Mukhtasar Muslim

Sayyiduna Malik bin Aws says: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) called me, and I came to him in the daytime. He was sitting in his house on a bare bedstead without any bedding, reclining on a leather pillow. He said, “O Malik! Some people from your tribe came running to me, so I have given them a little something. Distribute it among all of them.” I said, “I wish you had assigned this task to someone else.” He said, “O Malik! You take it.” Meanwhile, Yarfa (his servant) came and said, “O Commander of the Faithful! Uthman bin Affan, Abdur Rahman bin Awf, Zubair, and Sa’d (may Allah be pleased with them) have come. Shall I let them in?” Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Yes, let them in.” They came in. Then Yarfa came and said, “Abbas and Ali (may Allah be pleased with them) want to come.” So Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Allow them as well.” Sayyiduna Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “O Commander of the Faithful! Decide between me and this liar, sinner, deceiver, and thief.” The people said, “Yes, O Commander of the Faithful! Decide between them and relieve them from this issue.” Malik bin Aws said, “I know that both of them (i.e., Sayyiduna Ali and Sayyiduna Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them) had sent Sayyiduna Uthman, Abdur Rahman, Zubair, and Sa’d (may Allah be pleased with them) ahead (so that they would speak to Sayyiduna Umar and get a decision).” Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Wait! I adjure you by Allah, by whose command the earth and the heavens exist, do you not know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘We, the Prophets, do not leave inheritance; whatever we leave behind is charity’?” All said, “Yes, we know.” Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) turned to Sayyiduna Abbas and Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with them) and said, “I adjure you both by Allah, by whose command the earth and the heavens exist, do you know that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘We, the Prophets, have no heirs, and whatever we leave behind is charity’?” Both said, “Indeed, we know.” Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Allah Almighty specified something for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that He did not specify for anyone else. Allah Almighty said: ‘Whatever Allah has bestowed upon His Messenger from the property of the people of the villages, it is for Allah and His Messenger’ (__QUR_N__). I do not know whether he recited the previous verse or not. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, ‘The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) distributed the wealth of Banu Nadir among you people. And by Allah, he did not consider it more for himself than for you, nor did he take it for himself and not give you, until this wealth remained. From it, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would take the expenses for one year, and what remained would be included in the treasury (Bayt al-Mal).’ Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, ‘I adjure you by Allah, by whose command the earth and the heavens exist, do you all know this?’ They said, ‘Yes, we know.’ Then he gave the same oath to Sayyiduna Ali and Sayyiduna Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them), and they also said, ‘Yes.’ Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, ‘When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “I am the guardian of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).” So both of you came. Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) was demanding the inheritance of his nephew (i.e., the Messenger of Allah, who was the son of Abbas’s brother), and Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was seeking the share of his wife from her father’s wealth (i.e., Fatimah az-Zahra, may Allah be pleased with her, who was the wife of Ali and the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him). Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) replied that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “We, the Prophets, have no heirs; whatever we leave behind is charity.” So you considered him a liar, sinner, deceiver, and thief, while Allah knows that he was truthful, righteous, guided, and a follower of the truth. Then Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) passed away, and I became the guardian of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him). So you considered me also a liar, sinner, deceiver, and thief, while Allah knows that I am truthful, righteous, and upon the truth, a follower of the truth. I remained the guardian of this wealth. Then both of you came to me, and you are one (i.e., although you are two persons, due to your closeness to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, you are like one person). You said, “Hand over this wealth to us.” So I said, “Fine! If you wish, I will give it to you on the condition that you will do with it what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do.” You took this wealth from me on this condition. Then Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Is it not so?” They said, “Yes.” Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Now you both have come to me for a decision? No, by Allah! I will not make any decision other than this until the Day of Judgment. However, if you are unable to manage this wealth, then return it to me.”

Narrated from Umm al-Mu’minin Aisha Siddiqa (may Allah be pleased with her) that Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (may Allah be pleased with her), the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), sent someone to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) to ask for her inheritance from the property which Allah had given to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in Madinah and Fadak, and from what remained of the fifth (khums) of Khaybar. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “We (the Prophets) do not leave inheritance; whatever we leave behind is charity. And the family of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) will eat from this property. By Allah! I will not change anything of the charity of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) from the state it was in during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and I will do with it what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do.” Thus, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) refused to give anything to Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (may Allah be pleased with her), so she became angry and stopped meeting Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and did not speak to him until she passed away. (Imam Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him, said that this abandonment of meeting was not the one which is forbidden in Shariah, and that is when one does not greet at the time of meeting or does not reply to the greeting.) And she lived only six months after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (some said eight months, or three months, or two months, or seventy days; in any case, she passed away on the third of Ramadan, 11 AH). When she passed away, her husband Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) buried her at night and did not inform Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) (from this it is known that burying at night is permissible, but daytime is preferable if there is no excuse), and Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) led the funeral prayer over her. And as long as Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (may Allah be pleased with her) was alive, people loved Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) because of her; when she passed away, Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) saw that people had turned away from him, so he considered it appropriate to reconcile with Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and to pledge allegiance to him, and several months had passed and he had not yet pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him). Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) called Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) and sent word that he should come alone and no one should come with him, because he disliked the coming of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him): “By Allah! Do not go to them alone.” Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “What will they do to me? By Allah, I will go alone.” So Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) went to them, and Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) recited the testimony (as is recited at the beginning of a sermon), then said: “O Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)! We have recognized your virtue and what Allah has given you (i.e., the caliphate), and we do not envy the blessing which Allah has given you (i.e., the caliphate and rule), but you did this matter alone? And we thought that we also had a right in it because of our close relationship to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).” Then Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) kept talking to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) until Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) was moved to tears. When Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) began to speak, he said: “By Him in Whose hand is my soul, the regard for the kinship of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is dearer to me than my own kinship. And regarding the matters in which there was disagreement between me and you (i.e., Fadak, Nadhir, and the fifth of Khaybar, etc.), I did not abandon the truth, nor did I leave any action which I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) doing; I did exactly that.” Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said to Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him): “Alright, today at noon we will pledge allegiance to you.” When Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) finished the Zuhr prayer, he ascended the pulpit and delivered a sermon, and mentioned the story of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), his delay in pledging allegiance, and the excuse he had presented, and then prayed for forgiveness. And Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) delivered a sermon and mentioned the virtue of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and said: “My delay in pledging allegiance was not because I envied Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) or denied his greatness and virtue, but we thought that we also had a share in the matter of the caliphate, which was done alone without consultation, and for this reason our hearts were grieved.” Upon hearing this, the Muslims were pleased and all said to Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): “You have done the right thing.” From that day, when he adopted the correct course, the Muslims again inclined towards Ali (may Allah be pleased with him).

Narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Whatever I leave behind, my heirs cannot distribute even a single dinar from it, and after the expenses of my wives and the wages of the administrator, whatever remains is charity.