between them, and this is what the scholars have done here. The ḥāfiẓ mentioned in "al-Fatḥ" (13/182), quoting Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, referred to the aforementioned opposition and then responded that he intended in "the ḥadīth of Safīnah" the caliphate of prophethood and did not specify that in the ḥadīth of Jābir ibn Samurah. I said: This reconciliation is very strong, and it is supported by the wording of Abū Dāwūd: "The caliphate of prophethood is thirty years..." Thus, it does not contradict the coming of other caliphs after them because they are not caliphs of prophethood. These are the ones meant in the ḥadīth, not others, as is clear. It is further clarified by the statement of Shaykh al-Islām in his previous treatise: "It is permissible to call those after the rightly-guided caliphs 'caliphs' even if they were kings, and they were not caliphs of the prophets, as evidenced by what al-Bukhārī and Muslim narrated in their 'Ṣaḥīḥs' from Abū Hurayrah (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) from the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) who said: 'The Israelites were governed by the prophets. Whenever a prophet perished, another succeeded him. There will be no prophet after me, but there will be caliphs who will increase in number.' They said: 'What do you command us?' He said: 'Fulfill the pledge of allegiance to the first and then the first, and give them their rights, for Allāh will ask them about what He entrusted them with.'" His statement "who will increase in number" is evidence for those other than the rightly-guided, as they were not numerous. Also, his saying "fulfill the pledge of allegiance to the first and then the first" indicates that they will differ, "and the rightly-guided did not differ."

- "a span, so Umm Salamah said: 'Then the feet will be exposed.' He said: 'A cubit.'" It was narrated by Abū Yaʿlá in "his isnād" (325/1) that Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥajjāj narrated to us, Ḥammād narrated from Ayyūb from Nāfiʿ from Ṣafiyyah bint Abī ʿUbayd from Umm Salamah: When the Messenger of Allāh (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said what he said about trailing the hem, she said: "I said: O Messenger of Allāh..."