Hadith of Fatimah's anger with Abu Bakr

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Fatimah was the daughter of Muhammad, and after his demise, Abu Bakr was elected as a Caliph (see Saqifah). He refused to let her have Fadak as her inheritance, and this caused a major breach in their relations. This is something that is heavily disputed among Muslims

Contents

[edit] Events

Both Sunni and Shia accept the narration in which the Prophet said "Whoever angers Fatimah has angered me, and whoever angers me has angered Allah". See Hadith of hurting Fatimah

[edit] Sunni narrations

A narration reports:

“ Fatima the daughter of the Prophet sent someone to Abu Bakr (when he was a caliph), asking for her inheritance of what Allah's Apostle had left of the property bestowed on him by Allah from the Fai (i.e. booty gained without fighting) in Medina, and Fadak, and what remained of the Khumus of the Khaibar booty. On that, Abu Bakr said, "Allah's Apostle said, "Our property is not inherited. Whatever we leave, is Sadaqa, but the family of (the Prophet) Muhammad can eat of this property.' By Allah, I will not make any change in the state of the Sadaqa of Allah's Apostle and will leave it as it was during the lifetime of Allah's Apostle, and will dispose of it as Allah's Apostle used to do." So Abu Bakr refused to give anything of that to Fatima. So she became angry with Abu Bakr and kept away from him, and did not task to him till she died. She remained alive for six months after the death of the Prophet. When she died, her husband 'Ali, buried her at night without informing Abu Bakr and he said the funeral prayer by himself. When Fatima was alive, the people used to respect 'Ali much, but after her death, 'Ali noticed a change in the people's attitude towards him. So Ali sought reconciliation with Abu Bakr and gave him an oath of allegiance. 'Ali had not given the oath of allegiance during those months (i.e. the period between the Prophet's death and Fatima's death). 'Ali sent someone to Abu Bakr saying, "Come to us, but let nobody come with you," as he disliked that 'Umar should come, 'Umar said (to Abu Bakr), "No, by Allah, you shall not enter upon them alone " Abu Bakr said, "What do you think they will do to me? By Allah, I will go to them' So Abu Bakr entered upon them, and then 'Ali uttered Tashah-hud and said (to Abu Bakr), "We know well your superiority and what Allah has given you, and we are not jealous of the good what Allah has bestowed upon you, but you did not consult us in the question of the rule and we thought that we have got a right in it because of our near relationship to Allah's Apostle ."

Thereupon Abu Bakr's eyes flowed with tears. And when Abu Bakr spoke, he said, "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is to keep good relations with the relatives of Allah's Apostle is dearer to me than to keep good relations with my own relatives. But as for the trouble which arose between me and you about his property, I will do my best to spend it according to what is good, and will not leave any rule or regulation which I saw Allah's Apostle following, in disposing of it, but I will follow." On that 'Ali said to Abu Bakr, "I promise to give you the oath of allegiance in this after noon." So when Abu Bakr had offered the Zuhr prayer, he ascended the pulpit and uttered the Tashah-hud and then mentioned the story of 'Ali and his failure to give the oath of allegiance, and excused him, accepting what excuses he had offered; Then 'Ali (got up) and praying (to Allah) for forgiveness, he uttered Tashah-hud, praised Abu Bakr's right, and said, that he had not done what he had done because of jealousy of Abu Bakr or as a protest of that Allah had favored him with. 'Ali added, "But we used to consider that we too had some right in this affair (of rulership) and that he (i.e. Abu Bakr) did not consult us in this matter, and therefore caused us to feel sorry." On that all the Muslims became happy and said, "You have done the right thing." The Muslims then became friendly with 'Ali as he returned to what the people had done (i.e. giving the oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr). [1]

 ”

A narration attributed to Aisha reports:

“ Fatimah was demanding (the property of) sadaqah of the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) at Medina and Fadak, and what remained from the fifth of Khaybar. Aisha quoted AbuBakr as saying: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: We are not inherited; whatever we leave is sadaqah. The family of Muhammad will eat from this property, that is, from the property of Allah. They will not take more than their sustenance. [2] ”

A narration reports:

“ “When Fatima became ill, Abu Bakr came to her and asked for permission to enter. So Ali said, ‘O Fatima, this is Abu Bakr asking for permission to enter.’ She answerd, ‘Do you want me to give him permission?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So she allowed him (to enter), and he came in seeking her pleasure, so he told her: ‘By Allah, I only left my home and property and my family seeking the pleasure of Allah and His Messenger and you, O Ahlel Bayt.’ So he talked to her until she was pleased with him.” [3] ”

[edit] Shia narrations

A narration reports:

