Sermon of Fadak

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The Sermon of Fadak (Arabic: الخطبة الفدكية‎) was Fatimah's speech at Prophet's Mosque in Medina. Fatimah, the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, delivered this sermon shortly after her father's death.^[1] In her speech, Fatimah protested Abu Bakr's succession to Muhammad and criticized Muslims for descending to their pre-Islamic habits, in her view.^[2] Fatimah considered Ali to be the rightful successor of Muhammad, appointed by him in the Event of the Ghadir Khumm.^[3] In her remarks, Fatimah also chastized Abu Bakr for denying her right of inheritance, which she considered to be in violation of the Quran and Sunnah.^[4] The Quran is Islam's holy book and Sunnah encapsulates the prophetic precedence. The Sermon of Fadak appears in a number of sources, including Balaghat al-Nisa (Eloquent Sayings of Women).^[5][6]

Events that led to the sermon[]

Fadak was a village located to the north of Medina, at the distance of two days travel.^[7] As part of a peace treaty with a Jewish tribe, half of the agricultural land of Fadak was considered fay, i.e., a property acquired peacefully.^[8] Fadak thus belonged to Muhammad, in line with the teaching of the Quran.^[8][9] There is strong evidence that Muhammad later gifted his share of Fadak to his daughter, Fatimah.^[10] Nevertheless, Fadak was under the custody of Fatimah or Muhammad during his lifetime and its revenue largely supported Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim, who were forbidden from receiving general alms.^[11]

Following Muhammad's death and shortly after assuming power, Caliph Abu Bakr seized Fadak from Fatimah.^[12] Abu Bakr did so on the basis of the claim that Muhammad had personally told him that prophets do not leave inheritance and what they leave behind is public property that should be administered by the caliph.^[13] Muhammad had thus allegedly disinherited his family and forced them to rely on general alms which he had forbidden for them in his lifetime.^[14] Abu Bakr was initially the sole witness to this statement, which is referred to as the hadith of Muhammad's inheritance.^[15]

Muhammad's widows confirmed Abu Bakr's statement, hoping that they would fare better than Fatimah.^[16] According to L. Hazelton, "Even as Abu Bakr turned down Fatimah, he made a point of providing generously for Muhammad's widows---and particularly for his own daughter, Aisha, who received valuable property in Medina as well as on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, in Bahrain."^[17]

Responding to the objection that Fadak was, in fact, a gift from Muhammad, Abu Bakr reportedly asked Fatimah to present her witnesses.^[18] As her witnesses, Fatimah offered her husband, Ali, and Umm Aiman, a maid at Muhammad's house.^[19] Their testimony was rejected by Abu Bakr who required Fatimah to produce an additional witness.^[20] It has been suggested that Fatimah expected her kinship with Muhammad to strengthen her case:^[21] Fatimah and Ali are both members of Muhammad's household, known as the Ahl al-Bayt, who are addressed by the sahih Hadith of Kisa and the related Verse of Purification in the Quran, "Indeed God desires to repel all impurity from you, O Ahl al-Bayt, and purify you with a thorough purification."^[22]

Fatimah, who considered Abu Bakr's statement to be fabricated, later delivered a speech at the Prophet's Mosque, which has become known as the Sermon of Fadak.^[1]

Content of the sermon[]

Fatimah began her speech with praise for God and His prophet, Muhammad.^[23] Then, she continued with an overview of Islam's teachings and the purposes that they each serve.^[23]

Fatimah then rejected the authority of Abu Bakr in favor of Ali, and criticized Muslims for so quickly reverting to their pre-Islamic habits after Muhammad's death, in her view.^[2] She again introduced herself as Muhammad's daughter and stated:^[24]

Whatever I say, I do not say mistakenly, and I do not do what I do while exceeding the proper limits.

Fatimah then chastized Abu Bakr for denying her right of inheritance, which she considered to be in violation of the Quran and Sunnah (prophetic precedence).^[4] She supported her case for Fadak with multiple verses of the Quran:^[25]

O Muslims! Will my inheritance be usurped? O son of Abu Quhafeh [Abu Bakr]! Where is it in the Book of God that you can inherit from your father and I do not inherit mine? Surely you have come up with an unprecedented thing. Do you intentionally abandon the Book of God and cast it behind your back? Do you not read where it says: “And Sulaiman [Solomon] inherited Dawood [David]?” And when it narrates that story of Zakaria [Zechariah] and says: “So give me an heir as from thyself; (One that) will inherit me, and inherit the posterity of Yaqoob [Jacob]” And: “But kindred by blood have prior rights against each other in the Book of Allah.” And: “... if he leaves any goods, that he make a bequest to parents and next of kin, according to reasonable usage; this is due from the pious ones..."

