Incident of the attack on the house of Lady Fatima (a): Difference between revisions

In the ''[[book of Sulaym b. Qays]]'', ''[[Ithbat al-wasiyya]]'' and ''[[Tafsir al-'Ayyashi]]'', among the first Shiite sources, it is mentioned that in this incident, which led to the breaking and burning of the door of the house, the unborn child of Fatima (a), [[Muhsen (a)]], was aborted and it later led to the [[martyrdom of Lady Fatima (a)]]. Sunni sources deny burning the door and injuring Lady Fatima (a), and accused its narrators of being “[[Rafidiyy]]” [lit. “dissenter”].

Abu Bakr’s need for allegiance of Imam Ali (a) to strengthen the position of his caliphate and Ali’s (a) refusal to give allegiance, has been considered as one of the causes of this incident. According to Mohammad Hadi Yousefi Gharavi, a researcher in Islamic history, this incident occurred about 50 days after the [[demise of the Prophet (s)]].

In some early Shiite sources, it is narrated that in the incident of attacking Fatima’s (a) house, they set fire to the door of the house and Fatima (a) was injured and her unborn child was aborted. In the ''book of Sulaym b. Qays'', it is said that ‘Umar b. Khattab carried out his threat, set fire to the door of Fatima’s (a) house, entered the house and when he faced the resistance of Fatima (a), he struck her side of abdomen with a sword sheath. It is also mentioned in the book of ''[[Ithbat al-wasiyya]]'' attributed to [[Ali b. Husayn al-Mas'udi]], a historian of the fourth/tenth century: “They stormed the house and set fire to its door, and forced Ali (a) out and pressed the Master of All Women (a) behind the door, so that [[Muhsin (a)]] was aborted.” In the report of ''[[Dala'il al-Imama]]'', it is mentioned that [[Umar]] ordered [[Qunfudh]] to beat Fatima (a).

===Fatimah’s (a) dissatisfaction with Abu Bakr and ‘Umar===

In the book of Sulaym b. Qeys, al-Imama wa al-siyasah, and the book Dala’il al-Imamah, it is mentioned that after the incident of the attack on Fatima’s (a) house, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar tried to apologize and satisfy Fatima (a) and went to visit her. Fatima (a) did not accept to see them, but the two asked Imam Ali (a) to mediate and they met with Fatima (a). In this meeting, Fatima (a) turned away from them and reminded them of the words of the Prophet (a) that “Fatima (a) is part of my body, whoever hurts her, has hurt me” and then said, “I take God as witness that you two annoyed me and made me angry.”

The oldest source that narrates the abortion of Muhsin (a) in the invasion of the house is the book of Sulaym b. Qeys among the sources of the first century AH and most of later Shiite sources such as al-Ihtijaj by Ahmad b. Ali Tabrisi, Ghayat al-maram by Sayyid Hashim Bahrani and Bihar al-anwar by ‘Allamah Majlisi quoted it from that book.

According to a narration from Imam al-Sadiq (a), the cause of Fatima’s (a) martyrdom was injuries she (a) received during the attack on the house.

Some Sunni sources such as Tarikh Madinat al-Damishq by Ibn ‘Asaker, al-Mu’jam al-kabir by Tabarani and Tarikh al-Islam by Dhahabi state that in the last hours of his life, Abu Bakr regretted doing three things and as one of them, said that he wished he had not ordered to enter the house of Fatima (a).

Reports of ‘Umar b. Khattab threatening to set fire to Fatima’s (a) house are mentioned in Sunni sources such as Ansab al-ashraf, Tarikh Tabari, al-‘Aqd al-farid, al-Musannaf, and al-Imamah wa al-siyasah, but they have denied actually setting fire to the house and injuring Fatima (a) by pressure of the door and the abortion of Muhsin (a), and accused the narrators of such reports of being Rafidiyy [“dissenter”].

Muhammad b. ‘Abd al-Karim al-Shahristani, the Ash’arite writer of denominations of different nations (d. 548 AH), in his introduction to al-Hudhayliyyah, a Mu’tazilite sect, says that they believe that ‘Umar harmed Fatima (a) on the day of taking allegiance and caused her unborn child to be aborted. Shahristani calls this report a lie.

Khalil b. Ibak Safdi (d. 746 AH) in al-Wafi bil-wafayat, in introducing Ibrahim b. Sayyar known as Nazzam, one of the great Mu’tazilites, considers him inclined to Rafidah and quotes him as saying that ‘Umar harmed Fatima (a) and caused the abortion of Muhsin (a).

Shams al-Din Dhahabi (d. 748 AH) in Sayr a’lam al-nubala, in introducing Ibn Abi Daram, the fourth century narrator in Kufa, calls him a leader, a guardian and knowledgeable, but considers his inclination toward Rafidah as the cause of his unreliability and says that in the end of his life, defects of caliphs were recited to him, including that ‘Umar had harmed Fatima (a) and caused her to have an abortion. For this reason, Dhahabi considered him astray. Ibn Hajar ‘Asqalani (d. 852 AH) also considered Ibn Abi Daram as a Rafidiyy and liar in Lisan al-mizan for quoting reports of the [caliphs’] defects including Fatima’s (a) abortion.