IN MEMORY OF IMAM ALI

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So Imam Ali (ca. 21 March 598 – 661) had nine wives, they were:

1. Fatima Zahra bint Muhammad (pbuh) (her marriage year 623 or 2nd Hijri and her death 632 C.E.)

2. Khawla bint J'afar bin Qays al-Hanafi

3. Umm Habib bint Rabia

4. Fatima bint Hizam bin Khalid bin Daarim

5. Layla bint Masood al-Daarimi

6. Umm Saeed bint Urwa bin Masood Thaqafee

7. Asma bint Umays al-Khathami

8. Umama bint Abi Al Aa's and Hadrat Zainab

9. Muhyat bint poet Imra-ul-Qais

and

slave girls Humia and Umm Shuaib from them 12 daughters were born

Imam Ali was died 29 (= 661 - 632) years after the death of his first wife, at the age of 63.

All his marriage were performed after his first wife demise. Their conjugal life was (632-623) = 9 years only.

Mr. syed-mohsin naquvi, Can you me the information about duration marriage life of each wife except first one?



THE FAMILY OF IMAM ALI

By: Syed-Mohsin Naquvi July 2004 – Updated September 2010

Two years after the Hijra, Fatima Zahra was married to Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib. One after the other, they had four children:
(i) Hasan
(ii) Husayn
(iii) Zaynab
the elder, and
(iv) Zaynab the younger, also known as Umm Kulthoom.

(v) Al Muhsin or Mushabbar


The Prophet of Islam (S.)passed away in the 11th year of Hijra. Fatima Zahra passed away six months later.

Afterward, Imam Ali married a lady named Khawla d/o J'afar bin Qays al-Hanafi. A son known to us as

Muhammad al-Hanafiyya

was born. (the term Hanafiyya points to his mother's original tribe).

He then married Lady Umm Habib d/o Rabia. Two children were born, a named

(i) Umar and

(ii) Ruqaiyya.

Many years later, Imam Ali talked to his elder brother, Aqeel, and said: Brother! I want to marry in a family who are known for their Shujaat (chivalry, soldiery and magnanimity)[1]. Aqeel was an expert in the Ilm al-ansaab (the science of genealogy). He knew not only who was related to whom in Arabia , but also about the attributes of each and every tribe. He selected a woman named Fatima d/o Hizam bin Khalid bin Daarim. Four sons and a daughter were born from this union:

(i) Al-Abbas

(ii) Jafar

(iii) Uthman

(iv) Abd Allah

(v) ??? (daughter)

These four sons grew up to be handsome, chivalrous young men. Their mother came to be known in Arabia as Ummul Baneen (or, the mother of sons, actually meaning - the mother of such glorious sons). All four fought bravely alongside Imam Husayn at Karbala and laid their lives with honour, dignity and after great soldiery. The daughter of Imam Ali from Ummul-Baneen was married to Muslim bin Aqeel.

Imam Ali also married a woman named Layla d/o Masood al-Daarimi. From this union two sons were born. They were:

(i) Muhammad the younger, also known as Abu Bakr, and,

(ii) Ubayd Allah.

Both these brothers were martyred at Karbala alongside Imam Husayn.

He also married Umm Saeed d/o Urwa bin Masood Thaqafee, who bore him two daughters named

(i) Umm al-Hasan and

(ii) Ramla.

We find reports about eleven other daughters of Imam Ali from slave girls. These daughters' names are listed below:

(i) Nafeesa

(ii) Zaynab the youngest

(iii) Ruqaiyya the younger

(iv) Umm Hani

(v) Umm al-Kiram

(vi) Jumaana (Umm Ja'far)

(vii) Umaana

(viii) Salma

(ix) Maymoona

(x) Khadeeja

(xi) Fatima .

Some other biographers have listed another daughter and another son. That means, Imam Ali had eleven sons and seventeen daughters in all.

Imam Ali also married Asma d/o Umays al-Khathami, who bore him a son named

Yahya.

NOTE: Asma was first married to Imam Ali’s elder brother Jafar bin Abi Talib. Jafar was martyred at the battle of Muta in 9th year of Hijra. Abu Bakr had married his widow, Asma d/o Umays. She and Jafar had had two sons:

Abdullah and

Muhammad.

Imam Ali's two daughters from Fatima Zahra were married to these two brothers. Abdullah bin Jafar lived a long life, his wife Zaynab is the famous sister of Imam Husayn who participated at Karbala. Umm Kulthoom, the younger sister of Zaynab, was married to Muhammad, who died young and Umm Kulthoom never married again.

