of their family ties with the prophet. Umar in his sermon explained that they had pressed the Ansar for an immediate oath of allegiance at the Saqifa because, he claimed, they might have had otherwise elected one of their own to succeed Muhammad. Referring to this claim, Madelung suggests that Umar was partly fearful that the Ansar would put forward the case of Ali among themselves. This is also a proposal entertained by McHugo. The case for Ali Madelung is of the view that a broad , in which Ali was to be on option, would have inevitably led to the election of Ali: The Ansar would have supported Ali because of their family ties with Muhammad. Among the Muhajirun, the candidacy of Ali would have been supported by the powerful Abd Shams clan of the Quraysh because of their close ties with the Banu Hashim and despite their conflicts. Their chief Abu Sufyan indeed offered his support to Ali after the appointment of Abu Bakr, but was turned down by Ali who said he was concerned about the unity of the nascent Islam. The joint support of the Ansar and Abd Shams would have no doubt carried Ali to the caliphate, predicts Madelung. He adds that the straightforward logic of dynastic succession would have also prevailed in a general in favor of Ali. Some others similarly consider it likely that Ali would have been elected in a formal assembly. Merits In terms of merits, the same arguments that favored Abu Bakr over the Ansar (kinship, service to Islam, lineage, etc.) would have arguably favored Ali over Abu Bakr, as often evoked by Shia authors in support of Ali's right to succession. For Jafri, the Sunni arguments that justify Abu Bakr's caliphate on the basis that he led the prayer in Muhammad's final days reflect later theological developments. He also finds the related traditions to be confused and contradictory. In the same vein, Lecomte writes that Muhammad respected Abu Bakr but considers the prayer story inconclusive because it does not formally relate to the political leadership of the community. Shaban goes further and assigns no significance to the prayer story, saying that Muhammad had frequently delegated this task to others in the past. Youth A common argument by Sunni and Western scholars is that the young Ali, aged about thirty at the time, could have not been a serious candidate