One of the most preposterous notions put forth by the Shī`ī Ithnā’ `Asharī scholars and propagandists to deny the marriage of `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb with Umm Kulthūm bint `Alī (ra) is that the married Umm Kulthūm was actually the step-daughter of `Alī from his marriage with Asmā’ bint Umays, the widow of Abū Bakr al-Şiddīq (ra).

What is ignored in these centuries late biological discoveries of the Shī`a is the fact that the occurrences of such marriages are advanced to show the cordial relations between the Ahl al-Bayt and the Companions, not to prove their blood ties.

Nevertheless, readers will now see how the inability to grasp this hard-to-digest marriage and impossibility of establishing the step-daughter notion with adequate evidence leads Shī`ī propagandists to misquoting and distorting both Sunnī and Shī`ī texts.

The Exemplifying Case of Answering-Ansar

The Answering-Ansar team, being one of the hailed Shī`ī propagandists of today, has promoted this same notion in ‘Nikah of Lady Umme Kulthum[sa].’

They write:

The subchapter quoted above is based on three important proofs that are publicized by the Answering-Ansar team as verbatim quotes from Shī`ī and Sunnī texts. To a naive reader who seeks to know the truth, these quotes seem to furnish acceptable evidence in support of the notion that the Umm Kulthūm married to `Umar was the daughter of Abū Bakr (ra).

However, when these quotes are individually verified, the matter turns out to be quite different:

First Quote – al-Anwār al-`Alawiyya wa al-Asrār al-Murtađawiyya

The very first quote mentioned by Answering-Ansar is from an “esteemed” Shī`ī Ithnā’ `Asharī text.

Readers should know is that the Shī`ī text absurdly quoted by the Answering-Ansar team as “Anwar kul fi Shamsheerai Ma'sum” is actually al-Anwār al-`Alawiyya wa al-Asrār al-Murtađawiyya of the Ithnā’ `Asharī scholar and poet, Ja`far ibn Muĥammad al-Naqdī (d. 1370).

And what Ja`far al-Naqdī has actually stated in al-Anwār is:

أقول ورأيت في بعض الكتب ولم أستحضر اسمه الآن ما معناه عن أحد أئمة الهدى ع أن عمر خطب أم كلثوم بنت علي ع فرده ثم خطب أم كلثوم بنت أبي بكر ربيبة علي ع فاعتل بصغرها فقال أرنيها فبعث بها أمير المؤمنين إلى عمر في حاجة له فاستدناها عمر وأراد أن يقبض على يدها فنفضت يدها منه وهربت إلى أمير المؤمنين ع وقالت يا أبا الحسن قد أذاني هذا الفاسق قال وصبر عليها حتى بلغت مبلغ التزويج فتزوجها وقال الناس تزوج بنت علي ع وأم كلثوم هذه أخت محمد بن أبي بكر لأمه وأبيه

“I say: I saw in a book whose name I cannot remember at the moment, something of which the meaning is that it was related from one of the Imāms of guidance (as) that `Umar asked for the hand of Umm Kulthūm, the daughter of the Commander of the Believers [`Alī ibn Abī Ţālib] (as), in marriage but the latter rejected his proposal. Then, he asked for the hand of Umm Kulthūm, the blood daughter of Abū Bakr and step-daughter of `Alī (as), and the latter made an excuse of her tender age. So he [i.e. `Umar] said: ‘Can you show her to me?’ and the Commander of the Believers (as) sent her to `Umar upon his request. Then, `Umar brought her close and tried to grab her hand, but she shook her hand off and ran to the Commander of the Believers (as) and said to him: ‘O Abū al-Ĥasan! This transgressor [fāsiq] has hurt me!’ `Umar then bore with patience and married her when she reached the age of marriage. Therefore, the people began to say: ‘He married the daughter of `Alī (as)!’ whereas this Umm Kulthūm was the sister of Muĥammad ibn Abī Bakr due to her parentage.”

·         al-Anwār al-`Alawiyya wa al-Asrār al-Murtađawiyya, of Ja`far al-Naqdī (d. 1370), page 436 [Najaf]

Sunnī texts are commonly distorted by the Answering-Ansar team, but the quote above shows how their dishonesty does not even pardon Shī`ī texts. One can clearly see that al-Naqdī relates the abovementioned series of incident that he read in a forgotten book in his own words, but the Answering-Ansar team completely removes that part and adds “Umme Kalthum Hadi narrates” in its place instead—all in an effort to portray it as an unobjectionable direct narration.

