An explicit designation would directly appoint a particular successor. An indication or contextual sign might establish virtue, precedence, or trust, but further argument is required before treating it as an unambiguous appointment to office.
Proving a Companion’s high standing and proving the precise mode by which that Companion became caliph are not identical tasks. Keeping them apart clarifies the competing arguments.
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The Companions’ Disputes, Ijtihād, and the Rightly Guided Caliphate
An explicit designation would directly appoint a particular successor. An indication or contextual sign might establish virtue, precedence, or trust, but further argument is required before treating it as an unambiguous appointment to office.
Proving a Companion’s high standing and proving the precise mode by which that Companion became caliph are not identical tasks. Keeping them apart clarifies the competing arguments.