وَالْخِلَافَةُ ثَلَاثُونَ سَنَةً، ثُمَّ بَعْدَهَا مُلْكٌ وَإِمَارَةٌ
The caliphate lasted thirty years, followed by kingship and rule.
First: The legitimacy of ʿAlī’s caliphate differs from ijtihād concerning the pursuit of retribution.
Second: Claiming textual designation differs from establishing that a particular report decisively proves succession.
Third: The special thirty-year prophetic-model caliphate differs from the broad later use of “caliph” as a political title.
These three distinctions bring the discussion of the Companions’ disputes and the meaning of the early caliphate into a coherent framework.