The marriage from the annals of the Salaf Kingpins

Pathetic efforts of the Ahl'ul Sunnah to 'prove' that Umme Kalthum binte 'Ali was the wife of Umar from the Sahah Sittah

In their efforts to prove the Shi'a wrong our critics have use all manner of coined tradition to prove this marriage. Whilst the Saha Sittah fails to make any mention of this Nikah, the followers of Mu'awiya begin to clutch at straws 'suggesting' that Umme Kalthum binte Fatima (as) was the wife of Umar.

The tradition from Sahih al Bukhari

A common favourite is this tradition from Sahih al Bukhari "Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihad)" Volume 4, Book 52, Number 132:

Narrated Tha'laba bin Abi Malik:
'Umar bin Al-Khattab distributed some garments amongst the women of Medina. One good garment remained, and one of those present with him said, "O chief of the believers! Give this garment to your wife, the (grand) daughter of Allah's Apostle." They meant Um Kalthum, the daughter of 'Ali. 'Umar said, Um Salit has more right (to have it)." Um Salit was amongst those Ansari women who had given the pledge of allegiance to Allah's Apostle.' 'Umar said, "She (i.e. Um Salit) used to carry the water skins for us on the day of Uhud."

Reply One

This is the only time that we read anything of Umme Kalthum in the entire contents of al Bukhari; it does not even appear in the book of Nikah, but in the Book of Jihad. Dr Muhsin Khan in his translation has in fact used dishonesty after Um Kalthum he adds the words "the daughter of 'Ali" when this is not present in the Arabic. The actual word that is used in the text that Khan interpreted as wife is "Undhuk" whilst we acknowledge Undhuk can indeed refer to one's wife, its literal meaning in Arabic grammar is "Close", "Next To" and "Near". In the Qur'an the word Undhuk is used in exactly this context. If we really wish to understand this tradition at most all that we can ascertain is that people had asked that the garment be given to Umm Kalthum who was close to Umar. The words close and near make much more sense than wife, if "Undh" automatically means wife then perhaps Khan could literally translate the same narration "Fa Kal la Baz min Undh" meaning and one of those present with him (meaning wives) said. This would in effect mean that every woman in Madina was the wife of Umar.

If we take the word Undh as wife then it means that Umar distributed the garments amongst all those present with him, present meaning wives! All because they were next to him does not mean that Undh meant that they were all his wives. When Undh does not mean wives then why has the same word been used to single out Umme Kalthum as wife? When Undh was 'common place" to mean "next to" why would the narrator not have sought to make a distinction and refer to Umme Kalthum as 'Zawaaj'? This would have no doubt clarified any confusion and distinguished this woman from the group that was with Umar. If we analyse the Qur'an we see that Undhuk is used at many points referring to close / near at no points does Allah (swt) refer to Undhuk as Wife, nor can we find this to be used as wife in any Tafsir either.

Reply Two

Also worthy of note is that a husband will always be conscious of his wife's needs. Why would it dawn on an ordinary non-Mahram woman, that the Khalifa's wife's needs should also be met?

Reply Three

For us the simplest means to refute this tradition is that until today we are unable to ascertain who this person was that offered to speak up for Umar's wife. There is no way of determining the authenticity of this event, when we have no evidence as to who made the claim, the term "one of those present" - can never constitute proof. The absence of the name of this person makes Nasibi attempts to rely on this as proof to be completely baseless. Why has no one else narrated this event with a different chain, a chain that refers to the person making the comment? Personal viewpoints can NOT constitute proof and the narrator in this tradition has made a blatant error that points to a fabrication, he states "They meant Um Kalthum". Who is "they" referring to here? Only one individual in the tradition had made the comment to Umar to provide for his wife, then how has the narrator, after this comment stated "They meant Um Kalthum" - where has this group come from when the question was only posed by one individual?

Reply Four

Bukhari has narrated this tradition on the authority of Tha'laba bin Abi Malik who is a completely unknown personality, so there is no way to ascertain the reliability of the narrator. His name is extant from the texts of rijjal, Dhahabi who in his Meezan al Itidal had narrated the biographies of all manner of narrator makes no reference to Tha'laba bin Abi Malik.

A tradition by an unknown narrator automatically means we can discard it. Even if we accept it, the wife relation can still not be proven since Undh means close - narrators have translated it as wife in hope that they can continue to live the lie perpetuated by the Ahl'ul Sunnah, that Umar married Umme Kalthum daughter of Imam 'Ali (as).

The tradition from Sunan Abu Daud

Another 'proof' commonly cited is from Sunan Abu Daud Book 20, Number 3187:

Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas; Abu Sa'id al-Khudri; AbuQatadah; AbuHurayrah:
Yahya ibn Subayh said: Ammar client of al-Harith ibn Nawfal told me that he attended the funeral of Umm Kalthum, and her son. The body of the boy was placed near the imam. I objected to it. Among the people there were Ibn Abbas, AbuSa'id al-Khudri, AbuQatadah and AbuHurayrah. They said: This is the Sunnah (established practice of the Prophet).

