Was the Prophet's daughter against Ali's second marriage?

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

Translation: It is narrated on the authority of Abu Abdullah Jafar Al-Sadiq: A miserable of the miserables came to Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, and said to her: “Did you not know that Ali proposed to marry (Khataba) the daughter of Abu Jahl?” She said: "Is it true what you say? He said three times: “What I say is true.” Jealousy entered into her (heart) to an extent she could not control it, for Allah has ordained that women be jealous and that men perform Jihad, and He has made the reward of the patient (woman) similar to that of the Murabit and Muhajir in the way of Allah.

He said: And Fatima’s anguish became severe and she remained thinking about it until night time…she moved to her father’s residence. Ali came to his residence and did not see Fatima and his anguish increased and became great on him, even though he did not know what happened, and he was ashamed to call her from her father’s house so he went to the Masjid and prayed as much as Allah willed, and he collected some of the sand in the Masjid and laid on it.

When the Prophet saw how sad and anguished Fatima was, he poured water over himself and wore his clothes and entered the Masjid. He kept praying, making Rukoo and Sujood, and after every time he completed two Raka he made Du’a that Allah remove what Fatima had of sadness and anguish because he left her turning over and breathing heavily. When the Prophet saw that she could not sleep and could not rest he said: “O daughter, rise!” So she rose and the Prophet carried Al-Hassan and she carried Al-Hussain and took hold of Umm Kulthoom’s hand until they reached Ali (AS) while he was sleeping.

The Prophet put his foot on Ali, pinched him, and said: “Rise Abu Turab! You have disturbed many a resting person. Call for me Abu Bakr from his house and Umar from his Majlis and Talha.” So Ali went and got them from their houses and they gathered around the Messenger of Allah.

The Messenger of Allah then said: “O Ali! Do you not know that Fatima is a piece of me and I am from her. Whoever disturbs her, disturbs me and whoever disturbs me has disturbed Allah, and whoever disturbs her after my death then as if he has disturbed her in my lifetime and whoever disturbed her in my lifetime then as if he has disturbed her after my death.”

-I don’t know where this Hadith is from.

2

Re: Was the Prophet's daughter against Ali's second marriage?

what if its true and what if its not true? will that make any difference to your faith or respect you have for these personalities.

3

Re: Was the Prophet's daughter against Ali's second marriage?

Sister/Brother you have just quoted a Shia source so I wouldn't attach too much credibility if you are a Sunni to this source. These words appear in a Shia Hadith.

However that being said there are also similar authentic Sunni Hadiths (in fact several from Sahih Bukhari) on the same incident between Fatima and Ali.

In explanation of the hadeeth narrated by Al-Miswar bin Makhrama:

*"I heard Allah's Apostle who was on the pulpit, saying, 'Banu Hisham bin Al-Mughira have requested me to allow them to marry their daughter to Ali bin Abu Talib, but I don't give permission, and will not give permission unless 'Ali bin Abi Talib divorces my daughter in order to marry their daughter, **because Fatima is a part of my body, and I hate what she hates to see, and what hurts her, hurts me.'" [Saheeh al-Bukhaari, Vol. 7, Book 62 (Book of Marriage), Hadeeth No. 4887] ***

And in another Hadith:

"Ali demanded the hand of the daughter of Abu Jahl. Fatimah heard of this and went to Allah's Messenger saying, 'Your people think that you do not become angry for the sake of your daughters as `Ali now is going to marry the daughter of Abu Jahl.'

On that, the Messenger got up and after his recitation of Tashahud (witnessing the oneness of the Creator and the prophethood of His Final Messenger) I heard him saying, *'I married one of my daughters (Zainab) to Abu Al-Aas ibn Ar-Rabi before Islam and he proved truthful in whatever he said to me. No doubt Fatimah is part of me; I hate to see her troubled. By Allah, the daughter of Allah's Messenger and the daughter of Allah's enemy cannot be the wives of one man.'" [Saheeh al-Bukhaari, Vol. 4, Book 53 (Book of One-Fifth of War Booty), Hadeeth No. 2900]***

