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Did Ali Want to Marry Abu Jahl's Daughter?

  • Writer: Anonymous
    Anonymous
  • Apr 26, 2024
  • 14 min read

Updated: Apr 4

A common objection raised to undermine the anger felt by Fatima (as) towards Abu Bakr is by saying that she was angry at Ali for wanting to marry Abu Jahl’s daughter. This is an argument nawasib have used for years and these narrations have been used by them to degrade Ali (as) and undermine Fatima’s anger, as well as by kuffar against the Holy Prophet (saw) to show how he contradicts his own message. For example, Ibn Taymiyyah’s argument for this can be found in Minhaj al-Sunnah, Vol. 4, pg. 255:

لكن المقصود أنه لو قُدّر أن أبا بكر ،آذاها، فلم يؤذها لغرض نفسه، بل ليطيع الله ورسوله، ويوصل الحق إلى مستحقه . وعلى رضى الله عنه كان قصده أن يتزوج عليها ، فله فى أذاها ،غرض، بخلاف أبي بكر. فعلم أن أبا بكر كان أبعد أن يُذم بأذاها من على ، وأنه إنما قصد طاعة الله ورسوله بما لاحظ له فيه ، بخلاف على ؛ فإنه كان له حظ فيما رابها به . وأبو بكر كان من جنس من هاجر إلى الله ورسوله ، وهذا لا يشبه من كان مقصوده امرأة يتزوجها

If it happened (Fatima (sa) died angry with Abu Bakr) that Abu Bakr angered her (i.e. Fatima), he did not anger her because of himself, he rather did it to obey Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw), and to give the right to its owners, but Ali's (as) intention was to marry another woman over her, and by that he intentionally wanted to anger her, as contrary to Abu Bakr. Therefore it is obvious that Abu Bakr was far away from making her upset compared to Ali (as) and that he indeed intended to obey Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw) as it is obvious in that story, as opposite to Ali (as), because for him there was an enjoyment in what made her upset. And Also Abu Bakr was of those who migrated towards Allah (swt) and His Messenger and this is different from a person whose intention was to marry a woman.

A truly disturbing argument made by the so-called ‘Shaykh-ul Islam’ where he is clearly insulting Ali (as) by saying he intentionally aimed to anger Fatima (as). As Shias we consider this event to be a fabrication and munkar through all lenses. This is for several factors such as making Fatima appear jealous, making the Prophet appear hypocritical as he says he wouldn't make lawful things unlawful, which in the same report forbids Ali from allowing him to marry another wife. If the shari’a allows him to do this then regardless of what he cannot make rulings that Allah has not ordered him to do so this is insulting to the Holy Prophet’s character. Most notably however, this report is only narrated by someone who bore enmity toward Ali (as) while other narrations reported by the Ahlul-Bayt (as) themselves make no mention of such a thing.

Table of Contents:

The narrations of Ahlulbayt (as)

The main narrator of this hadith as mentioned above was Miswar, but in the narrations narrated by the Ahlulbayt (as) no such context exists as he narrated. We will quote a few narrations to prove this:

So we see from the narrations of the Ahlulbayt (as), there is no mention of this story of Ali (as) wanting to marry Abu Jahl’s daughter, so where does this come from? 

The narrations of the nawasib

The asl (source) of this story comes from the opposing side of Ahlulbayt (as). There are three people who narrate this Suwayd Ibn Ghafla, Miswar Ibn Makhrama and Abdullah Ibn Zubayr. We will cover each narrator.

Suwayd Ibn Ghafla

His narration can be read from al-Hakim’s Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn, Vol. 2, pg. 173. As al-Dhahabi points out however, the chain is مرسل قوي meaning ‘strong (but) disconnected ’. The disconnection in this chain comes from Suwayd himself, because he never met the Holy Prophet (saw). This can be attested by all books of rijal such as in Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani’s al-Isti’ab, pg. 318 where he says he never met the Prophet (saw). It’s likely he got this report from Miswar and we will see why it’s likely.  

