Page semi-protected

Omar at Fatimah's house

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Omar at Fatimah's house
Fatimah's House.jpg
The door of Fatimah's House
Arabicحادثة كسر الضلع
RomanizationHadithat Kasr alzal
Literal meaningRib fracture accident
Part of a series on
Islam
Allah3.svg
Beliefs
Practices
History
Culture and society
Related topics
  • Allah-green.svg Islam portal
  • v
  • t

Omar at Fatimah's house refers (one or more) controversial confrontation(s) which took place at the home of Fatimah, daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The confrontation(s) happened shortly after Abu Bakr assumed power, following Muhammad's death.[1][2] Fatimah and her husband, Ali, protested Abu Bakr's caliphate and their supporters peacefully gathered at her house.[3] These protestors, including Fatimah, held that Muhammad had previously announced Ali as his successor in the Ghadir Khumm event. To cement his authority, Abu Bakr ordered his aides, among them Omar, to break up the protest. Abu Bakr's order led to a violent altercation at Fatimah's home which, however, likely ended without human toll. This confrontation is mentioned both in Sunni and Shia sources.[4][5][6][7]

After this confrontation, Fatimah and Ali continued to resist Abu Bakr's pressure to acknowledge his authority until Fatimah's death a few months later.[8][9] While Sunni Islam insists that Fatimah died from grief,[10] Shia Islam claims that Fatimah's (miscarriage and) death were caused by a second confrontation, which has been censored in most Sunni sources.[11]

Muhammad regarded Fatimah as "part of himself" and on a par with Mary, mother of Jesus.[12][13] In Muhammad's own words, "Whoever angers Fatimah has angered me (and God)."[12] Considering Fatimah's place in Islam, the topic of this article is highly controversial, with beliefs primarily split along sectarian lines between Sunni and Shia denominations.[14] To help contain the controversy surrounding the topic, this article is primarily based on top-tier Sunni sources. To easily distinguish between the opposing views, unless otherwise stated, all references in this article are from credible Sunni sources.

Background

See also: Succession to Muhammad and Saqifa

In the immediate aftermath of Muhammad's death in 632 AD, a gathering of the Ansar (natives of Medina) took place at Saqifah.[15] The purpose of the meeting might have been for the Ansar to decide on a new leader of the Muslim community from among themselves, with the intentional exclusion of the Muhajirun (migrants from Mecca).[16] Nevertheless, Abu Bakr and Omar, both prominent companions of Muhammad, hastened there when they learned about the meeting. After a heated debate, Abu Bakr was elected by those gathered as the new head of the Muslim community.[17]

The Saqifah event excluded Muhammad's family, who were preparing to bury him, and most of Muhajirun.[18][19][20][21][22] To protest this election, Muhammad's extended family (Banu Hashim) and several of Muhammad's close companions gathered at his daughter's house.[3] The protesters, including Fatimah, held that Muhammad had previously announced Ali as his successor in the Ghadir Khumm event. Key figures such as Abbas and Zubayr were among the protestors.[5]

Sunni's view

In response to this protest, Abu Bakr dispatched Omar with orders to "use force if met with resistance."[5] Omar was recorded threatening to set Fatimah's house on fire, even after being told that Muhammad's daughter was inside the house.[5] After an outburst of violence, in which al-Zubayr was reportedly disarmed, the remaining protesters dispersed at Fatimah's request.[4][5][6][7] However, Fatimah and Ali continued to resist Abu Bakr's pressure to acknowledge his authority. Indeed, this conflict did not end with Omar's first attempt and continued for another six months until Fatimah's death.[9][8]

The mainstream Sunni view is that Fatimah died from grief, following the death of his father, Muhammad.[10][23] Muzaffer Ozak writes:[24]

After our Master had honoured the world of the Hereafter, Fatima would neither eat nor drink and she forgot all laughter and joy. She had an apartment built for her in which she stayed by night and day, weeping her heart out for her beloved father.

Fatimah's dying wish was that Abu Bakr (and Omar) should not attend her funeral.[25][26] Ali buried his wife secretly under the cover of darkness to fulfill her last wish and Fatimah's exact burial place remains unknown to this day.[9][27][28][29][30][31][32] On his deathbed, Abu Bakr regretted ordering to break into Fatimah's house.[33] The Sunni view is that Ali eventually reconciled with Abu Bakr.[9] However, about their relationship, Sahih Muslim writes that Ali regarded Abu Bakr as a liar, a sinner, and a traitor.[34]

Shia's view

According to Shia Islam, Fatimah's (miscarriage and) death were the direct result of the injuries that she suffered during Omar's final attempt to subdue Ali.[35] Omar's raid, and the subsequent events that soon after led to Fatimah's death, form the backbone of Shia's identity but are considered the red line of Sunni Islam.