Narrated 'Ali bin Al-Husain:
*That when they reached Medina after returning from Yazid bin Mu'awaiya after the martyrdom of Husain bin ‘Ali (may Allah bestow His Mercy upon him), Al-Miswar bin Makhrama met him and said to him, "Do you have any need you may order me to satisfy?" ‘Ali said, "No." Al-Miswar said, Will you give me the sword of Allah’s Apostle for I am afraid that people may take it from you by force? By Allah, if you give it to me, they will never be able to take it till I die." When ‘Ali bin Abu Talib demanded the hand of the daughter of Abi Jahl to be his wife besides Fatima, I heard Allah’s Apostle on his pulpit delivering a sermon in this connection before the people, and I had then attained my age of puberty. Allah’s Apostle said, "Fatima is from me, and I am afraid she will be subjected to trials in her religion (because of jealousy)." **The Prophet then mentioned one of his son-in-laws who was from the tribe of ‘Abu Shams, and he praised him as a good son-in-law, saying, "Whatever he said was the truth, and he promised me and fulfilled his promise. I do not make a legal thing illegal, nor do I make an illegal thing legal, but by Allah, the daughter of Allah's Apostle and the daughter of the enemy of Allah, (i.e. Abu Jahl) can never get together (as the wives of one man) (See Hadith No. 76, Vo. 5). (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 53, Number 342)***

**Ibn Hajr **observes in Fath al-Bârî (7/86):
The words “He spoke to me and he was truthful” could be that he made a promise on himself not to marry another woman beside Zaynab. And the same was done by Alî. Otherwise, it could be thatAlî had forgotten that condition and that is why he proceeded with that engagement to the second woman. Or, it could be that he assumed the condition did not apply to him since he did not pronounce it himself. However, he should nevertheless have respected this condition as something understood, and that is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) blamed him.

The Prophet's daughter Fatima did not want to be in polygamy, neither were any of her sisters or daughters in polygamous marriages, and that was their personal choice which ought to be respected. It is permissible in Islam for a woman to stipulate it as a condition of her marriage that her husband won't take a second wife while married to her.*

***Ibn al-Qayyim* writes in Zâd al-Ma`âd (5/117-118):**
If a man agrees to the condition that he will not marry a second wife, he is obliged by that condition. If the man breaks his promise, the woman will be entitled to terminate the marriage contract.

It is mentioned in the hadîth that what took place is hurting Fâtimah and therefore hurting him. It is known for sure that the Prophet (peace be upon him) let Alî marry his daughter Fâtimah on the condition that he does not hurt her or her father, even if that is not mentioned in the marriage contract. The Prophet (peace be upon him) brought up mention of his other son-in-law to inciteAli to do the same.” The Prophet’s reproach of Ali was on account ofAlî’s heedlessness of this condition.

*Zainab, the eldest of the four daughters of the Prophet, was married to one Abul-'As ibn er-Rabi' of Makkah. This man fought against the Prophet in the battle of Badr, and was captured by the Muslims.

Yet the Prophet praised him as a good son in law saying :

''The Prophet then mentioned one of his son-in-laws who was from the tribe of ‘Abu Shams, and he praised him as a good son-in-law, saying, "Whatever he said was the truth, and he promised me and fulfilled his promise''. [The Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari, Chapter 66. Book of the Virtues of the Companions].

This son-in-law was monogamous.

Then we have Uthman who was married to the Prophet's daughters Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthoom consecutively:

Here is a list of his wives before marrying Ruqayyah:
Umm'Amr bint Jandab
Fatimah bint Al Walid

Both these wives left him when he became Muslim and before he married the Prophet's divorced daughter Ruqayyah. The marriage to Ruqayyah was monogamous.

**When Ruqayyah died, he married the Prophet's other divorced daughter, Umm Kulthoom. This marriage was also monogamous. **

Only when Umm Kulthoom died did he become polygamous again.

And as for Ali he had no other wife besides Fatima whilst married to her. Only when she died did he become polygamous. As soon as one of his four wives died, he would marry another. In fact he had a total of eight wives and several concubines, but all only after Fatima passed away.

Ironically, when married Umar and married Abu Bakr proposed to Fatima, their proposals were turned down, even though Islam says if you find a good man you should marry him. Instead the proposal of the single man Ali was accepted for Fatima.

Fatima's daughters, Zainab and Umm Kulthoom were also in monogamous marriages to the sons of their uncle Jafar (ra).

4

Re: Was the Prophet's daughter against Ali's second marriage?

There's a lengthy explanation to this event which happened in around 8 AH. There is ikhtilaaf (difference of opinion) amongst the ulema about this narrative.

The key is the Prophet 's reference in the hadith to Abu al-Aas, who was the husband of Rasulallah 's daughter Zaynab, and his promise.

First of all, under Islamic Law, a woman can stipulate in her marriage contract a condition that her husband must not take a second wife. It is obligatory upon the husband to fulfill the condition. If he violates it the wife has the right to end the marriage.

