Did ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه Really Write a Letter to the Nile? – A Critical Analysis
(Excerpt: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah – Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām, Vol. 2, p. 471)
Question:
Is it true that when the flow of the Nile stopped, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb رضي الله عنه wrote a letter to the river, and when the letter was thrown into it, the water began to flow again?
Answer:
Alḥamdulillāh, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Sources of the Story:
This incident is reported with the chain:
Ibn Lahīʿah → Qays ibn Ḥajjāj → from someone who narrated to him
It appears in:
- Futūḥ Miṣr by Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam (pp. 150–151)
- Kitāb al-ʿAẓamah by Abū al-Shaykh (4/1424–1425, ḥadīth 937)
- Sharḥ Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunnah by al-Lālikāʾī (2/401, ḥadīth 76 – Karāmāt)
- Karāmāt Awliyāʾ Allāh (p. 66)
- Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr (3/464, al-Sajdah: 27)
- Musnad al-Fārūq (1/223–224)
- Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah (1/23)
Chain Analysis:
- ʿAbdullāh ibn Lahīʿah – a mudallis narrator (Ṭabaqāt al-Mudallisin, 5/140)
- Narrated here with ʿanʿanah, which is unacceptable from a mudallis unless explicitly stating hearing.
- Qays ibn al-Ḥajjāj – a tābiʿ al-tābiʿī, but the person from whom he narrates is unknown.
- The chain is therefore majhūl (unknown) and ḍaʿīf (weak).
Such a chain falls under what scholars call “ẓulumāt” (dark/unreliable reports).
Summary of the Story:
- Upon Egypt’s conquest, locals told ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ رضي الله عنه:
“The Nile only flows when, on the 11th night of this month, a girl is thrown into it.”
- ʿAmr رضي الله عنه replied:
“In Islam, such customs are not allowed.”
- He wrote to ʿUmar رضي الله عنه about it.
- ʿUmar رضي الله عنه sent a letter addressed to the Nile:
“From the servant of Allah, ʿUmar, to the Nile of Egypt:
If you flow of your own accord, then do not flow.
But if Allah is the One who makes you flow, then I ask Allah, the One, the Irresistible, to make you flow.” - The letter was thrown into the river, and the water rose ten cubits and began to flow.
Final Ruling:
- The chain is weak due to tadlīs and an unknown narrator.
- The report is rejected (mardūd) and cannot be relied upon.
- Therefore, the entire story is baseless and unauthentic.
Allah knows best.
