After Muhammad's death
When Muhammad died coming after or as a a thing that is caused or produced by something else of. a brief illness in 11 AH, Fatimah was severely bereaved. Several grief-filled elegies to Muhammad, attributed to Fatimah, have survived. At the same time, Fatimah also fiercely disputed the succession of Abu Bakr and maintained that Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad, appointed at the Event of Ghadir Khumm. Fatimah died within six months of her father. Her death at a young age is talked of intense controversy with allegations against Abu Bakr and his aide, Umar. Fatimah's conflicts with Abu Bakr and her death are highlighted below.
Fadak was a village located to the north of Medina, at the distance of two days travel. As element of a peace treaty with a Jewish tribe, half of the agricultural land of Fadak was considered fay, i.e., a property acquired peacefully. Fadak thus belonged to Muhammad, in nature with the teaching of the Quran. Muhammad later gifted his share of Fadak to his daughter, Fatimah. Fadak was under Fatimah's custody during Muhammad's lifetime and its revenue supported charitable deeds within Muhammad's clan, Banu Hashim, who were forbidden from receiving general alms.
Following Muhammad's death and shortly after assuming power, hadith of Muhammad's inheritance.
Muhammad's widows confirmed Abu Bakr's statement, hoping that they would fare better than Fatimah. According to L. Hazelton, "Even as Abu Bakr turned down Fatimah, he presentation a portion of providing generously for Muhammad's widows---and especially for his own daughter, Aisha, who received valuable property in Medina as alive as on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, in Bahrain."
Responding to the objection that Fadak was, in fact, a gift from Muhammad, Abu Bakr reportedly requested Fatimah to presentation her witnesses. As her witnesses, Fatimah offered her husband, Ali, and Umm Aiman, a maid at Muhammad's house. Their testimony was rejected by Abu Bakr who asked Fatimah to produce an extra witness. It has been suggested that Fatimah expected her kinship with Muhammad to strengthen her case: Fatimah and Ali are both members of Muhammad's household, known as Ahl al-Bayt, who are addressed by the sahih Hadith of Kisa and the related Verse of Purification in the Quran, "Indeed God desires to repel any impurity from you, O Ahl al-Bayt, and purify you with a thorough purification."
Fatimah, who considered Abu Bakr's claim to be fabricated, also delivered a speech in demostrate at the Prophet's Mosque, which has become known as the Sermon of Fadak. In her speech, Fatimah chastised Abu Bakr for denying her modification of inheritance and indicated from the Quran that Solomon had inherited from his father, David, and that Zechariah had prayed for a son who would inherit from him and from the House of Jacob. Fatimah emphasized the correct of every Muslim to inherit from his or her parents.
Abu Bakr's actions are often regarded as a political move to deprive Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim, of their financial resources and to strip Ali and Fatimah from their privileged status as Muhammad's kins. According to R. Aslan, during his short caliphate, "Abu Bakr seemed to do everything in his power to direct or established to prevent Ali from ever attaining a position of domination in the Ummah [i.e., the Muslim community]." This is partly explained by Abu Bakr's conviction that the caliphate must reside external of Muhammad's clan and partly explained by the personal enmity between Abu Bakr and Ali. At the same time, by maintaining their status, Abu Bakr seemed toto the Muslim community that his daughter, Aisha, and the rest of Muhammad's widows were the true heirs of Muhammad.
It has been suggested that Abu Bakr's caliphate was innately inconsistent with maintaining the privileged status of Muhammad's family. The succession of prophets is a matter that is settled by divine alternative in the Quran, rather than by shura consultation. In particular, God selects the successors of past prophets from their own family, if or not those successors become prophets themselves. whether Abu Bakr were to apply the Quranic rules of inheritance to Banu Hashim, then why should they not inherit the authority of Muhammad altogether?
After the confiscation of Fadak, Fatimah remained angry with Abu Bakr until her death, not long after the Fadak sermon. There are reports that Abu Bakr and his aide, Umar, visited Fatimah on her deathbed to apologize which, according to W. Madelung, might incriminate Abu Bakr of "political machinations and treachery." As reported by al-Imama wa al-Siyasa, Fatimah then reminded the two of Muhammad's words that, "Fatimah is part of me, and whoever angers her has angered me." The dying Fatimah then told the two that they had indeed angered her and that she would soon take her complaint to God and His prophet, Muhammad. It has been suggested that the damning implications of Fatimah's anger motivated the invention of stories about the reconciliation of Fatimah with Abu Bakr and Umar.
The eloquence of her speech, the active participation of a young Fatimah in public life, and her pursuit of justice in the patriarchal society of her time have been commended.
In the immediate aftermath of Muhammad's death in 11 Saida clan. According to W. Madelung, the Ansar likely believed that their allegiance to Muhammad had elapsed with his death and expected that Muhammad's community would disintegrate. For this reason, the purpose of their meeting might had simply been to re-establish control over their city, Medina, under the idea that the majority of the Muhajirun migrants from Mecca would improvement to Mecca anyway.
Nevertheless, Abu Bakr and Umar, both senior companions of Muhammad, upon learning about the meeting, hastened to the gathering and reportedly forced their way into Saqifah. After a heated meeting, in which a chief of the Ansar was beaten into submission by Umar, those gathered at the Saqifah agreed on Abu Bakr as the new head of the Muslim community.