“ Abu Muhammad Abdullah Bin Muslim Bin Qutayba Bin Umar Al-Bahili Dinawari, who was one of your ulema and an official Qazi of the city of Dinawar, writes in his famous Ta'rikhu'l-Khulafate Raghibin wa Daulate Bani Umayya, known as Al-Imama wa's-Siyasa, Volume I, page 13: "When Abu Bakr learned that a group hostile to him had assembled in Ali's house, he sent Umar to them. When Umar shouted to Ali to come out and to swear allegiance to Abu Bakr, they all refused to come out. Umar collected wood and said 'I swear by Allah, Who has my life in His control, either you will come out, or I will set the house with all those in it on fire.' People said: 'O Abu Hafsa! Fatima is also present in the house.' He said: 'Let her be there. I will set fire to the house.' So all of them came out and offered allegiance, except Ali, who said: 'I have taken a vow that until I have compiled the Qur'an, I will neither go out of the house nor will I put on full dress.' Umar did not accept this, but the plaintive lamentation of Fatima and the snubbing by others, forced him to go back to Abu Bakr. Umar urged him to force Ali to swear allegiance. Abu Bakr sent Qanfaz several times to summon Ali, but he was always disappointed. At last Umar, with a group of people went to the door of Fatima's house. When Fatima heard their voices, she cried out 'O my father, Prophet of Allah! What tortures we are subjected to by the son of Khattab and the son of Abi Quhafa!' When the people heard Fatima's lamentation, some went back with their hearts broken, but Umar remained there with some others until finally they dragged Ali from the house. They took Ali to Abu Bakr, and told him to swear allegiance to him. Ali said: 'If I do not swear allegiance what will you do to me?' They said: 'We swear by Allah that we will break your neck.' Ali said: 'Will you kill the servant of Allah and the brother of His Prophet?' Umar said: 'You are not the brother of the Prophet of Allah.' While all this was going on, Abu Bakr kept silent. Umar then asked Abu Bakr whether he (Umar) was not following Abu Bakr's orders in this matter. Abu Bakr said that so long as Fatima was alive he would not force Ali to swear allegiance to him. Ali then managed to reach the grave of the Prophet, where, wailing and crying, he told the Prophet what Aaron had told his brother, Moses, as recorded in the Holy Qur'an: 'Son of my mother! Surely the people reckoned me weak and had well nigh slain me.' (7:150)

After narrating this affair in detail, Abu Muhammad Abdullah Bin Qutayba says that Ali did not swear allegiance and returned home. Later Abu Bakr and Umar went to Fatima's house to placate her and to seek her pardon. She said: "Allah be my witness that you two have offended me. In every prayer I curse you and will continue cursing you until I see my father and complain against you. [4]

 ”

A narration reports:

“ When Fatima asked for Fadak from Abu Bakr and he refused to give it to her, she returned full of anger that could not be described and she was sick; and she was angry with Ali because he refused to help her. [5] ”

[edit] View

[edit] Sunni view

The sunni's quote several Sunni and Shia narrations saying that prophets does not leave inheritance. [6] Based on these sayings of Muhammad, sunnis believe that Abu Bakr was right, and Fatimah made a mistake and nothing more. And regarding angering Fatimah in general, Sunni's quote several Shia narrations stating that Ali angered her too on several occasions. [7]. The sunnis argues that getting in arguments is no more than normal, and you cannot condemn anyone for getting in arguments which each other.

[edit] Shia view

Shi'a argue that in effect, Abu Bakr's hands were tied: if he acknowledged her claim to Fadak, it would lend credence to her lineage's claim to the succession of Muhhammad.[8]

Shia continue that some time later, it became evident that Fatima would not be recovering from her wounds. She still had the people's heart as the Shia believes she was Muhammad's favorite and only biological daughter and was also the mother of Muhammad's only grandchildren. Abu Bakr and Umar went to her house to seek her pardon, and asked permistion to enter. Fatimah refused to answer them, but eventually the was door opened by Ali[9]. Fatimah, still angered that Abu Bakr was refusing her inheritance, angrily rebuked them:

"God be my witness that you two have offended me. In every prayer I curse you and will continue cursing you until I see my father and complain against you."[10].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sahih Bukhari Volume 5, Book 59, Number 546
  2. ^ Sunan Abi Dawood Book 19, Number 2963
  3. ^
  4. ^ Peshawar Nights 7.4
  5. ^
  6. ^ Sunni Sources:
    Shia Sources:
  7. ^ Bihar al-Anwar by Allamah al-Majlisi, vol. 43 pp.201-202. Also in al-Qummi’s Elal Al-Sharae, pp.185-186. For discussion of these narrations, see Hadith of Fatimah's anger with Ali
  8. ^ Jafri 1979 p 63
  9. ^ Tarikh al-Khulafa, vol 1 p 20 cited in Muhammad al-Tijani Then I was Guided, chapter "The Opinion of the Companions about each other".
  10. ^ Peshawar Nights [1] on Al-Islam.org
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