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Fadak; The property of Fatima al-Zahra (as)

Preface

Fadak is a controversial issue that has since the death of Rasulullah (s) created an open woundbetween the Sunni and Shi'a schools of thought. The best summary exists from Sahih Bukhari

Volume 4, Book 53, Number 325:

Narrated Ayesha(mother of the believers),'After the death of Allah's Apostle Fatima,the

daughter of Allah's Apostle asked Abu Bakr As-Siddiq to give her the share of inheritance

from what Allah's Apostle had left of the Fai (i.e. booty gained without fighting)which

Allah had given him. Abu Bakr said to her, "the Holy Prophet (saww) had said, 'Ourproperty will not be inherited, whatever we (i.e. prophets) leave is Sadaqah (to be used for

charity)." Fatima, the daughter of Allah's Apostle got angry and stopped speaking to Abu

Bakr, and continued assuming that attitude till she died. Fatima remained alive for six

months after the death of the Holy prophet(saww).

we read further down in the same Hadith:

Narrated 'Aisha: "She used to ask Abu Bakr for her share from the property of Allah's

Apostle which he left at Khaibar, and Fadak, and his property at Medina (devoted for

charity). Abu Bakr refused to give her that property and said, "I will not leave anything

Allah's Apostle used to do, because I am afraid that if I left something from the Prophet'stradition, then I would go astray."

Abu Bakr sought to base his decision on two things:

- A saying of the Prophet (s)

- The action of the Prophet (s)

Before proceeding into the matter, we would invite our readers to just ponder over our initialquestions, based on the traditions that we have quoted:

y Can the non-distribution of assets be evidence by any of the other Prophets?y If not, can it be evidence from history, the Quran or Hadeeth literature?y Are there any Hadeeth wherein the Prophet made reference to any past Prophets (as)

giving away their assets to the Ummah?

y Does any such evidence exist from the books of history?y Which verse negating the inheritance rights of the descendants of Prophets exists in the

Quran?

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y If no evidence of previous Prophets distributing their assets to the Ummah can beproduced from the said sources, can we not argue that this hadeeth was only cited to

dispossess the descendants of Prophet Muhammad (s)?y Does this tradition contradict the text of the Quran?y Can one accept a tradition that conflicts with a Quranic ruling?y W

hy did the Prophet (s) choose to tell Abu Bakr and not his daughter?y Was Abu Bakrs citation of the action of the Prophet (s) not evidence that he himself did

not trust the Hadith?

y Can the action of the Prophet (s) evidence that whatever the Prophets leave becomesSadaqa?

y When the claim of Fatima (as) was struck out, she left the earth angry with Abu Bakr, canwe see any other evidence of Sayyida Fatima (as) ever exhibiting such extreme anger

towards anyone?y Was Fatima (as) ignorant of the fact that a believer cannot be angered with his fellow

Muslim for more than three days?y Did Fatima (as) accept Abu Bakr as the Khalifa after the Prophet (s)?y I

f she did not, is one that rejects the Khilafath of Abu Bakr a Murtad?y If one that rejects the Khilafath of Abu Bakr is a Murtad what is the Fatwa on Sayyida

Fatima (as)?y If one that rejects the Khilafath of Abu Bakr is not a Murtad where does that leave the

Khilafath of Abu Bakr?y Was the anger of Fatima (as) solely on her being denied her inheritance rights?y If Fatima (as) was fond of material possessions can any evidence during the life of the

Prophet (s) be produced to corroborate this?

y If no evidence of her love of material possessions can be evidenced, then why did she getso angry over the loss of a piece of land, anger that never subsided over the remainder six

months of her life?y Could it be than her anger towards Abu Bakr was due to him ruling on a matter that

contradicted the ruling of the Quran?

We have simply posed these here, to get our readers minds focused on the significance of thisevent, and the issues / discussion points that flow thereof. Whilst we will inshallah seek to

discuss all of the above in the subsequent chapters, what is clear is that the scholars of AhlulSunnah have fought tirelessly to uphold the decision of Abu Bakr as correct. The reason that they

do so is because so much hangs on upholding Abu Bakr's stance. After all if he is proven wrongthen they will have to admit that the Khalifa coined a tradition to justify the usurpation of Fadak

from Sayyida Fatima (as). The matter would not just end there it will raise more serious issuessuch as:

1. The Justice of the Sahaba - If the 'best friend' of the Prophet (s) could behave in such anunjust manner what can we expect of the other Sahaba?

2. If Abu Bakr ruled in such an unjust manner then how can he be deemed the rightlyguided Khalifa of the Prophet (s)?

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3. If hatred for Abu Bakr is a sin then why did Sayyida Fatima (as) hate Abu Bakr until herdying day?