The fact of the matter is, had the Answering-Ansar team revealed the part where al-Naqdī shows his ignorance of his source, without distorting what is in the actual text, they would have revealed the untruthfulness of this related incident due to the prodigious gap of more than a thousand years between the Imāms and al-Naqdī. Apart from that, it would have caused raised eyebrows because this also shows the Answering-Ansar team’s unreasonable premise of dishonestly weakening and rejecting chained authentic narrations in early and primary Sunnī and Shī`ī texts, only to accept one with no chain of transmission in a late and secondary Shī`ī text.

Nevertheless, the exposition of this quote demonstrates to what length Shī`ī scholars and propagandists go to promote their views. From narrating incidents that cannot be found in any other text centuries later with coincidental forgetfulness for the source, to snipping the part about the forgotten source and replacing it with “Umme Kalthum Hadi narrates” to deceive readers.

Second Quote – `Abd al-Ĥaqq al-Dihlawī’s Rijāl al-Mishkāt

The second work quoted by the Answering-Ansar team is the Sunnī scholar `Abd al-Ĥaqq al-Dihlawī’s (d. 1052) work famously known as Rijāl al-Mishkāt.

They have quoted this work in the following manner:

However, this is a lie and no such words can be found in the text! In fact, one does not even find anything close to what is mentioned in this quote. This is, obviously, an outright Shī`ī fabrication churned out by the Answering-Ansar team.

Third Quote – al-Işāba fī Tamyīz al-Şaĥāba

After citing the aforementioned two quotes from a Sunnī and a Shī`ī text, the Answering-Ansar team writes:

This, too, is another example of the misquotation and distortion of Sunnī texts by the Answering-Ansar team. There is absolutely no mention of any marriage of `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb (ra) with Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr in the entire al-Işāba of Ibn Ĥajar al-`Asqalānī (d. 852). Rather, when one refers to al-Işāba, he finds what shows this notion to be spurious.

Ibn Ĥajar writes in the biographical entry of Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr:

أم كلثوم بنت أبي بكر الصديق التيمية تابعية مات أبوها وهي حمل فوضعت بعد وفاة أبيها وقصتها بذلك صحيحة في الموطأ وغيره أرسلت حديثها فذكرها بسببه بن السكن وابن منده في الصحابة

“Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr al-Şiddīq, the Taymiyya: A predecessor, she was still in the womb when her father passed away, and so she was born after his demise; her story concerning that in al-Muwaţţa’ and other works is correct. Her narrations were dispatched, and due to that, Ibn al-Sakan and Ibn Mandah mentioned her among the Companions.”

·         al-Işāba fī Tamyīz al-Şaĥāba, of Ibn Ĥajar al-`Asqalānī (d. 852), volume 8, page 276 [Beirut]

Following this, he quotes her documented narrations, and then explicitly writes:

وأمها حبيبة بنت خارجة وضعتها بعد موت أبي بكر

“Her mother is Ĥabība bint Khārija, and she gave birth to her after the demise of Abū Bakr.”

·         al-Işāba fī Tamyīz al-Şaĥāba, of Ibn Ĥajar al-`Asqalānī (d. 852), volume 8, page 276 [Beirut]

Similarly, under the biographical entry of Ĥabība bint Khārija in al-Işāba, Ibn Ĥajar states:

حبيبة بنت خارجة بن زيد أو بنت زيد بن خارجة الخزرجية زوج أبي بكر الصديق ووالدة أم كلثوم ابنته التي مات أبو بكر وهي حامل بها

“Ĥabība bint Khārija bin or bint Zayd ibn Khārija al-Khazrajiyya: The spouse of Abū Bakr and mother of his daughter Umm Kulthūm, who was still in her womb when Abū Bakr died.”

·         al-Işāba fī Tamyīz al-Şaĥāba, of Ibn Ĥajar al-`Asqalānī (d. 852), volume 8, page 48 [Beirut]

As it is evident, Ibn Ĥajar does not mention any marriage of `Umar (ra) with Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr in al-Işāba, much less “pinpoint” it as the Answering-Ansar team states. The only marriage of Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr mentioned by Ibn Ĥajar in the work is that with Ţalĥa ibn `Ubayd Allāh (ra).

He states:

وقال ابن السكن يقال إن طلحة تزوج أربع نسوة عند النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أخت كل منهن أم كلثوم بنت أبي بكر أخت عائشة وحمنة بنت جحش أخت زينب والفارعة بنت أبي سفيان أخت أم حبيبة ورقية بنت أبي أمية أخت أم سلمة

“Ibn al-Sakan said: ‘It is said that Ţalĥa married the sisters of four women who were all married to the Prophet (saws): Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr, the sister of `Ā’isha; Ĥamna bint Jaĥsh, the sister of Zaynab; al-Fāri`a bint Abī Sufyān, the sister of Umm Ĥabība; Ruqayya bint Abī Umayya, the sister of Umm Salama.’”