Reply

There is no way that our opponents can conclude that this refers to Umm Kalthum binte Ali, since her father's name is not mentioned. This is a vague tradition that proves nothing, on the contrary it becomes all the more confusing in light of the fact that we know that Umar had four wives called Umme Kalthum.

The tradition from Sunan Nasai

We read in Sunan Nasai Volume 1 Bab Janaza page 317

"Nafi 'za aam' that Abdullah ibn Umar lead nine combined funerals, this included the funeral of Hadhrath Umme Kalthum binte 'Ali. This was during the governorship of Sa'eed bin Aas. Hadhrath 'Ali's daughter Umme Kalthum was married to Hadhrath Umar. Her funeral and that of her son were read at one and the same time. Participants in the funeral included Ibn Umar, Ibn Abbas, Abu Hurayra, Abu Saeed and Abu Qatadah. Ibn Umar lead the congregation."

Reply

Whilst the entire concept of this funeral at this particular time shall Inshallah be comprehensively refuted we feel it imperative to highlight a clear deficiency in this narration that the Nasibi might otherwise deem as proof from the Saha Sittah.

The narration begins "Nafi 'za aam"

The words za aam makes this entire narration false, since the narrator has himself expressed doubts over the event that he is narrating. The rules of hadith methodology stipulate that any doubt expressed by a narrator makes that narration null and void.

In Arabic the words 'za aam' can be used as a term that means 'to lie' as we can see from the text of Arabic terms 'lughuth Kishwari page 22' [Luknow edition]. Hence this narration can be interpreted as follows:

'Naf' would lie that�."

Nasibi shall no doubt try to appease their followers that their Imam Bukhari also recorded this funeral event in his Tareekh Sagheera page 53, but the very fact that he did not insert it in his Sahih al Bukhari serves as clear proof that he did not deem this tradition to be Sahih.

Answering the tradition narrated by Ansar.org's Nasibi Imam Ibn Katheer

Whilst we are confident that our replies are sufficient enough to convince open minded Ahl'ul Sunnah, those indoctrinated with Nasibi ideology have a tendency to only worship the fatwas of their own Imams such as Ibn Katheer and Ibn Taymeeya. We could produce one thousand replies, but as long as Ibn Katheer held this view then that is the end of the matter. Let us therefore cite Hanafi scholar Mufti Ghulam Rasul's analysis of the event as narrated by Ibn Katheer and his subsequent rebuttal:

"Ibn Katheer in 'al Fasul fi Seerath ai Rasul' page 373 and Baihaqi in Sunan Kabeera Volume 7 page 64 both narrate that when Umar proposed to marry Umme Kalthum binte 'Ali, 'Ali said that she is too young. Umar said I heard Rasulullah (s) say "Every tie of kinship, and every association will be cut off on the Day of Qiyamah, except my tree and descendants, that is why I wish to attain this relationship with Rasulullah. 'Ali then married his daughter Umme Kalthum to Umar

One of the narrators of this tradition is Abu Sufyan bin Waqiyah, and it is with regards to him that the author of al Fusul Allamah Hureeree stated that Abu Sufyan bin Waqiyah was daif [weak], Allamah Hureeree�Ibn Hajr Asqalani (d. 247 Hijri) regarded him as daif (weak), and stated that 'Imam Nasai held the view that Abu Sufyan bin Waqiyah was not reliable, Nasai also stated that he was worthless, Imam Abu Daud would not narrated hadith from him' [Tadheeb al Itidal Volume 4 page 124). Imam Dhababi recorded "Imam Bukhari stated that people did not speak well of Abu Sufyan bin Waqiyah. Abu Zuriah commented that the people deemed him to be a liar, and Ibn Abi Hatim stated that his hadith were not correct.
[Meezan al Itidal Volume 2 page 173].

When the scholars Hureeree, Ibn Hajr al Asqalani and Dhahabi graded him a liar and weak, then this tradition can not be deemed to be reliable"
Hasab aur Nasab Volume 2 page 188, by Mufti Ghulam Rasul

Need we say anymore?

Conclusion

We have faithfully cited the Ahl'ul sources that have presented this sham marriage to their faithful. We have analysed these traditions and given a vast array of objections / replies that we are confident that an open-minded person will agree with us on. From these objections we have sought to prove that the marriage of Umme Kalthum (as) to Umar ibn al Khattab is a lie and that the traditions supporting it are filled with slanders that any one with the slightest intelligence will conclude points to fabrication. We are in no doubt whatsoever that Umar did indeed marry a female called Umme Kalthum in 17 Hijri. We will Inshallah locate who this Umme Kalthum was�.