Asma d/o Umays bore a son and a daughter to Abu Bakr named

Muhammad and

Umm Kulthoom.

After the death of Abu Bakr in 14 Hijra, Imam Ali married Asma d/o Umays and also adopted the orphans. Muhammad bin Abi Bakr was raised by Imam Ali as his own son and he loved him dearly. Muhammad bin Abi Bakr was brutally killed by the hired terrorists in Egypt.

Some historians have erroneously or deliberately tried to confuse the issue of Imam Ali’s daughters, and have said that Umm Kulthoom was married to Umar bin Khattab. But which Umm Kulthoom was this? Some have pointed to the Umm Kulthoom daughter of Asma and Abu Bakr. Some others have tried to say that it was Umm Kulthoom daughter of Fatima Zahra and Imam Ali. That, obviously, is wrong for three reasons, as follows (from Shia sources):

(1) We cannot find any record of the marriage of Umm-e-Kulthoom to Umar bin Khattab in any authentic source material. Most reports in this respect are written only by later authors with tendentious intent.

(2) In the second year of Hijra many companions of the Prophet approached him asking the hand of his daughter, Fatima Zahra, in marriage. Among them was Umar bin Khattab. According to Muhaddith Nis’ai, the Prophet refused by saying that Fatima was still very young. However, when Imam Ali approached him for that same thing, the Prophet consented and they were married. The point is, if Fatima Zahra at age nine was too young for Umar bin Khattab in the second year of Hijra when Umar was in his forties, how could Fatima Zahra’s daughter, who then was only seven years old, could be a match for Umar, who was now in his fifties?

Most of the details of the children of Imam Ali described above have been taken from Shaikh Mufeed’s KITAB AL-IRSHAD, the most authentic biographies of the twelve Imams. Nowhere does Sh. Mufeed mention the marriage of Umm-e-Kulthoom, a daughter of Imam Ali, to Umar bin Khattab.

(2) The details of Umar’s family found in authentic reports are as follows:

(a) He had two sons, Abdullah and Abdur-Rhman, their mother was Zaynab bint Mazoon,

(b) Aasim, whose mother was Jameela bint Aasim bin Thabit,

(c) Ubaydullah, whose mother was Maleeka al-Khuzaiyya, (these three reports are preserved in Tareekh-e-Kamil of Ibn Atheer Jazari, who died in 630 Hijra, he also wrote Usud-al-Ghaaba)

(d) Ayaz, whose mother was Atika, preserved in Tareekh-Khamees by Husayn Diyar Bakari who died in 966 Hijra.

(e) Zayd, whose mother was Umm Kulthoom bint Jardal, preserved by Ibn Abdul Bar in his book named ISTEE-AAB, who died in 463 Hijra and also by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalaani in his ISAABAA.

This last one is the only Umm Kulthoom found among the wives of Umar bin Khattab. Some historians who were much too enthusiastic in showing that Umar bin Khattab and Imam Ali were friendly with each other, have tried to fudge the history by trying to assert that this was Umm Kulthoom d/o Imam Ali and Fatima Zahra. We therefore, conclude that the story of Umar marrying a daughter of Imam Ali named Umm Kulthoom is totally false and has no basis in history.

As we said, this report about Umm Kulthoom d/o Ali and Fatima Zahra being married to Umar bin Khattab does not appear in any of the source books of history until the later centuries of Hijra. Obviously it was a later fabrication. Muslims in the Indian subcontinent revived that fallacy in a big way. And now we have this false report being spread in European and American Muslim circles.

Even if we accept this argument for the sake of argument that Umm Kulthoom d/o Ali and Fatima was married to Umar, then the question arises: Umm Kulthoom travelled to Karbala with her brother in the 60th year of Hijra. She was taken prisoner by Yazeed's forces after the massacre at Karbala in Muharram 61 Hijra. She was kept in a Damascus prison for some time with other members of Imam Husayn's family. What was Abdullah bin Umar doing in Madinah towards trying to get his step-mother free from that prison? How could he bear to see his late father's widow in Yazeed's prison with ignominy and zulm?

After the release from that imprisonment she returned to Madinah and she recited a Marthiyya which is preserved in books of history. Did Abdullah bin Umar come to greet and console her then after her tragic experience?

In fact, we have no report of Abdullah son of Umar meeting or even trying to meet Umm Kulthoom daughter of Ali and Fatima.

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