I gave u the hint to check out history of the so called’’prominent companions’’ of the holy Prophet but I think u were more interested in finding out my presentation faults then to concentrate on my argument.Anyways I will help u out by giving u some titles of books from which u can find out the answers to your question.All these books have been written using sunni references e.g sahih Bukhari,sahih Muslim e.t.c,e.t.c.
But,before that I would like to pose a few questions to u:Why did these ‘’companions’’ run away from maidane jihad[ohad e.t.c],leaving the holy Prophet alone with some steadfast companions to face the enemy?While in The Holy Quran Allah clearly condemns these type of companions and it proves that they were weak in faith.see [holy Quran 3:144,,9:38-39,,5:54,,,e.t.c,e.t.c]
Why did ‘’these companions’’ every now and then oppose the Holy prophet’s commands? While the Holy Quran [33:36’] says ‘’and it behoves not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and his messanger have decided a matter:and whoever disobeys Allah and his messanger,he surely strays off a manifest straying’’.See also [Holy quran 4:65,, 59:7,,,3;31,,2;151,,, e.t.c,e.t.c]
Why did these companions create a commotion ,when the Holy Prophet at his death bed, asked for bone and ink to write a statement for them, which would prevent them from straying.Why did Umar say the Holy prophet was talking nonsense and the Quran was sufficient for them?Did he know the Quran better then Allah’s Prophet???or was there something fishy going on?The prophet got so angry that at last he told them to leave the room.Wow what great companions of the Prophet!
Now Allah says in the[holy Quran 3:7]that some of its verses are decisive[clear] while some r ambiguous and none knoweth its interpretation save Allah and those firmly rooted in knowledge.Now compare with the famous saying of the Holy prophet ‘’ana madinatul Ilm wa Aliyan Baabooha’’
.Now lets see what these companions have to say about their knowledge;Abu Bakr said;’’May Allah never put me in a predicament that Abu al-hasan cannot solve.,and Umar said If it was not for Ali,Umar would have perished.”[ref;sunni books Al-Isti’ab,vol 3 pg 39,,,Manaqib al-Khawarizmi,p.48,,,Al-Riyadh al-Nadirah,vol 2 p.194 ,,,]mmm quiet interesting
So now as Imam Ali a.s.was second only to the Holy prophet and he had been choosen by God [holy Quran 5:55-56] ‘’your guardian is Allah, his messanger and those who believe and who keep up the prayer and pay zakaat while they are bowing in prayers[in rukoo].Now who was the one who had given zakaat while being in rukoo apart from Imam Ali a.s??? Now lets see what some ahle sunnat say about Imam Ali a.s;;;The Imam Ahmed.b.Hambal says;’’There has not come down to us regarding the merits of any one of the companions of the Apostle of God what has been transmitted concerning Ali’’. Ibn Asakir from ibn Abbas says;;’’There has not been revealed in the book of God,the Holy Quran regarding any one what has been revealed concerning Ali and that 300[three hundred] verses have been revealed concerning Ali. At-Tabarani and Ibn-Abi Hatim record from Ibn-Abbas that he said that’’the lord never revealed the words’’o true believers but Ali was understood to be the lord and chief of them,and verily the lord has reproved the various people but has never mentioned Ali save with approval.’’
The Holy Prophet while returning from’’ hajjatul wida’’at the revelation of verse 67 of sura-al-Maidah,stopped all the pilgrims at the place called Ghadeer-e-khum and after delivering a sermon asked the crowd ‘’am I not the master to the believers more then their own selves?when the crowd said'' yes'', He then called Imam Ali a.s and raised him so much ,that the whole gathering could see the white under his armpits and declared’’man kunto maulaho fahaza Aliyun Maulahu[to whomsoever I am the maula[ lord master] Ali is his maula[lord,master] and prayed for Imam Ali and his followers ‘’O god be thou a friend to him who is a friend to Ali,be thou an enemy to him who is enemy to Ali,help the one who helps him,forsake the one who forsakes him.Then he told the crowd to congratulate and pay baiyat to Imam Ali calling him by the title ‘’Amirul-momineen’’[commander of the faithful].Many sunni authors have recorded this event in their books.If u want to know more read al-Ghadir by Al-Amini[thirteen volumes] in which the writer classifies the sayings of the Prophet according to Sunnis.
So why didn’t these companions adhere to Imam Ali after the Holy prophet’s demise?instead they usurped his right and wanted to kill him, because he was not ready to pay Baiyat to them!
Now we can understand why the election at Saqifa was more important to them, then performing the shrouding and burial rites of the Holy prophet s.a.w.w. Imam Ali a.s and few steadfast sahabas of the Holy Prophet performed all the Burial rites of the Holy Prophet,while these ‘’so called prominent companions’’ were busy at saqifa choosing a Khalifa . Wow what great companions!!!
These ‘’prominent companions’’who were sunk deep in idolatry for more then half of their lives, had run away from battle fields after accepting Islam, posed as great Heroes of Islam after the Holy Prophet's death.Alas, because of them we r divided till now and u want us not to reject them???The holy Prophet had said’’Behold! My Ahl al-Bayt are like the ark of Noah,whoever embarked in it was saved,and whoever turned away from it was drowned’’’.[Al-Mustadrak by al-Hakim,vol 3 p.151,,,Yanabi’al_Muwaddeh,p.30,370.,,,Al-Sawaiq al-Muhriqah by Ibn Hajar,p.184,and p.234…] Alas history proves that very few got in Noah’s ark and were saved while majority were drowned.
Open your eyes’’muslim soldier’’,do some research with unbiased mind and inshaAllah God will guide u to the truth’’.
Below r some of the titles of the books which will help you ,if u really R in search of the TRUTH.These books contain all references from ahle sunnat books as I told you.
[1]Ask those who Know [2] To be with the Truthful [3] Then I was Guided …[4] SHIA the real followers of the Sunnah......by Muhammad al-Tijani al-Samawi.