Fatimah then accused Abu Bakr of injustice, alongside his aide, Umar, and their Meccan supporters (Muhajirun):^[26]

Shall my inheritance be wrested from me in a tyrannical and oppressive manner? For soon, those who commit injustice will find out what they return to!

The last sentence above is a direct reference to the Quran (Q26:227), a reoccurring theme in her speech.^[27] Fatimah then addressed the Medinans (Ansar) and criticized them for their indifference to the unjust treatment of Muhammad's family, Ahl al-Bayt.^[28] Fatimah openly accused those present of turning their back on Islam by quoting verse Q3:144, which includes the passage, "Muhammad is but a messenger... So if he dies or is slain, will you turn back?"^[29]

In a short exchange after her speech, Abu Bakr emphatically maintained that prophets do not leave inheritance, which he attributed to Muhammad.^[30] Abu Bakr also offered to compensate Fatimah from his own personal wealth.^[31] Fatimah countered that Abu Bakr's claim would imply that Muhammad had abandoned the teachings of the Quran.^[32] She later visited her father's grave and lamented about the events which, in her view, would have left Muhammad speechless had he witnessed them.^[33]

Controversy[]

Abu Bakr's actions are often regarded as a political move to deprive Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim, of their financial resources and to strip Ali and Fatimah from their privileged status as Muhammad's kins.^[34] According to R. Aslan, during his short caliphate, "Abu Bakr seemed to do everything in his power to prevent Ali from ever attaining a position of authority in the Ummah [i.e., the Muslim community]."^[35] This is partly explained by Abu Bakr's conviction that the caliphate must reside outside of Muhammad's clan and partly explained by the personal enmity between Abu Bakr and Ali.^[36] At the same time, by maintaining their status, Abu Bakr seemed to signal to the Muslim community that his daughter, Aisha, and the rest of Muhammad's widows were the true heirs of Muhammad.^[37]

It has been suggested that Abu Bakr's caliphate was innately inconsistent with maintaining the privileged status of Muhammad's family.^[38] The succession of prophets is a matter that is settled by divine selection in the Quran, rather than by shura (consultation).^[39] In particular, God selects the successors of past prophets from their own family, whether or not those successors become prophets themselves.^[40] If Abu Bakr were to apply the Quranic rules of inheritance to Banu Hashim, then why should they not inherit the authority of Muhammad altogether?^[41]

After the confiscation of Fadak, Fatimah remained angry with Abu Bakr until her death, not long after the Sermon of Fadak.^[42] There are reports that Abu Bakr and his aide, Umar, visited Fatimah on her deathbed to apologize which, according to W. Madelung, might incriminate Abu Bakr of "political machinations and treachery."^[43] As reported by al-Imama wa al-Siyasa, Fatimah then reminded the two of Muhammad's words that, "Fatimah is part of me, and whoever angers her has angered me."^[44] The dying Fatimah then told the two that they had indeed angered her and that she would soon take her complaint to God and His prophet, Muhammad.^[45] It has been suggested that the damning implications of Fatimah's anger motivated the invention of stories about the reconciliation of Fatimah with Abu Bakr and Umar.^[46]

The eloquence of her speech, the active participation of a young Fatimah in public life, and her pursuit of justice in the patriarchal society of her time have been commended.^[47]

See also[]

• Alleged attack on Fatimah's house
• Book of Fatimah
• Children of Muhammad
• Fatima the Gracious, biography of Fatimah
• Genealogy of Khadijah's daughters

References[]

Bibliography[]

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• Madelung, Wilferd (1997). The Succession to Muhammad: A Study of the Early Caliphate. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-64696-0.
• Khetia, Vinay (2013). Fatima as a motif of contention and suffering in Islamic sources (Thesis). Concordia University.
• Aslan, Reza (2011). No god but God: The origins, evolution, and future of Islam. Random House. ISBN 9780812982442.
• Hazleton, Lesley (2009). After the prophet: The epic story of the Shia-Sunni split in Islam. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9780385532099.
• Fitzpatrick, Coeli; Walker, Adam Hani (2014). Muhammad in history, thought, and culture: An encyclopaedia of the Prophet of God. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610691772.
• Sajjadi, Sadeq (2021). "Fadak". Encyclopaedia Islamica. Brill Reference Online.
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• Jafri, S.H.M (1979). Origins and early development of Shia Islam. London: Longman.
• Bowering, Gerhard, ed. (2013). "Ali b. Abi Talib". The Princeton encyclopedia of Islamic political thought. Princeton University Press.
• Ruffle, Karen (2011). "May you learn from their model: The exemplary father-daughter relationship of Mohammad and Fatima in South Asian Shiʿism" (PDF). Journal of Persianate Studies. 4: 12–29. doi:10.1163/187471611X568267.
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• Mavani, Hamid (2013). Religious authority and political thought in Twelver Shi'ism: From Ali to post-Khomeini. Routledge. ISBN 9780415624404.