʾl-ʿAbidīn.