Shia holds that centuries of censorship have distorted and erased any evidence for Omar's raid from mainstream Sunni sources. In one reference, for example, the Sunni author chastises another Sunni scholar for not saving face for Muhammad's companions in his writings.[36] In another, the author reminds Sunni scholars to suppress any reports of conflicts among Muhammad's companions.[37] In yet another reference, the author begins with high praise for a fellow author but ends with labelling him a "wobbly old and misguided man" because he had recounted the violent raid on Fatimah's house.[38] Or, after comparing two references, we can see that Omar's threat to set Fatimah's house on fire has been deliberately removed from the former.[39][40]

With a few marginalized exceptions in Sunni Islam,[41][42][43][44][45] the only records of Omar's raid are found in Shia sources, the earliest of which possibly dates back to the first century AH. Shia collectively believes that Fatimah, pregnant at the time, suffered multiple injuries during Omar's raid on her house. These injuries directly caused her miscarriage and death shortly after.[46][47][48][49][50]

Most details have not survived the passage of time. Among various slightly different versions in Shia records, here we summarize Fatimah's own account of what happened.[51] When Omar and his aides arrived to take Ali away by force, Fatimah firmly refused to open the door. Instead, from behind the door, she repeatedly implored Omar to leave them alone and reminded them of the sanctity of her home in the Quran.[52][53][54] Unfortunately, the confrontation escalated rapidly: An enraged Omar kicked the door open, pinning Fatimah behind the door, which he had set on fire (as he had threatened previously in the first confrontation). When Fatimah continued to resist the intruders, Omar physically assaulted her with his sheathed sword and (or) a whip. Some accounts add that, at this point, Ali managed to intercept Omar before being overpowered by Omar's aides and forcefully taken to Abu Bakr.[55][56]

Discussion

To see why Fatimah personally intervened, Shia points out that Muslims deeply revered Muhammad's daughter. In Muhammad's own words, "Fatimah is part of me, and whoever angers her has angered me."[12] In view of this, it is plausible that she saw her intervention as a last resort to both support his husband, Ali, and defuse their conflict with Abu Bakr. It is also likely that Fatimah did not expect Omar to forcefully enter the house. In particular, two verses of Quran directly speak of the sanctity of houses associated with Muhammad's family.[57][58][59] Another verse clearly forbids all Muslims from entering a stranger's house without permission.[60]

It is worth noting that Sunni and Shia agree that Fatimah had a son named Mohsin.[61] Sunnis, however, believe that Mohsin died in childhood rather than in miscarriage.[62][63] We note that Mohsin's death in miscarriage also appears in a number of Sunni sources, but the narrators are labeled as Shia sympathisers and discredited.[38][64][65]

A related Sunni record is that Abu Bakr, on his deathbed, regretted ordering to break into Fatimah's house.[33] This appears to be a sensitive admission: When listing Abu Bakr's regrets in his own book, Abu Ubaid has removed any mention of Fatimah.[66] Shia argues that the allegations against Omar are also not out of character: Omar has a long history of violence against women in Sunni records, both before and after converting to Islam.[67][68][69][70] He was so feared that a woman miscarried merely by finding out that Omar had summoned her, in one instance during his time as caliph.[71]

According to Sunni sources, Abu Bakr angered Fatimah and she never spoke to him and never pledged her allegiance to him, as the new caliph.[9] Shia records are slightly different here: When Abu Bakr and Omar finally visited Fatimah on her deathbed, she turned away and reminded them of Muhammad's words "...whoever angers Fatimah has angered me".[72] Then Fatimah told Abu Bakr and Omar that they have angered her and that she would take this complaint to his father.[73] Similar accounts also exist in marginalized Sunni sources.[74] The Quran paints a terrifying prospect for those who anger God's Apostle.[75]

As a side note, both Shia and Sunni agree on Muhammad's words that "any Muslim who dies without a caliph has died a pre-Islamic death."[76] It is difficult to reconcile these words with numerous narrations from Muhammad that elevate Fatimah to be on a par with Mary, mother of Jesus.[77] It is also difficult to believe that Fatimah considered anyone other than Ali as the rightful successor and caliph to the prophet. Shia cites this argument to reject the legitimacy of Abu Bakr's rule, which Shia considers to be a power grab from Ali. According to Shia Islam, Ali was appointed successor by Muhammad in the Ghadir Khumm event.

