52 DESTINY DISRUPTED
some of the community's notables asked him to nominate his successor as
Abu Bakr had done, in order to ensure a smooth transition. "How about
your son?" they suggested.
Omar flew into his last rage: "Do you think I did this job to benefit
myself and my family?" He died later that day, but before his death he es-
tablished another consequential precedent. He named a six-man consulta-
tive committee (a shura) to select a new khalifa and seek the consensus of
the Umma on their choice. Many later Muslim thinkers looked to the
shura as the basis for democratic institutions in Islam. The shura discov-
ered that two men, Ali and Othman, were everybody's first and second
choices, some favoring Ali and some Othman. (Ali, remember, was Mo-
hammed's son-in-law who had already been passed over twice.)
The chairman of the shura interviewed both men in front of an assem-
bly of the people, posing one key question to each: "If you become khal-
ifa, will you be guided by the Qur'an, the sunna, and the precedents set by
Abu Bakr and Omar?"
Ali said yes to the Qur'an and yes to the sunna (the example set by
Mohammed's life), but as for the decisions of his predecessors-no: Ali
said he had a mind of his own and would consult his own conscience and
best judgment for his decisions. Othman, by contrast, said yes to every-
thing: "I am not an innovator." So the chairman declared him the right
man to head the Umma, the people approved, and Ali, not wanting to
rock the boat, took the oath of loyalty.