Al-Islam.org Admits that Umar Married Ali’s Daughter
One of the most troubling events in history for the Shia propagandists to deal with or rationalize is the marriage of Umm Kulthoom, Ali ibn Abi Talib’s daughter, to Umar ibn al-Khattab. After all, why would Ali marry his daughter off to a man who supposedly killed Fatima in the “Incident of the Door”? Does it make sense that any righteous man would marry off his daughter to the very man who killed that girl’s mother?
Because of this inconsistency, the modern Shia polemecist has adopted the policy of simply denying that this marriage ever took place. Shia propaganda sites (including Answering-Ansar, the Shia Encyclopedia, and Shia Chat) have toted this line, claiming that the marriage between Umar ibn al-Khattab and Umm Kulthoom bint Ali is simply a lie, a concoction of “Nasibi propaganda.” And yet, in two articles have we refuted this idea: Ali Gave His Daughter to Umar and A Comprehensive Rebuttal of Answering Ansar’s Article on Umm Kulthoom’s Nikah. In both of those articles, we showed how this “modern” view of Shia propagandists conflicts with the Shia Hadith literature, the classical Shia texts, and the Shia scholarship throughout the ages.
Shia Website, Al-Islam.org, Admits the Marriage
The most reliable and popular Shia website, Al-Islam.org, has a section for fatwas entitled “Aalim Network”. These Shia Aalims refute Answering-Ansar, the Shia Encyclopedia, and Shia Chat by clearly stating that Ali ibn Abi Talib did in fact marry his daughter to Umar ibn al-Khattab. Shaykh Mohammed Soleiman-Peneh of the “Aalim Network” stated:
Al-Islam.org says
[’Aalim Network QR] Silence of Imam Ali (AS)
Aalim: Mohammad Soleiman-Panah
Question:
…if Ali (s) was against Omar he would not have let his daughter marry Omar’s Son…Is the above…TRUE?
ANSWER:
…As to the issue of marriage…if anyone wants to use this kind of events against more basic idea he must know that first of all it was Omar himself who married Ali and Fatemeh’ (AS) daughter, Ume Kulsum. Secondly When Omar asked Imam’s (AS) permission to marry her, Imam (AS) refused and said she is too young for marrying him. Omar swore ” wa Allah-e I do not seek her for what you may think, I seek her because I heard the holy prophet (SA) saying ‘get closer to me by being close to my family. I want to be closer to him by marrying his granddaughter.” Whatever his true intentions were - perhaps a political gesture for the chilly political climate of the time when everybody knew that Ali (AS) did not let them to be present in the Salah to Fatemeh’s (SA) body and her burial, or making confusion among the public and generation to come, or perhaps a call of conscience of guilt for what he has done to Fatemeh (SA)- Imam (AS) must have had good reasons for agreeing to the marriage.
So, Shaykh Mohammed Soleiman-Peneh’s only explanation is that surely that “Imam [Ali] must have had good reasons for agreeing to the marriage.” (What those reasons are is unclear, but surely, they must have been “good reasons.”) And he also states that Ali at first rejected Umar’s proposal, but then later accepted it out of force. Again, the Shia scholars portray a very cowardly image of Ali, saying that he was bullied into marrying his own daughter to a supposed murderer (i.e. the man whom the Shia claim killed Ali’s wife and unborn child). If a Sunni were to kill a Shia man’s wife and unborn child, then demanded that he be married to his daughter, how many Shia men today would accept this? Even a man with the least bit of courage and integrity would not allow this, so why would anyone accept this of the Lion of Allah, namely Ali ibn Abi Talib?
It may be that some Shia propagandists and youths will refuse to accept that Al-Islam.org, the Aalim Network, and such a respectable Shia Aalim, all accept this marriage as a fact. They might protest to the words “I believe it is also wrong” which were used in the fatwa. It should be noted that the Aalim is saying that he believes using this event to prove something is wrong, not that this event didn’t take place. Indeed, a follow-up question was asked to the same scholar, as follows:
Al-Islam.org says
[’Aalim Network QR] Silence of Imam Ali(AS)- Follow-up
Aalim: Mohammad Soleiman-Panah
Salaamun alaykum,
The follow-up question below on the marriage of the daughter
of Imam Ali (AS) to Omar was answered by Mohammed Soleiman-Peneh.