Moreover, Suwayd was a nasibi and an example of this can be found in Tarikh Dimashq, Vol. 72, pg. 371:

مر رجل من صحابة الحجاج على مؤذن جعفي، والحجاج في قصره، وهو يؤذن، فأتى الحجاج فقال : ألا تعجب من أني سمعت مؤذن جعفي يؤذن بالهجير ؟ قال : فأرسل فجاء به فقال: ما هذا الأذان؟ فقال : ليس لي أمر إنما سويد الذي يأمر بهذا، فأرسل إلى سويد فجيء به، فقال له الحجاج : ما هذه الصلاة؟ قال : صليتها مع أبي بكر، وعمر، ومع عثمان، فلما ذكر عثمان جلس وكان مضطجعاً فقال : أصليتها عثمان؟ قال : نعم ، قال : لا تَؤْمَنَّ قومك، وإذا رجعت إليهم فسبّ عليا ، قال : نعم ، سمعاً وطاعة، فلما أدبر قال مع الحجاج لقد عهد للشيخ الناس وهم يصلون الصلاة هكذا

A man from the companions of Al-Hajjaj passed by a Ja'fari muezzin while Al-Hajjaj was in his palace and the muezzin was calling for prayer. Al-Hajjaj came and said, "Are you not amazed that I heard a Ja'fari muezzin calling the adhan?" The man replied, "I have no authority in this matter; it is Suwayd who orders this." Al-Hajjaj then sent for Sawayd and asked him about the prayer. Suwayd replied, "I prayed it with Abu Bakr, Umar, and with Uthman." When Uthman was mentioned, Al-Hajjaj sat up and said, "You prayed it with Uthman?" Suwayd confirmed, and Al-Hajjaj said, "Your people will not believe you. When you return to them, curse Ali." Suwayd agreed, saying, "Yes, hearing and obeying." As he left, he remarked to Al-Hajjaj, "The people have made a pact with the Shaykh (Uthman) that they will perform the prayer in this manner."

Miswar Ibn Makhrama

Most of these references come from Miswar, and even though we haven’t bothered collecting all the chains for it, should anyone wish to research it themselves they’ll find the overwhelming amount of narrations of this incident to come by way of Miswak Ibn Makhrama, before we address his hadiths we will mention the easier ones first

As for the reports of al-Miswar Ibn Makhrama, he narrates a few variants of this report. In the chain of al-Zuhri, there’s the full detail given and this is from Sahih al-Bukhari 3110:

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 Messenger (ﷺ) 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 Jahal to be his wife besides Fatima, I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) on his pulpit delivering a sermon in this connection before the people, and I had then attained my age of puberty. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Fatima is from me, and I am afraid she will be subjected to trials in her religion (because of jealousy)." The Prophet (ﷺ) then mentioned one of his son-in-law 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 Messenger (ﷺ) 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).

In other reports, there is a slightly different context such as the one narrated by Ibn Abi Mulaika in Sahih al-Bukhari 5230:

It was narrated that Mishwar bin Makhramah said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah when he was on the pulpit, say: 'Banu Hisham bin Mughirah asked me for permission to marry their daughter to 'Ali bin Abu Talib, but I will not give them permission, and I will not give them permission, and I will not give them permission, unless 'Ali bin Abu Talib wants to divorce my daughter and marry their daughter, for she is a part of me, and what bothers her bothers me, and what upsets her upsets me."

Now his reports are rejected for several reasons, and these include the reliability of the report and the text itself. As for the text itself, we find a few issues such as it contradicting the Qur’an, in the report of Ibn Abi Mulaika the Prophet (saw) is reported to have said: but I will not give them permission. This directly contradicts Surat an-Nisa 4:3:

وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تُقْسِطُوا فِي الْيَتَامَىٰ فَانكِحُوا مَا طَابَ لَكُم مِّنَ النِّسَاءِ مَثْنَىٰ وَثُلَاثَ وَرُبَاعَ ۖ 

And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four. 