And another very important fact which many people are not aware of is that even if the first wife does not make this condition in the marriage contract, the condition to not marry a second wife is still present automatically in the contract if the custom (urf) of the first wife's family is monogamy. Because in Islamic Law, there is a principle that states "What is known by custom is the same as what is explicitly stated as a condition."

واٍلی هذا ذهب الامام أحمد ورجحه این تیمیة واین القیم وذهبوا کذ لک إٍلی أن الشرط عٍکن أن یکون لفظیا، وفی بعض الأحوال عٍکن أٌن یکون عرفیأ ، أٍذا جاءت الفتاهٔ من أّسرة یٌعرف عنها أٌنها لاتقبل أٌن یتزومج أٌن علیها زوجها
انتی کلام

This is the opinion of Imam Ahmed, founder of the Hanbali school and is further preferred by Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn-Al-Qayyim. They also allowed the condition to be verbal (not necessarily written) or if it is the norm (urf) for the girl's family, i.e. if the girl's family is known to oppose having another wife next to their daughter. (Fiqh Al Sunnah, Volume 6, Page 231-232)

The famous muhaddith Ibn Hajr al Askalani wrote in Fath ul Bari (the best commentary on Sahih Bukhari):

The words “He spoke to me and he was truthful” could be that he made a promise on himself not to marry another woman beside Zaynab. And the same was done by Alî. Otherwise, it could be thatAlî had forgotten that condition and that is why he proceeded with that engagement to the second woman. Or, it could be that he assumed the condition did not apply to him since he did not pronounce it himself. However, he should nevertheless have respected this condition as something understood, and that is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) blamed him.

Ibn al-Qayyim writes in Zâd al-Ma`âd (5/117-118):

If a man agrees to the condition that he will not marry a second wife, he is obliged by that condition. If the man breaks his promise, the woman will be entitled to terminate the marriage contract.

It is mentioned in the hadîth that what took place is hurting Fâtimah and therefore hurting him. It is known for sure that the Prophet (peace be upon him) let Alî marry his daughter Fâtimah on the condition that he does not hurt her or her father, even if that is not mentioned in the marriage contract. The Prophet (peace be upon him) brought up mention of his other son-in-law to inciteAli to do the same.” The Prophet’s reproach of Ali was on account ofAlî’s heedlessness of this condition.

These words of Ibn Hajr and Ibn Qayyim reflect the idea that due to monogamy being the custom for Rasulallah 's daughters, the condition of not marrying a second wife was present in their marriage contracts even if they had not explicitly stated/written the condition in their marriage contracts (i.e Fatima, Umm Kulthoom, Ruqayya and Zaynab had no co-wives as long as they lived).

However, he should nevertheless have respected this condition as something understood, and that is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) blamed him.... (Ibn Hajr)

even if that is not mentioned in the marriage contract..... (Ibn Qayyim)

The other view is that it is among the exclusive Prophetic characteristics (al-khasa’is al-nabawiyya) that the Prophet’s daughters are to have no wife-rivals (la yutazawwaju `ala banatih). This was the view of Imam Suyuti in Unmudhaj al-Labib bi-Khasa’is al-Habib (Saqr ed. p.86). He adds that this does not apply to the Prophet's female descendants, although Al-Miswar cited the incident of Fatima to not let his daughter become the co-wife of Fatima's grand-daughter. (The narrator of the above hadiths, Al-Miswar bin Makhrama, refused to give his daughter in marriage to a husband of Fatima's grand-daughter by citing the above Hadiths about Fatima and saying "“I fear lest it would displease her" i.e even in her grave! This was due to his fear of provoking the jealousy of the daughter of Rasulallah . This was related by Ahmad in the Musnad and Al-Hakim in the Mustadrik.)

Imam Suyuti's view was also the view of the 17th century Hanafi scholar Mulla Ali Qari. He wrote in Mirqaat (a commentary on Mishkat al-Masabih) that:

‘It is haraam to pain Rasulullah in all circumstances, even if the pain is caused by participating in a mubah (permissible) action’. ‘Ali could not marry again as this would pain and hurt to Fatima. (Sunni Reference: Mirqaat Volume 11 page 374)

‘Ibn Daud stated that Allah made it haraam for Ali to marry during the life of Fatima, and it is Allah’s order ‘take whatever Rasulullah gives you and refrain that which he refrains you from doing’'. (Mirqaat Volume 11 page 375)

‘Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Subkee stated in Sharh Talkhees: ‘for a man to marry again whilst married to a daughter of Rasulullah is haraam, as this pains Rasulallah and to cause pain to Rasulallah is haram (Mirqaat Volume 11 page 375])