Yes, he was in doubt about it. This is why he did it. For a few months or for a few days, it is debatable how long he desisted from doing that. But once Allah made it clear to him that he was a rightful caliph, he accepted. And that act of accepting him as caliph, after he had made it known that I am hesitant, that also showed the greatness of Hazrat Ali. He did not mind his self-respect to be injured in the eyes of others by changing that decision. And he ultimately accepted.
So, there are so many things in fact in the history of Islam about which we are not very sure. There are two schools telling us different stories. Some stories come from the Shiites, some from the Sunnites, and 1300 years have passed since. And a lot of enmity is witnessed in various periods of history between these two factions.
So the traditions relating to these differences are unreliable. And I should not rely too much on the traditions put forward by either of the two sections. The fact of history which remains unaltered is this, that Allah ultimately chose Hazrat Ali to be the fourth caliph. If he had acted wrongly, consciously, in any manner, he could never have been chosen as the fourth successor of Hazrat Rasool-e-Akram.
So that absolves him of any expression which these traditions might have thrown upon him, which reach us. They might be true and they might be false. But one fact remains clear and undebatable, that in Allah’s eyes, he had not done anything wrong consciously. By mistake, there is no harm, he might have done something.