This is why Fadak is such a 'taboo' subject for the Ahl'ul Sunnah.The scholars prefer not to

openly discuss it with their followers, if they are ever forced to do so they present the matter insuch a simplified shallow manner, gleaming over facts such as Qur'anic verses, so as to ensurethat Abu Bakr comes out of the dispute as perfect as possible. At the forefront of this attitude are

Ansar.org and in their publication "Fadak area between Abu Baker and Fatima"the authorMuhammad Al-Khider provided a concise discussion on the topics of Fadak and inheritance. He

had sought to counter the wrong things that are said against Abu Bakr on this matter. As far asthe issue of Sayyida Fatima (as)'s right to Prophetic inheritance was concerned, Al Khider failed

to cite a word in her favour, on the contrary this advocate of Abu Bakr dedicated his entireefforts on proving that Abu Bakr's approach was the correct one. He was undeterred even if it

meant denying the Qur'an and Sunnah in the process.

Not to be hard done an unknown author of'The Issue of Fedek: A rebuttal to common liespropagated against Ahl al-Sunnah regarding Ahlul-Bayt' advanced all manner of defence to

prove that Sayyida Fatima (as) had no claim to Fadak.

Then we have the efforts of the founder of Sipah-e-Sahaba, Haq Nawaz Jhangvi in his article'Alleged Row Between Hadhrat Fatimah & Hadhrat Abu Bakr Over Share In Fadak'

whose net conclusion was that Sayyida Fatima (as) was wrong in making her claim.

Reviving Islam produced an article The Truth About the Land of Fadak, which for the mostpart is just a summary of Ansar.Orgs article but in it, the Nasibi authors have also sought to

attack the noble character of Sayyida Fatima (as).

Not to be left out, the modern day beloved son of the Cyber Takfeeris Ibn al Hashimiwww.ahlelbayt.com wrote a series of articles wherein he rejected the Sayyida Fatima (as) and

desperately sought to offer an array of defences for Abu Bakr. In truth there was nothing new inhis articles they were plagiarised from Al Khiders article with a little fine tuning. We could have

ignored this plagiarism and focused on Al Khider but since this Nasabi author is showered withglowing accolades from the followers of Muawiyah we felt it only right, to bring him back to

earth his dishonest style of advocacy.

All of the above were merely following in the footsteps of their early scholars of the likes of alMuhaddith Shah Abdul Aziz and Ibn Taymeeya who wrote vehemently against the concept of

Prophetic inheritance. The net conclusion of all these efforts are one that Abu Bakr was correctand the claim that had been brought by Sayyida Fatima (as) was wrong.

We shall present the complete picture from the esteemed works of Ahl'ul Sunnah, and shall

analyse the correctness of Abu Bakr's judgement against the Qur'an, Sunnah and Books ofSeerah, Tareekh and Fiqh. Our aim is two fold, to clarify any doubts that are brought up by these

articles and to uphold the claim of Sayyida Fatima (as) as correct and truthful. We shall alsoaddress and refute the excuses that Al Khider and Co. had made on the topic of Prophetic

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inheritance. By the end of the book readers will need to ask themselves 'Which party waswrong in this dispute, Sayyida Fatima (as) or Abu Bakr?' They will need to make the

difficult choice, in relation to which side of the fence they wish to sit on. They will have todecide where their affiliations lie. With the School of Ahl'ul Bayt (as) or the School of the

Companions.

Special Appeal

Whilst all our articles are aimed at inviting our Sunni brethren to the truth, as is the case here we

have decided to make a special appeal to Sunni Sayyid's. Our experience from the Indian

Subcontinent is that the descendents of Rasulullah (s) enjoy immense respect in their

communities; people stand up when they see them, kiss their hands etc. Some of these have

attained the rank of "Peers" [spiritual leaders] and have a massive following that brings with it

respect and huge financial rewards. Followers adhere to their every word, deeming anything that

they utter from their mouths to be the truth that must be adhered to. Clearly these Sayyid Peerscarry an immense responsibility on their shoulders. Unfortunately, rather than fulfilling this duty

they live in a hidden world, where making money overrides theirDeen. The key to this money

making lies in attacking others, as a means of discouraging their followers from seeking out

other means of guidance. Their mud slinging is focussed at one group the Shi'as of Maula 'Ali

(as). These Peers heap all manner of lie against the Shias to generate emotion amongst their

followers. Whilst many topics are touched upon by the scandal mongers, the most sensitive topic

that guarantees high emotion is the topic of the Sahaba, and in particular the Shi'as opposition to

Abu Bakr. We appeal directly to these Peers:

All this respect and honour that you have attained is based on one reason only, your lineage to

Sayyida Fatima (as). If your blood was(you were) not linked to Sayyida Fatima (as) you would

not have attained the respect that you have today. With this being the case don't you think that

you owe it to your mother Sayyida Fatima (as) to distance yourself from those that hurt her?

Your followers shower you with vast amounts of cash and lands due to your being a Sayyid, and

your luxury lifestyles are thanks to Sayyida Fatima (as). Whilst you have benefited from your

relationship to her, your mother was forced to live a life of destitution because Abu Bakr seized

her land and denied her inheritance rights. Don't you think you owe it to your mother to speak

out and condemn those that pained her? This is just a temporary world and all the benefits and

riches you have gained are temporary pleasures that shall be of no avail to you on the Day ofJudgement. How will you face Sayyida Fatima (as) on the Day of Judgement, when despite your

lineage to her you humiliated her by upholding the stance of those who deprived her of her

justified rights, deeming her wrong in the process? Have some shame.