The Sunni view is that Ali eventually reconciled with Abu Bakr.[9] About their relationship, Sahih Muslim has that Ali regarded Abu Bakr as a liar, a sinner, and a traitor.[34] Shia, on the other hand, believes that Ali never pledged his allegiance to Abu Bakr, at least willingly.[78] Many years later, in his famous Shaqshaqiya sermon, Ali said about Abu Bakr and Omar that "I patiently waited [through their reign], while [the pain was like having a] thorn in my eyes and suffocating. I watched them plunder my inheritance..."[79] Shaqshaqiya sermon is part of Nahj al-Balagha, a book that collects Ali's sermons and is often considered a Shia source. One notable exception is the commentary written by the Sunni scholar Ibn Abi l-Hadid.[80]

Shia, however, holds that Fatimah died from the injuries she suffered during Omar's raid.[81] Sunni and Shia agree that Fatimah's dying wish was that Abu Bakr and Omar should not attend her funeral; Ali buried Fatemah secretly and under the cloak of darkness to fulfill her last wish.[9][27] Her exact burial place remains unknown to this day.[28] To paraphrase the Shia scholar Motahhari: Often villains rewrite the history to pose as saints, and Fatimah foresaw this threat when she asked to be buried in secret. As a result, this question has loomed large ever since: Fatimah was Muhammad's daughter and extremely dear to him. Why was she buried secretly? Why do we not know where her grave is?[82]