The Qur’an affirms that a man can have multiple wives, the Prophet (saw) making something lawful unlawful is him contradicting his own message, which is something unacceptable in the school of Ahlulbayt (as), and we would hope that our counterparts would also see the Qur’an as a measurement for truth. 

Secondly, this narration has contradictions as Miswar narrates in the hadith of al-Zuhri to be muhtalim (i.e. he passed puberty):

I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) on his pulpit delivering a sermon in this connection before the people, and I had then attained my age of puberty.

Miswar however could not have done so because he was born in 2 AH meaning he would’ve been 6 years old when reporting this narration, and none of the scholars of Ahlus Sunnah disagree on that point. Just refer to al-Tahdhib al-Kamal, vol. 27, pg. 582 by al-Mizzi and al-Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, Vol. 4, pg. 79 - 80 by Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani where he says:

ووقع في صحيح مسلم من حديثه ( المسور ) في خطبة علي لابنة أبي جهل ، قال المسور سمعت النبي صلى الله عليه وآلــــه وسلم وأنا محتلم يخطب الناس فذكر الحديث ، وهو مشكل المأخذ ، لأن المؤرخين لم يختلفوا أن مولده كان بعــــــد الهجــرة وقصة خطبة علي كانت بعد مولد المسور بنحو من ست سنين أو سبع فكيف يسمى محتلماً

And it is mentioned in Sahih Muslim from his narration (al-Miswar) in Ali's sermon to the daughter of Abu Jahl. Al-Miswar said, 'I heard the Prophet while I muhtalim giving sermons to the people,' and he mentioned the hadith. There is a problem in accepting the hadith because the historians never disagreed about his (Miswar's) birth which was after the migration while the story of Ali's (as) proposal is about six or seven years after Miswar's birth, so how could he be a muhtalim?

Ibn Hajar al-’Asqalani then goes on to give the most absurd solution to this problem possible, and argue Miswar meant he was muhtalim metaphorically. Subhanallah… These people will mock and laugh at us when we tell them Imam al-Jawad (as) became an Imam at a very young age of 8, but will sit here and tell us you can be metaphorically muhtalim. And how strange it is that in no other place do we find any example of the word muhtalim being used in a ‘metaphorical’ context except for here, as if he alone had known the usage of this word can be in such a context. This is absurd, no doubt. 

Thirdly, Miswar cannot be relied on when narrating the supposed vices of Imam Ali (as), because he was a nasibi. In Siyar ‘Alam an-Nubala. Vol. 3, pg. 150 - 151 it reads that he used to send salutations upon Mu’awiyah. Khawarij also revered him for a side point in Kitab Nasb Quraysh, pg. 263, and as we know khawarij are nawasib. 

Abdullah Ibn Zubayr 

As for Ibn Zubayr, his report can be found in Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3869:

Narrated 'Abdullah bin Az-Zubair: that 'Ali mentioned the daughter of Abu Jahl (for marriage), and that reached the Prophet (ﷺ) so he said: "Indeed Fatimah is but a part of me, I am harmed by what harms her and I am uncomfortable by what makes her uncomfortable."

Ibn Zubayr’s report however holds the same problem as Miswar’s report, because they were the same age as Tarikh Ibn Asakir, Vol. 58, pg. 164 records that Miswar was only 4 months younger than Ibn Zubayr. 

