Replies 1 and 2
As we have stated before, the reliable reports indicate that by the time that Umar bin Khattab married Umm Kulthoom bint Ali, she was likely one year away from being Baligh, and not four or five as indicated by Answering-Ansar. Umar bin Khattab expressed interest in marrying Ali’s daughter when she was very young, but it took him many years to convince Ali of it and even after Ali agreed, they waited until she was older and a more appropriate age to get married, when she was around 10 to 12 years of age. The consummation of the marriage was even after this, about a year afterwards. What Answering-Ansar has done is oversimplified narrations and taken them out of context to make them mean what they want them to mean. For example, they claim that the Sunnis claim that Umm Kulthoom was four or five when she was married to Umar, when in reality we only claim that this was the time that Umar expressed interest in her but that the actual marriage was consummated years afterwards. And this is confirmed by the Shia sources.
Replies 3 and 4
Answering-Ansar claims that “Umar the khalifa was impotent” and that “Umar the khalifa had a phobia of sexual intercourse.” This is yet another childish and purposefully inflammatory attack against the personality of Umar bin Khattab. It is as absurd and ludicrous as the claims made by Answering-Ansar that Umar was a homosexual. The idea that Umar was impotent can be quickly negated by the fact that Umar had many children with other wives, including Abdullah, Asim, Abu Shahma, Abdur Rahman, Zaid, Iyad, Mujir, Hafsa, Fatima, Ruqayyah and Zaynab. With so many children, how could one argue that he was impotent? This hardly seems like a man who was impotent. How could the Shia forget that Umar had other children, when they so adamantly despise his daughter and wife of the Prophet, namely Hafsa bint Umar?
Reply 5 Entitled “Umar’s objective was only to attain status via marriage not to benefit from conjugal relations”
Answering-Ansar says
When Umar’s sole aim was to attain status and not to benefit from the conjugal relations that are connected with marriage then where did these two children come from?
This is an extremely weak argument and indicative of the desperation felt by the Answering-Ansar team. Umar stated that he wanted to marry Umm Kulthoom in order to obtain more closeness to the Prophetic Household. Having children is a normal part of marriage and it is in fact the Sunnah. But to play along with Answering-Ansar, we could easily respond that having children with the Prophet’s grand-daughter would bring Umar closer in relationship to the Prophet thereby making him the father of the Prophet’s great-grandson.
Written By: Ibn al-Hashimi, www.ahlelbayt.com
