Caliphate legitimacy through kinship and companionship

190. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said: How strange? Could the caliphate be through the (Prophet’s) companionship but not through (his) companionship and (his) kinship?

As-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: Verses have also been related from Amīr al-mu’minīn on the same matter. They are:- If you claim to have secured authority by consultation, how did it happen when those to be consulted were absent! If you have scored over your opponents by kinship then someone else has greater right for being nearer to the Holy Prophet. [1]