Wasalaam,
Mustafa Rawji
Acting Moderator,ABDG-A
QUESTION:
I read in the Shia Encyclopedia that Omar did not marry Ume Kulsum. Now here a Learned Aalim is giving a different Answer. Now I am confused what is right and wrong. Could someone further elaborate this?
ANSWER:
…As far as the discrepancy between my reply and the Shia Encyclepedia - Which is a respectful text- is concerned, I’d like you to know that what I said concerning the marriage of Omar with Um-e Kulthum is not based on my personal historical research , I relied on the work of Dr. Sayyed Ja’far Shahidi ” Life of Fatemeh Zahra(SA)” Pp.263-265. Dr. Shahidi is in my opinion the most distinguished contemporary Shia Historian, and I know of no contemporary Shia historian to be more reliable than him, but at the same time we all may make mistake. I have no basis to challenge Shia Encyclepedia, but if I have to choose between Dr. Shahidi’s work and Shia Encyclepedia, I believe it is safer to choose former in the case of discrepancy. However this by no means takes way from the value of the Shia Encyclepedia which is a great work and I have relied on it in many cases (may God rewards those responsible for it’s compiling).
Having said this, I like to call your attention to the fact that in my response I intended to argue that even in the case of such marriage it cannot be used as a sign of agreement of Imam Ali (AS) with Omar’s Khilafa.
Shaykh Mohammad Soleiman-Panah clearly states that the “the most distinguished contemporary Shia historian” (Dr. Sayyed Ja’far Shahidi) said that the marriage between Umm Kulthoom bint Ali and Umar ibn al-Khattab did in fact take place. Although he admits that the Shia Encyclopedia is generally a good tool, in this case it is wrong, and that the more reliable opinion amongst the Shia scholarship is that the marriage did indeed take place. Shaykh Mohammed Soleiman-Panah also states that the Shia historian, Dr. Sayyed Ja’far Shahidi, is so reliable that “no contemporary Shia historian [is believed] to be more reliable than him.” Is this not in contradiction to what the Shia polemecist sites have claimed, namely that the marriage is only “Nasibi propaganda”?
It should be noted that the Aalim Network of Al-Islam.org is one of the most authoratative fatwa sites on the internet, comparable to Islam-QA, Ask-Imam, or Sunni Path for Sunnis. Now it is upto the Shia lay-person to either accept the authoratative word of his top scholars or to be fooled by the propagandists amongst the Shia youth who themselves are lay-persons and change their faith if only to strengthen their polemical stance.
A well-respected Shia scholar, Shaykh Mohammed Soleiman-Panah, answered this question. Perhaps the Shia propagandists will try to question his authority by quoting the scholar’s own modesty on the issue, but it should be noted that Al-Islam.org itself calls him a “Shaykh” as well as an “Aalim”, such as here:
http://al-islam1.org/organizations/aalimnetwork/msg00063.html
It is therefore an established fact, by both Sunni and Shia scholarship, that Ali married his daughter to Umar. It is upto the reader himself to decide whether or not he would like to accept the confusing Shia paradigm that Ali married her off to a supposed murderer out of force and “for good reasons”, or rather to accept the more sensical position of the mainstream Muslims which is that Ali married his daughter to Umar because Ali thought of Umar as a God-fearing and honorable man. Not only did Ali marry his daughter to Umar, but he named his son after Umar and also after Abu Bakr and Uthman. Indeed, the marriage proves that Ali approved of the Shaikhain (Abu Bakr and Umar) and refutes the imaginary tales of the Shia. We implore upon our Shia brothers to cleanse their minds of the programming and brain-washing of their Ayatollahs. No rational and fair-minded person could, in the modern day and age, accept such non-sensical fairy-tales.
Article Written By: Ibn al-Hashimi, www.ahlelbayt.com
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