الفزع وخرجا مسرعين إلى السقيفة ومعهما أبو عبيدة بن الجراح ، فجاؤوا وفي السقيفة خلق كثير ، فقال عمر بن الخطاب : أتيناهم وقد كنت زودت كلاما أردت أن أقوم به فيهم ، فلما اندفعت إليهم ذهبت لابتدء المنطق فقال لي أبو بكر : رويدا حتى أتكلم .

alarm, and the two of them went out in haste to the portico, and with them Abu 'Ubayda b. al-Jarrah. They came, and in the portico was a great crowd. 'Umar b. al-Khattab said: We came to them, and I had prepared words which I intended to deliver among them; but when I moved towards them and went to begin speaking, Abu Bakr said to me: Gently, until I speak.

ثم انطق بعد بما أحببت فنطق ، فقال عمر : فما شئ كنت أريد أن أقول به إلا وقد أتى به فبدأ أبو بكر فحمد الله وأثنى عليه ثم قال : إن الله بعث محمدا رسولا إلى خلقه وشهيدا على أمته ليبعدوا الله ويوحدوه وهم يعبدون من دونه آلهة شتى ، يزعمون أنها لمن عبدها شافعة ولهم نافعة !

Then say afterwards what you please. So he spoke; and 'Umar said: There was nothing I had wished to say but that he had said it. So Abu Bakr began: he praised God and extolled Him, then said: God sent Muhammad as a messenger to His creation and a witness over his community, that they might worship God and profess His oneness — while they were worshipping, apart from Him, sundry gods, claiming that they intercede for whoever worships them and profit them!

وإنما هي من حجر منحوت ، وخشب منجور ، ثم قرء : * ( يعبدون من دون الله ما لا يضرهم الآية ) * فعظم على العرب أن يتركوا دين آبائهم فخص الله المهاجرين الأولين من قومه بتصديقه ، والأيمان به ، والمواساة له ، والصبر معه على شدة أذى قومهم لهم وتكذيبهم إياه ، فهم أول من عبد الله في الأرض وآمن بالله وبالرسول وهم أوليائه وعشيرته ، وأحق الناس بهذا الأمر من بعده ، ولا ينازعهم في ذلك الأمر إلا ظالم .

Yet they are only carved stone and hewn wood. Then he recited: “They worship, apart from God, what neither harms them” — the verse. It weighed heavily upon the Arabs to leave the religion of their fathers; so God singled out the first Emigrants of his people for believing him and having faith in him, for standing with him and enduring with him the severity of their people's injury to them and their calling him a liar. They are the first who worshipped God in the earth and believed in God and in the Messenger; they are his friends and his clan, and the most deserving of people of this affair after him, and none disputes it with them but a wrongdoer.

وأنتم يا معشر الأنصار من لا ينكر فضلهم في الدين ، ولا سابقتهم العظيمة في الإسلام ، رضيكم الله أنصارا لدينه ورسوله وجعل إليكم هجرته ، وفيكم جلة أزواجه وأصحابه ، وليس بعد المهاجرين الأولين عندنا بمنزلتكم ، فنحن الأمراء وأنتم الوزراء ! ! !

And you, O assembly of Ansar, are those whose merit in the religion is not denied, nor their great precedence in Islam. God was pleased with you as helpers of His religion and His Messenger, and appointed your place for his migration, and among you are the chief of his wives and his companions. There is none, after the first Emigrants, of your standing with us. So we are the commanders and you are the ministers.

لا نقتات عليكم 1 بمشورة ولا نقضي دونكم الأمور .

We shall not act apart from you [1] in counsel, nor decide matters without you.

فقام الحباب بن المنذر بن الجموح ، فقال : يا معشر الأنصار املكوا عليكم أمركم ، فإن الناس في ظلكم ، ولن يجترء مجترء على خلافكم ، ولا يصدر أحد إلا عن رأيكم ، وأنتم أهل العزة ، والمنعة ، وأولوا العدد والكثرة ، وذوو البأس والنجدة ، وإنما ينظر الناس ما تصنعون ، فلا تختلفوا فتفسد عليكم أموركم فإن أبى هؤلاء إلا ما سمعتم : فمنا أمير ومنهم أمير ، فقال عمر : هيهات لا يجتمع سيفان في غمد ، والله لا ترضى العرب أن تؤمركم ونبيها من غيركم ، ولا تمنع العرب أن تولي أمرها من كانت النبوة

Then al-Hubab b. al-Mundhir b. al-Jamuh rose and said: O assembly of Ansar, keep your affair in your own hands, for the people are in your shadow; no bold man will dare to differ from you, and none will proceed but according to your opinion. You are the people of might and of protection, of number and of multitude, of valour and of courage. The people are only watching what you will do; so do not differ, lest your affairs be spoiled for you. And if these refuse anything but what you have heard, then from us an emir and from them an emir. 'Umar said: Never — two swords do not come together in one scabbard. By God, the Arabs will not be content to make you commanders when their prophet is of other than you; nor will the Arabs refuse to appoint over their affair those among whom the prophethood