Ibn Zubayr was famously a nasibi just like Miswar, and just to demonstrate some of his nasb let us refer to Al-Baladhuri’s Ansab Al-Ashraf. Vol. 7, pg. 133:

وَحَدَّثَنِي هِشَامُ بْنُ عَمَّارٍ قَالَ: حَدَّثْتُ عَنْ الزُّبَيْرِيِّ عَنْ الزُّهْرِيِّ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: ‌كَانَ ‌مِنْ ‌أَعْظَمِ ‌مَا ‌أَنْكَرَ عَلَى عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ الزُّبَيْرِ تَرْكُهُ ذِكْرَ رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في خُطْبَتِهِ، وَقَوْلُهُ حِينَ كُلِّمَ فِي ذَلِكَ: إِنَّ لَهُ أُهَيْلَ سُوءٍ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اسْتَطَالُوا وَمَدُّوا أعناقهم لذكره

And narrated to me Hisham ibn Ammar saying: Narrated Al-Zubayri from Al-Zuhri that he said: One of the biggest issues that Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr is criticized for is that he left mentioning the Messenger of Allah (saw) in his sermons, and that when he was criticised for it, he said: He has a bad family that when he is mentioned, they become proud of themselves and raise their necks because of his name. 

Ibn Zubayr refused to mention the name of Rasulullah (saw) during the khutba because he didn’t want his family to be pleased. Him and Miswar were the same age and were very close, so it is entirely possible he heard it from Miswar and so narrating it in mursal form. 

Motive behind fabrication

The report of al-Sajjad (as) has him asking for the sword but he refuses to give it to him;

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 Messenger (ﷺ) 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." 

Then, Miswar narrates this report in front of him after being denied the sword. This is truly insulting, to narrate a vice of Ali (as) in front of his family to clearly mock him, shows that this holds no reliability including for the reasons we’ve already cited. This gives a motive for him fabricating this report. When he doesn’t get the sword of the Imam (as), he narrates this report to degrade him and insult him, which is horrible considering he just came back after Yazid’s court and after Karbala. And where he was at Karbala if he so badly wanted to protect the Prophet’s items, what about his family? What makes him have the right for this? How could Miswar have such vicious behavior? 

Even Ibn Hajar points out these problems in his Fath al-Bari. Vol. 9, pg. 238:

فقد تقدم في فرض الخمس وفي المناقب من طريق الزهري عن على بن الحسين بن على عن المسور وزاد فيه في الخمس قصة سيف النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم ، وذلك سبب تحديث المسور لعلى بن الحسين بهذا الحديث ، وقد ذكرت ما يتعلق بقصة السيف عنه هناك ولا أزال أتعجب من المسور كيف بالغ في تعصبه لعلى بن الحسين حتى قال : إنه لو أودع عنده السيف لا يمكن أحدا منه حتى تزهق روحه ، رعاية لكونه ابن ابن فاطمة محتجا بحديث الباب ، ولم يراع خاطره في أن ظاهر سياق الحديث المذكور غضاضة على على بن الحسين لما فيه من إيهام غض من جده على بن أبي طالب حيث أقدم على خطبة بنت أبي جهل على فاطمة حتى اقتضى أن يقع من النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم في ذلك من الإنكار ما وقع ، بل أتعجب من المسور تعجبا آخر أبلغ من ذلك وهو أن يبذل نفسه دون السيف رعاية الخاطر ولد ابن فاطمة ، وما بذل نفسه دون ابن فاطمة نفسه أعنى الحسين والد على الذى وقعت له معه القصة حتى قتل بأيدى طلمة الولاة، لكن يحتمل أن يكون عذره أن الحسين لما خرج الى العراق ما كان المسور وغيره من أهل الحجاز يظنون أن أمره يئول إلى ما آل إليه والله أعلم . وقد تقدم في فرض الخمس وجه المناسبة بين قصة السيف وقصة الخطبة بما يغني عن إعادته .