See also

References

  1. ^ العقد ألفريد vol. 5. p. 11.
  2. ^ تاريخ طبري vol. 3. p. 199.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b الإمام الذهبي. تاريخ الإسلام ووفيات المشاهير والأعلام vol. 2. p. 5.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Madelung, Wilferd (1997). The succession to Muhammad: A study of the early caliphate. Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780521646963.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e العقد الفريد vol. 5. p. 13.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b مصنف ابن أبي شيبة vol. 7. p. 432.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b الإمامة والسياسة vol. 1. p. 30.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b تاریخ طبری vol. 3. p. 208.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g صحیح بخاری vol. 5. p. 139.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b L. Veccia Vaglieri (1991). "Fatima". In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2 (2nd ed.). Brill. p. 845.
  11. ^ بحار النوار vol. 43. p. 170.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b c صحیح بخاری vol. 5. p. 21.
  13. ^ كتاب المناقب عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.
  14. ^ de-Gaia, Susan (2018). Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions: Faith and Culture across History [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-4408-4850-6.
  15. ^ Fitzpatrick, Coeli; Walker, Adam Hani (2014). Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God [2 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-61069-178-9.
  16. ^ Madelung (1997, p. xi)
  17. ^ Madelung (1997, p. 32)
  18. ^ الكامل في التاريخ vol. 2. p. 193.
  19. ^ تاريخ طبري vol. 3. p. 211.
  20. ^ Madelung, Wilferd (2008). The succession to Muhammad: A study of the early Caliphate. Cambridge University Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0521646963.
  21. ^ الكامل في التاريخ vol. 2. p. 187.
  22. ^ ابن قتيبة. الإمامة والسياسة vol. 1. p. 21.
  23. ^ Susan de-Gaia, Encyclopedia of Women in World Religions (2018), p. 56
  24. ^ Ozak, Muzaffer (1988). Irshad: Wisdom of a Sufi Master. Amity House, Incorporated. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-916349-43-1.
  25. ^ صحیح بخاری vol. 5. p. 139.
  26. ^ ابن قتیبه. تاويل مختلف الأحاديث. p. 427.
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b ابن قتیبه. تاويل مختلف الأحاديث. p. 427.
  28. ^ Jump up to: a b وفاء الوفاء vol. 3. p. 89.
  29. ^ تاريخ المدينة لابن شبة vol. 1. p. 194.
  30. ^ التحفة اللطيفة في تاريخ المدينة الشريفة vol. 1. p. 42.
  31. ^ تاريخ طبري vol. 11. p. 599.
  32. ^ ذخائر العقبي في مناقب ذوي القربي. p. 54.
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b تاریخ طبری vol. 3. p. 430.
  34. ^ Jump up to: a b صحيح مسلم vol. 3. p. 1377.
  35. ^ مهدي, عبد الزهراء. الهجوم على بيت فاطمة.
  36. ^ العواصم من القواصم. p. 261.
  37. ^ الصواعق المحترقه vol. 2. p. 621.
  38. ^ Jump up to: a b سیر اعلا النبلاء vol. 15. p. 578.
  39. ^ الاستيعاب في معرفة الأصحاب vol. 3. p. 975.
  40. ^ مصنف ابن أبي شيبة vol. 7. p. 432.
  41. ^ عبدالفتاح عبدالمقصود. امام علي بن ابي طالب.
  42. ^ ابن عطية. مؤتمر علماء بغداد.
  43. ^ الجويني. فرائد السمطين vol. 2. p. 35.
  44. ^ ابن قتيبة. الإمامة والسياسة vol. 1. p. 30.
  45. ^ الغزالی الطوسی‏, ابوحامد. سر العالمین و کشف ما فی الدارین. p. 4.
  46. ^ اثبات الوصيه للامام علي بن ابي طالب عليه السلام. p. 147.
  47. ^ كتاب سليم بن قيس الهلالي. p. 150.
  48. ^ تفسیر العیاشی vol. 2. p. 67.
  49. ^ تاریخ یعقوبی vol. 1 (PDF). pp. 512, 527.
  50. ^ الارشاد شیخ مفید vol. 1. p. 355.
  51. ^ الهدایه الکبری خصیبی vol. 1. p. 179.
  52. ^ "O believers! Do not enter the homes of the prophet without permission..."
  53. ^ "˹That light shines˺ through houses ˹of worship˺ which Allah has ordered to be raised, and where His Name is mentioned. He is glorified there morning and evening".
  54. ^ الدر المنثور vol. 6. p. 203.
  55. ^ كتاب سليم بن قيس الهلالي. p. 150.
  56. ^ ابن أبي الحديد. شرح نهج البلاغة vol. 15. p. 183.
  57. ^ "O believers! Do not enter the homes of the prophet without permission..."
  58. ^ "˹That light shines˺ through houses ˹of worship˺ which Allah has ordered to be raised, and where His Name is mentioned. He is glorified there morning and evening".
  59. ^ الدر المنثور vol. 6. p. 203.
  60. ^ "O believers! Do not enter any house other than your own until you have asked for permission and greeted its occupants. This is best for you, so perhaps you will be mindful. If you find no one at home, do not enter it until you have been given permission. And if you are asked to leave, then leave. That is purer for you. And Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of what you do".
  61. ^ صحیح بخاری vol. 2. p. 159.
  62. ^ بلاذری. انساب الاشراف vol. 1. p. 404.
  63. ^ ابن قتیبه. المعارف vol. 1. p. 211.
  64. ^ ذهبی. میزان الاعتدال vol. 1. p. 139.
  65. ^ عسقلانی. لسان الميزان vol. 1. p. 268.
  66. ^ أبو عبيد القاسم بن سلام. الاموال. p. 174.
  67. ^ كتاب أنساب الأشراف للبلاذري vol. 10. p. 287.
  68. ^ ابن هشام الحميري. السيرة النبوية vol. 1. p. 211.
  69. ^ المستدرك على الصحيحين للحاكم vol. 3. p. 210.
  70. ^ مصنف ابن أبي شيبة vol. 2. p. 41.
  71. ^ شرح المهذب المجموع نووی vol. 19. p. 11.
  72. ^ صحیح بخاری vol. 5. p. 21.
  73. ^ بحار الانوار vol. 43. p. 198.
  74. ^ ابن قتيبة. الإمامة والسياسة vol. 1. p. 31.
  75. ^ "Surely those who offend Allah and His Messenger are condemned by Allah in this world and the Hereafter. And He has prepared for them a humiliating punishment".
  76. ^ الشاكري, حسين. من هو إمام زمانك ؟. p. 15.
  77. ^ كتاب المناقب عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.
  78. ^ الشيخ المفيد. الفصول المختارة vol. 1. p. 56.
  79. ^ Nahj al-Balagha (PDF). p. 315.
  80. ^ ابن أبي الحديد. شرح نهج البلاغة.
  81. ^ غیب غلامی, حسین. الهجوم علی بیت فاطمه.
  82. ^ مطهری, مرتضی. سیری در سیره نبوی (PDF). p. 232.
Retrieved from ""