I heard the people saying something so I decided that I should talk to you. They are saying that you are not going to appoint a successor. He lowered his head for a while, then he looked up and said: Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, will protect His religion. If I do not appoint a successor, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not appoint a successor either; if I do appoint a successor, Abu Bakr appointed a successor. By Allah, once he mentioned the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and Abu Bakr, I realized that he was not going to regard anyone else as equal to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and that he was not going to appoint a successor.