recognized as the arbitrator. Madelung, Crone, and Keshk prefer this account, while Keaney is undecided, commenting that Umar probably avoided stacking the committee so obviously against Ali. Jafri disagrees, citing Ali's own account of the proceedings in the Shia Nahj al-balagha, and adding that Umar meant to block Ali but could have not simply excluded him from the proceedings. A report by al-Tabari reads that Ali objected to Ibn Awf's deciding vote to no avail. Alternatively, some sources give the arbitration role to Umar's son, Abd Allah. Those members who would not endorse the final decision (or those who would oppose Ibn Awf's pick in case of a tie) were to be slain. Criticism Ansar The Ansar (early Medinan converts) were absent from this committee, either because of their pro-Ali sympathies at the Saqifa after Muhammad's death in 632, as suggested by Jafri and Abbas, or to keep the caliphate within the Quraysh, as implied by others. Whatever the reason, the absence of the Ansar is believed to have helped Uthman defeat Ali. Some contemporary authors have criticized Umar's exclusion of the Ansar and others from decision making. Voting bloc Sa'd was inclined to support his cousin Ibn Awf, who was in turn likely to align himself with his brother-in-law, Uthman. This voting bloc of three would have formed the majority within the committee if Talha was absent and Sa'd thus cast two votes. Ibn Awf was given the tie-breaker and this voting bloc would have therefore dictated the outcome even if Talha was present during the deliberations. That the arrangement of the committee blocked the chances of Ali is also the view of Ayoub, who adds that Umar might have done so unknowingly. Jafri disagrees, saying that Umar meant to block Ali but could have not simply excluded him from the proceedings. Ali's grievances Possibly with the same calculations, Ali is shown as reluctant in the version of the events in which Ibn Awf proposed to cast the deciding vote in return for giving up his claims to the caliphate. Ali later referred to this voting bloc, complaining that the committee was stacked against him, as reported by the Sunni al-Baladhuri () and al-Tabari, among others, and also in the Shia Nahj al-balagha. Jafri suggests that Umar deliberately blocked the chances of Ali by granting the chairmanship of the committee to Ibn Awf, possibly fearing discord and civil unrest.