The Silence of 25 Years

The validity of the Ahadith confirming Ali (AS) as the Caliph and the Imam is beyond question. But the question remains: Why did Ali (AS), the rightful successor to the Prophet (PBUH), remain silent after the latter’s death and made no effort to press his rights? Why did he not awaken society from its slumber? The answer is that Imam Ali (AS) never hesitated to press for his rights and always reminded people of the rightful place of the Prophet’s (PBUH) Household as successors, but he never attempted to take back his rights by force. We will consider the historical reports about this in the following paragraphs.