QUESTION:
Is there evidence that our pure Imams (peace be upon them) cursed Abu Bakr and Umar, by name?
Did the imams (peace be upon them) prevent their followers from cursing the enemies of Allah to preserve the so-called Islamic unity? Can ‘Sunnis’ and Shi’a ever be united?
ANSWER:
In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful.
May Allah bless Muhammad and his Family and damn their enemies.
Tens of narrations have been mentioned by His Eminence Sheikh al-Habib in his series entitled ‘Bayanu Aale Muhammad Fi A’ada’ihim’ (i.e. Statements of the Family of Muhammad regarding their Enemies) on this issue. Sheikh al-Habib mentioned several narrations where there was an explicit mention of the enemies by the progeny of our Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his pure family).
One of these narrations has been reported by both the Trustee of Islam, al-Kulayni, and the Sheikh of our sect, al-Tusi (May Allah be pleased with them), on the authority of al-Hussain, ibn Thuayr, and Abu Salamah al-Sarraj who said:
We have heard Abu Abdullah (peace be upon him) cursing four men and four women after each obligatory prayer: such-a-male, such-a-male, such-a-male and Muawiya – he used to mention them by name – such-a-female, such-a-female, Hind and Ummul Hakam, the sister of Muawiya”. Al-Tusi’s expression was: “al-Taymi (i.e. from Banu Taym, the clan of Abu Bakr) al-Adawy (i.e. from Banu Adi, the clan of Umar)
al-Kafi vol. 3 p. 342, Tahthibul-Ahkam vol. 2 p. 321
As mentioned above, Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) used to seek disassociation from certain individuals, mentioning them by name. The four men were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Muawiya, and the four women were A’isha, Hafsa, Hind and Ummul Hakam. The narrators used placeholder names (i.e. such-a-male/such-a-female) to refer to the individuals because mentioning their names was dangerous at that time. However, they emphasised that the Imam (peace be upon him) used to explicitly declare their names to avoid misleading people into believing the contrary. The implication here is that Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) used to say after every obligatory prayer:
O Allah, condemn and curse Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Mu’awiya, A’isha, Hafsa, Hind and Ummul Hakam.
Regarding Islamic unity, it can only be achieved by adhering to the Two Weighty and Precious Things, which the Prophet (peace be upon him and his pure family) had left behind, the Book of Allah and his pure Progeny and legitimate Successors (peace be upon them).
The Office of Sheikh al-Habib