·         al-Işāba fī Tamyīz al-Şaĥāba, of Ibn Ĥajar al-`Asqalānī (d. 852), volume 2, page 292 [Beirut]

So, upon referring to al-Işāba, it becomes clear that:

1.      Umm Kulthūm bint Abī Bakr was not the daughter of Asmā’ bint Umays.

2.      She was married to Ţalĥa ibn `Ubayd Allāh.

Both these facts completely collapse the notion that the Umm Kulthūm married to `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb was the step-daughter of `Alī ibn Abī Ţālib from his marriage with Asmā’ (ra). Not to mention that Ibn Ĥajar’s explicit declaration of such a marriage in the seventeenth year, as quoted by the Answering-Ansar team, is also not found anywhere in the entire al-Işāba.

Conclusion

The above exposition clearly shows how the Answering-Ansar team created a sub-chapter to establish a notion and based it upon three quotes, one from a Shī`ī text and two from Sunnī texts. However, when these references were checked, the following was revealed:

1.     The Shī`ī text, al-Anwār al-`Alawiyya, was distorted by removing the author’s distressful admission that the incident he is relating is in his own words, and from a source he has forgotten, while replacing it with “Umme Kalthum Hadi narrates” to make it appear as a verbatim narration.

2.      The second text, Rijāl al-Mishkāt, was misquoted, in fact, lied upon, by attributing a lengthy fabricated step-daughter story to it as a quote. Whereas no such words can be found in the actual text.

3.      The last Sunnī text, al-Işāba, was also distorted by falsely attributing an entire phrase—i.e. “Umar married the girl in 17 Hijri, at the time she was 4 / 5 years of age.”—to the author, while he actually states what negates this phrase and the entire notion in the text.

As it is obvious, referring to these texts does not prove the notion that the Umm Kulthūm married to `Umar (ra) was the step-daughter of `Alī (ra), rather disproves it.

The Reason behind Reference

The reason behind reference is so that an unbiased reader may pick the quoted text whenever he or she wants and check the genuineness of the quote prior to believing. As seen above, the application of this reason is what manifests the weakness of the notions promoted by Shī`ī Ithnā’ `Asharī scholars and propagandists, and their dishonesty in establishing it.

One cannot but be amazed by the barefacedness of Shī`ī scholars and propagandists with which they openly lie about religious texts and historical events to forward their notions in denial of the marriage of `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb with Umm Kulthūm bint `Alī (ra), such as inventing novelistic narrations with sources that they “cannot remember” and attributing complete fabrications to other texts as quotations.

The Answering-Ansar team has, without a doubt, shown academic dishonesty and misled those who strive to know the truth by attributing their own fabricated words to Islamic texts. Do none of them bear even the slightest fear of Allāh (swt) in their hearts, that their lies would be exposed upon referring to the texts? Is no one among the Answering-Ansar team afraid of the consequence of deceptively misquoting texts and misleading unwary Muslims?

أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَى

“Does he not know that Allāh is watching (him)?” [96:14]

Whatever the case may be, both unbiased Sunnī and Shī`ī readers have already witnessed that it is by referring to the texts quoted by the Answering-Ansar team that their misquotation and distortion of Sunnī and Shī`ī texts to propagate their notions is exposed.

Now, it is up to them to decide whether Answering-Ansar is a credible source of Islamic knowledge or not.

An Important Question – “Anwar Kul fi Shamsheerai Ma'sum”

Lastly, a point worth mentioning is that readers would have noticed the Answering-Ansar team’s mentioning of the “esteemed” Shī`ī text al-Anwār al-`Alawiyya wa al-Asrār al-Murtađawiyya as “Anwar Kul fi Shamsheerai Ma'sum.” There is definitely no method of transliteration—either prevalent or not—that could possibly make the title result in these nonsensical words.

The purpose here is not to serve Answering-Ansar with the mockery they deserve, but the mind begs the question:

Does the Answering-Ansar team not even know the titles of their own “esteemed” Shī`ī texts?

After pondering over this question, unbiased readers should also speculate upon how someone with an academic background as weak as this, and no sincerity in quoting texts, could perhaps be researching texts and “revealing the truth” for them.

It is only Allah (swt) who gives success, and blessings and peace be on the Seal of the Prophets, his Pure Progeny and his Noble Companions

♦        ♦        ♦

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Works Cited

Shī`ī texts:

1.       al-Anwār al-`Alawiyya wa al-Asrār al-Murtađawiyya

Ja`far al-Naqdī (d. 1370)

al-Matba`a al-Haydariyya

Najaf, Iraq

Sunnī texts:

2.       al-Işāba fī Tamyīz al-Şaĥāba

Ibn Ĥajar al-`Asqalānī (d. 852)

Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya

Beirut, Lebanon