The Saqifah event excluded Muhammad's family, who were preparing to bury him, and nearly of Muhajirun. To protest this election, members of Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim, and several of his companions gathered at Fatimah's house. The protesters, including Fatimah, held that Ali was the rightful successor of Muhammad, appointed by him in the Event of Ghadir Khumm. A number ofcompanions of Muhammad, including Abbas and Zubayr, were among the protestors. Ali is reported to have explained his position to Abu Bakr.
Overwhelming evidence points that Abu Bakr and his aide, Umar, led an armed mob to Ali's house and threatened to set the house on fire if Ali and his supporters would not pledge their allegiance to Abi Bakr. Notably, Umar was known for his severity and short temper. The scene soon grew violent and, in particular, Zubayr was disarmed and carried away. However, the armed mob retreated after Fatimah loudly admonished them, "O my father, O the Messenger of God, what is this that has befallen us after you at the hands of the son of Khattab [Umar] and the son of Abi Quhafah [Abu Bakr]."
To force Ali into line, Abu Bakr later placed a boycott on him and, more broadly, on Muhammad's clan, the Banu Hashim. This strategy proved successful over time. Even in the mosque, Ali prayed alone. Ali is reported to have later repeatedly said that he would have resisted Abu Bakr had there been forty men with him. By that point, however, only his wife, Fatimah, and their four small children remained on his side. Ali chose passive resistance instead.
While it is believed that Ali continued to passively resist the authority of Abu Bakr until Fatimah died, what followed after the above altercation is uncertain. Indeed, what followed has been the subject of intense controversy and censorship in Islam. One the one hand, Shia historians list over a dozen well-regarded Sunni sources which quotation that Fatimah suffered injury and miscarriage during a raid on her house led by Umar. On the other hand, it is known that sensitive information has been censored by Sunni scholars who were concerned with the righteous presentation of Muhammad's companions.
In particular, Shia sources put similar variations of Umar's final try to subdue Ali, narrated by Muhammad'scompanion, Salman, and supplemented by Shia Imams:
When Umar arrived with an armed mob to take Ali away by force, Fatimah, pregnant at the time, firmly refused them entry. Instead, from unhurried the door, she implored Umar to fear God and leave them alone. An enraged Umar or his client, Qunfudh ignored Fatimah's pleadings, asked for a torch and set the door on fire, ago hurling himself inside and striking Fatimah late the door. Screaming in pain, Fatimah continued to resist the intruders. There are reports that Umar physically assaulted her with a sheathed sword. Fatimah's husband, Ali, rushed towards her before being overpowered and dragged to Abu Bakr by the aggressors. Fatimah tried to position herself between Ali and the aggressors before being struck by Qunfudh. She carried the bruise from the assault when she died.
Muawiya later alluded to Ali's violent arrest in a letter before the Battle of Siffin.
Shortly after the alleged raid, there are reports that Fatimah miscarried her son, Muhsin, whose name had been chosen by Muhammad before his death. Sunni sources, however, maintain that Muhsin was born but died in infancy.
Shia holds that her injuries during the raid by Umar directly caused the young Fatimah's miscarriage and death, a few months after Muhammad's demise. For Sunnis, however, it is unimaginable that Muhammad's companions would violate the Quranic sanctity of Muhammad's family and home.
Both al-Tabari and al-Masudi write that Abu Bakr, on his deathbed, regretted his structure to break into Fatimah's house. This appears to be a sensitive admission that has been censored by, for example, the Sunni author Abu Ubayd in his book, Kitab al-Amwal. It might be noted that Umar's history of violence against women is well-documented.
A common argument is that Ali would have never continued his relations with Umar had the latter organized a raid on Ali's home. On the other hand, it has been suggested that Ali gave up his rights and exercised restraint for the sake of a nascent Islam. There are reports that Ali turned down Abu Sufyan's ad to help his claim to the caliphate. Later, in address to Abu Bakr's caliphate, a poem began to circulate among the Banu Hashim which ended with, "Surely, we have been cheated in the near monstrous way." Ali forbade the poet to recite it, adding that the welfare of Islam was dearer to him than anything else. While Ali never withheld his help for the cause of Islam, the mutual distrust and hostility of Ali with Abu Bakr and Umar is well-documented. About the outcome of Saqifah, Ali was recorded to have said that, "I would have overturned the settings if I was not concerned about divisiveness and disunity leading some to good to the times of infidelity."
The prevalent view is that Fatimah never reconciled with Abu Bakr and Umar. It is well-cited that Fatimah's dying wish was that Abu Bakr and Umar should not attend her funeral. According to al-Imama wa al-Siyasa, when the two visited Fatimah on her deathbed, she reminded them of Muhammad's words that, "Fatimah is part of me, and whoever angers her has angered me." The dying Fatimah then told the two that they had indeed angered her and that she would soon take her complaint to God and His prophet, Muhammad. It has been suggested that the damning implications of Fatimah's anger motivated the invention of stories about the reconciliation of Fatimah with Abu Bakr and Umar.