The First Two Caliphs vs Angels Gabriel and Michael

The Imam was the leader of the Shia community. He used every opportunity to defend the principles of the Shia belief. During the Imams brief stay in Baghdad, Yahya ibn Aktham, who had been defeated in his previous debate with the Imam, tried to challenge him with a critical question about the Shia belief against the first and the second caliphs. He asked the Imams opinion about a fabricated narration stating that angel Gabriel came to the Prophet and told him that God says that He is pleased with the first caliph, and asked the Prophet to ask the first caliph if he is also pleased with God. The Imam responded that the Prophet told the Muslims in his last Hajj that many will attribute lies to him after his death. The Prophet advised the Muslims to validate any narration attributed to him with the Quran and his tradition. The Imam then told Yahya that this narration was not valid as it was against the Quran by referring to the following verse [50:16]: Surely We have created man, and We know the promptings of his heart, and We are nearer to him than even his jugular vein. The Imam questioned how it was possible that God did not know the first caliphs opinion about Himself and needed to ask the Prophet. Yahya did not give up and asked the Imams opinion about another narration attributed to the Prophet, which states that the first and the second caliphs on the earth are like the angels Gabriel and Michael in heaven. The Imam responded that the angels Gabriel and Michael were never infidels, nor ever disobeyed God by committing even a single sin. The Imam then challenged this inequal comparison and said that the first and the second caliphs were infidels before converting to Islam and spent most of their lives in infidelity to God. Yahya then asked the Imams opinion about another narration attributed to the Prophet, which states that the first and the second caliphs are the leaders of the elders in paradise. The Imam responded that all of the people in paradise w