This hadith passed in the book of Fardh Al-Khums and in Manaqib through Al-Zuhri from Ali ibn Al-Hussain ibn Ali (.s) from Al-Miswar, and he adds the story of the sword of the Prophet (saw) in it and that is the reason why Al-Miswar narrates him this hadith. And I mentioned whatever belongs to the story of the sword there. And my amazement does not stop from Al-Miswar how he exaggerates in his fanaticism towards Ali ibn Al-Hussain (as), he even says: "By Allah (swt)! If you give it to me, they will never be able to take it till I die" considering he was the son of Fatima (sa), and he uses that hadith mentioned in that chapter (i.e. Ali wanting to marry the daughter of Abi Jahl) and he does not consider to not bother him, because the obvious form of the hadith shows that he mocks Ali ibn Al-Hussain (as) by degrading his grandfather Ali ibn Abi Talib (as), when he proposed to the daughter of Abi Jahl over Fatima (sa), until it ended up that the Prophet (saw) disliked it. And what amazes me more than the first one about Al-Miswar is that he claims to be ready to die to protect the sword because of the children of Fatima (sa), but he does not put forward his life for Al-Hussain (as) himself, father of Ali (as) with whom this story happened until he (i.e. Al-Miswar) was killed by the hands of tyrant rulers. But his excuse could be that when Al-Hussain (as) left towards Iraq, Al-Miswar and other people of Hijaz thought that his affairs would end up in what he likes. Allah (swt) knows best.

If someone asked why did the Imam (as) narrate from him then? We reply: It was to expose his nasb and narrations to others. This is common and nothing unheard of, as he used to narrate from Marwan (لعنة الله عليه) in order to expose him. 

Report in Shi’a books 

As for reports of this in the Shi’a books, they are all weak both sanad and matn wise. The main source mentioned for this is in Saduq’s Illal al-Sharia, with the full chain being: Ali Ibn Ahmad - Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Yahya - Amr Ibn Abil Miqdam and Ziyad Ibn Abdullah from Imam al-Sadiq (as).

Several defects are evident in the chain such as Ali Ibn Ahmad Ibn Matil being maj’hool (Al-Mufid Min Mu'jam al-Rijal, pg. 384) and Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Yahya is also maj’hool (Mu’jam Rijal al-Hadith, Vol. 3, pg. 120 - 122). The chain is also disconnected from Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Yahya being from al-Saduq’s time (C. 4th AH) narrating from Amr Ibn Abil Miqdam who is at Imam al-Sadiq’s time (C. 1st AH) {300 year disconnection}.

Imam al-Sadiq (as) also affirms this to be fabricated in al-Saduq’s al-Amālī Book 1, Ch. #22, H. # 3 and ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā, Vol. 2, Book 1, Ch. 4, H. 1:

Imam Jafar al-Sadiq said: ‘Didn’t they claim that the Master of the believers was seeking (worldly) life and government and he preferred fitna over peace, and he shed the blood of the Muslims without basis, and if he (Ali) was carrying benefit they would not ask Khalid bin al-Walid to assassinate him? Didn’t they claim that he (Ali) wanted to marry Abu Jahl’s daughter over Fatima and then Allah’s messenger complained of him to the Muslims on the pulpit and said: ‘Ali wants to marry the daughter of Allah’s enemy over the daughter of Allah’s Prophet, surely Fatima is part of me, whoever hurts her hurts me, whoever made her happy made me happy, whoever disturbs her disturbs me.’ (Imam Jafar continues) Oh Alqamah how strange are the claims of the people about Ali!’

This report is no doubt a fabrication, aimed at attacking Imam Amir al-Mu’mineen (as) and al-Sayyida al-Zahraa (sa). The reports from the Sunni side are clearly bias against Ali and impossible to be true in hadith science, with clear motives to fabricate and clear signs of fabrications (i.e. contradicting the Qur’an and only children narrating it). 

The more reliable sources say this hadith of “Whoever angers Fatima, angers me” from the Ahlulbayt (as) shows that no such context was actually narrated. So, this means that Ali (as) either did tadlis by censoring the report as he saw it as problematic (authobillah) or the other side were lying about him as is supported with a motive. We will let our audience decide for themselves, but as for the Shi’a we say no doubt this is a fabrication. 

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