QUESTION:
Has it been reported in any narration that Abu Bakr, Omar and Uthman used to insult, curse or swear at Imam Ali (may peace be upon him)?
Mustafa
ANSWER:
In the Name of Allah, the All-Beneficent, the All-Merciful.
May Allah bless Muhammad and his Family and damn their enemies.
We have not come across any clear statements by the three tyrants (may Allah curse them) that include insults or swear words against Ali, the Commander of the Faithful (may peace be upon him), mentioned in ‘Sunni’ sources. However, we stand at the saying of Abu Bakr (may Allah curse him) in which he likens the Pure Lady Fatima al-Zahra (may peace be upon her) to Umm Tuhal – and may such things remain far away from her. Umm Tuhal is a woman in the Arab pagan-era that was known for committing adultery.
Al-Jawhary said:
When Abu Bakr heard her speech, her words tore him apart. So he went up the pulpit and said: ‘O people! What is this following of every saying?! Where were these hearsays during the era of Allah’s Messenger?! Alas, let he who heard; say, and he who witnessed; speak! It is nothing but knowledge of foxes, and nothing is its witness but its tail! It causes temptation! It is what says ‘Turn it back into a camel’ after it has become old! These people seek help from the weak and are assisted by women! Similar to Umm Tuhal; the most beloved to her was obscenity! Indeed, if I wish to say something then I would have said it, and if I had said it then I would have become husky! I will remain silent.’
Al-Saqifa wa Fadak, by Abi-Bakr al-Jawhari, page 104
This was also mentioned by Ibn Abil-Hadeed with more details:
I say: I have read this before the chief scholar, Abi-Yahya Ja’far, son of Yahya, son of Abi-Zaid al-Basri, and I said to him: ‘Who is he attempting to expose?’ He said: ‘Indeed, he is making a clear announcement.’ I said: ‘If he had stated it clearly, then I would not have asked you!” Then he laughed and said: ‘Ali, son of Abi-Talib.’ I said: ‘Is he saying all this to Ali!?’ He said: ‘Yes. He was the king, my son.’ I said: ‘Then what did the Ansar say?’ He said: ‘They cried out the name of Ali. However, he feared that the matter would be confused for them, so he forbade them (from doing so).’ Thereupon I asked him about the things I did not understand of it. He said: ‘As for the soft use of the word ‘following’: it means listening and listening to (and acting accordingly). As for ‘saying’: it means everything that is said. As for ‘knowledge of foxes’: it is the name of the knowledge of foxes that is not a morpheme. As for ‘nothing is its witness but its own tail’: it means that it has no witness to testify what he claims to have/be except for a part of himself. The root of this term derives from a proverb. People say: ‘The fox wanted to lure the lion with the wolf, so he said: He (the wolf) ate the sheep that I was preparing for you, and I was present (while he did so). He (the lion) said: Who is your witness? Then he (the fox) raised his tail and it was blood on it. The lion was desperately searching for the sheep, so he accepted his (the fox’s) testimony and killed the wolf.’ As for the meaning of ‘it causes’: it means that it leads to something. As for ‘Turn it back into a camel’: it means ‘Return it to how it was in the beginning’, meaning back to temptation and confusion. As for ‘Umm Tuhal’: she was an adulterous woman during the Jahiliya, and there is a proverb with regards to her, which says ‘more adulterous than Umm Tuhal’.
Sharh’ Nahj-ul-Balagha, by Ibn Abil-Hadeed, volume 16, page 214
The Office of Sheikh al-Habib
