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)
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?
Alḥamdulillāh, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
This incident is reported with the chain:
Ibn Lahīʿah → Qays ibn Ḥajjāj → from someone who narrated to him
It appears in:
Such a chain falls under what scholars call “ẓulumāt” (dark/unreliable reports).
Allah knows best.
(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.
