Defence Against Disaster Al-`Awasim Min Al-Qawasim
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DEFENCE AGAINST DISASTER By Accurately Determining The Position Of The Companions After The Death Of The Prophet, May Allah Bless Him And Grant Him Peace AL-`AWASIM MIN AL-QAWASIM by QADI ABU BAKR IBN AL-`ARABI by . o O o . The Disaster of Dhuhr Then Allah took His Prophet to Himself, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and perfected the deen for him and us and completed His blessings on him as He, may He be exalted! said, "Today I have perfected your deen for you and I have completed my blessing on you and I am pleased with Islam as a deen for you (5:3)". Nothing in this world is perfected without imperfection coming to it in that perfection is meant for the face of Allah alone. That is right action and the next world. It is the perfect abode of Allah. Anas said, "We had not shaken the earth of the grave of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, from our hands before we doubted our hearts." 2. "Our hearts" is related in the hadith from numerous directions. Ibn Kathir indicated it in ‘The Beginning and the End’, (pp. 273-274). One of them is by Imam Ahmad from Anas, "On the Day on which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came to Madina, all of it was illuminated. On the day he died, all of it was darkened." He said, "We had not shaken the earth of the grave of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, from our hands before we began to doubt our hearts." This is related by at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. At-Tirmidhi said, "This is a sahih gharib hadith." Ibn Kathir said, "Its isnad is sound according to the preconditions of the Sahih volumes. The situation became unsettled. Then Allah corrected Islam by the oath of homage to Abu Bakr. The death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was the disaster of dhuhr and the great calamity. As for `Ali, he kept himself out of sight in his home with Fatima. 3. Because Fatima was angry with Abu Bakr when he insisted on acting by the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "We do not leave inheritance. What we leave is sadaqa." The details of that will come. Fatima lived for six months after the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, withdrawn in her house. `Ali was with her. He did not cease to pray the prayers behind the Siddiq. He went out with him when Abu Bakr went out and unsheathed his sword to fight the apostates (Ahl ar-Ridda). It is possible that when he said that `Ali kept out of sight, the author meant what he and az- Zubayr did when people were meeting in the hall of the Banu Sa`ida. `Umar b. al-Khattab indicated that in the great speech he made in Madina at the end of Dhu’l-Hijja after the last Hajj he made. This speech is in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad (1:55, first edition; part 1, no. 391, second edition) from the hadith of Ibn `Abbas. In reality, the riwayats are confused when it comes to making clear what the position of `Ali b. Abi Talib was during the khalifate of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. Many intrigues played their parts. Lies and fabrications have been woven around it with the intention of upsetting the one with confidence in Islam in general and the Companions in particular. They make a display of fear and enthusiasm about positions and property, even if it is in opposition to the shari`a. We transmit in what follows the soundest of the riwayats regarding the position of `Ali. Then we will bring some of the riwayats which say that he refused to take the oath of allegiance until Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died. We will make the forgeries and lies clear. Muhammad `Izza Daruza said in his book, ‘The Arab Race’ (7:14 et seq.), "At-Tabari related from `Abdullah b. Sa`id az-Zuhri from his uncle Ya`qub from Sa`id b. `Umar from al-Walid b. `Abdullah from al-Walid b. Jami` az-Zuhri that `Amr b. Harith asked Sa`id b. Zayd and said, "When was Abu Bakr given the oath of allegiance? Were you present at the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?" He said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘On the day that the Messenger of Allah,may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, they did not want even part of a day to pass without meeting together. `Amr asked, ‘Did anyone oppose him?’ He said, ‘No, except for the one who was an apostate or who would have apostatized if Allah had not delivered them from the Ansar.’ He said, ‘Did any of the Muhajirun abstain?’ He said, ‘No, they followed in his homage without being summoned.’ (part 2, p. 447)" It is evident that what the speaker meant by saying what he did referred to the position of Sa`d b. `Ubada and his helpers on the day of the Hall and their striving for the rulership. Allah saved them and made them back down and follow Abu Bakr rather than bring about division, opposition and contention. The riwaya demonstrates the strong desire of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah among the Muhajirun and the Ansar to be very swift in the business of settling the problem of leadership. It tells that the Hashimites, who were among the Muhajirun, also followed in the oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr and that none of them abstained from it. At-Tabari related the tradition of `Ali giving homage to Abu Bakr immediately and openly when it is related with his isnads from Habib b. Abi Thabit that Ali was in his house when the news came to him that Abu Bakr was sitting for the oath of homage. He went out in his shirt without buttons or cloak in haste, not liking to delay giving him homage. Then he sat with him and sent for his garment to be brought to him and he put it on and stayed at the assembly. (2:447) In any case, that which is agreed upon in the riwayats of the Shi`a and elsewhere is that `Ali and the Banu Hashim immediately gave homage to Abu Bakr or, as at-Tabari related from one riwaya of the Shi`a, after some hesitation they supported him. This indicated a decisive proof that there was no clear will or implicit bequest from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that the authority should belong to `Ali after him. At-Tabari related the same as that with other isnads in the report that `Ali and the Banu Hashim refused to offer allegiance to Abu Bakr as long as Fatima was alive because Fatima and al-`Abbas came to Abu Bakr asking for their inheritance from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which consisted of his land at Fadak and his share of Khaybar. Abu Bakr said to them, "I heard the Messenger of Allah say, ‘We do not leave any inheritance. What we leave is sadaqa.’ The family of Muhammad will have provision from this money. By Allah, I will not leave anything that I saw the Messenger of Allah do. I will do it." Fatima parted from him and did not speak to him until she died six months after the death of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. `Ali saw people turning their faces from him and neither he nor any of the Banu Hashim paid homage to Abu Bakr. The story is a long one, but in the end, `Ali gave his homage to Abu Bakr, i.e. after the death of Fatima. One notes that the text of the report of at-Thabari makes the question of the inheritance the cause for the refusal of `Ali and the Banu Hashim to give their homage to Abu Bakr. Their seeking the inheritance from Abu Bakr means that they must have first recognised his khalifate. This contains a contradiction which makes the story break down. If it has any root at all, all that is possible is that after they had given their homage to Abu Bakr, they tried to get what they considered their inheritance from the Prophet. Abu Bakr brought them the hadith of the Prophet which he had heard and the business stopped at this point. Anything beyond that is an addition of the Shi`a and one of their intrigues because it is not possible that `Ali, Fatima and the Banu Hashim did not confirm Abu Bakr in the hadith which he related because they did not argue and persist after they had heard it. It is strange that the enemies of Islam attack Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, for denying Fatima her inheritance from Fadak and her share of Khaybar while when `Ali himself was appointed khalif, he did not give any of her heirs nor any of the Banu Hashim what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, left because of the hadith, "We do not leave inheritance." When Abu Bakr forbade that, he also denied his daughter `A'isha this inheritance.