# Why did Abu Bakr refuse to give Fadak to Fatima?

*Fatima's claim, Abu Bakr's reply, and the Sunni and Shia sources*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/51qevhjqnt4/s/3/
- Date: 2020-02-28 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Fadak between Fatima (r) & Abu Bakr (r) Detailed Overview | Mufti Abu Layth (10:15–16:39)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Qevhjqnt4&t=615s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/51qevhjqnt4/

**Topics:** Succession and the first civil wars; Sunni-Shia dialogue

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Abu Bakr cited the hadith that prophets leave no inheritance; Shia sources say Fadak had been gifted to Fatima, while Sunni sources say the Prophet did not give it to her.

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says it is agreed that Fatima asked Abu Bakr for her inheritance, including the Prophet's lands in Madinah, Khaybar and Fadak, and that he refused, citing the hadith that prophets leave no inheritance and what they leave is charity, and saying he would manage it as the Prophet had. He relates that Umar later gave the management of some of it to Ali and al-Abbas and kept Fadak and Khaybar under the state, and that Uthman later gave it to Marwan. He says the crux is whether fay' is personal property or a public endowment managed by the ruler, on which scholars differ. Shia sources, he says, claim the Prophet gifted Fadak to Fatima in his lifetime so that some call Abu Bakr a usurper, while Sunni sources such as Abu Dawud relate that the Prophet declined to give it to her, and he cites the hadith in which the Prophet gave her a du'a instead of a servant.

## Sources and names cited

- Fadak
- Fatima
- Abu Bakr
- report: la nurathu ma taraknahu sadaqah (we prophets do not leave inheritance; what we leave is charity; Sahih al-Bukhari, number not stated)
- Umar ibn al-Khattab
- Ali ibn Abi Talib
- al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
- Uthman ibn Affan
- Marwan ibn al-Hakam
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- Sunan Abi Dawud
- report: fatima asked the prophet for a servant and he taught her a dhikr instead (unresolved; Sahih al-Bukhari, number not stated)
- Shia

## Transcript (machine tier, 10:15–16:39)

[9:35] Wyatt he would use it for travelers that were coming he would kind of have that allotted and he would have a portion from it summary Wyatt say you'd split it in two or sometimes in three and use a portion for this and a portion for that he would set a certain amount aside as they reserved for crises like sometimes there was you know low food availability there were things like this they may have been armies going out so this is how they were organized now the issue at hand was there's two key issues after the prophet's lifetime could this be inherited by his offspring

[10:14] who in this case is for tomorrow Tilo on her now what we know as a fact is that for tomorrow the law on her approaches Abu Bakr to ask for inheritance but she doesn't receive it she asks for this now she asks for the cidade the Sadaqat as in the the land which is around Medina which was burning a deal and she asks for haber and she asks for father she asks for not just further quite she asks for there's a a large claim that is made or a claim for a large quantity is made

[10:53] and better to word it better now a worker of the long run response by saying the Prophet said Lenora 'the we as profits do not be quit we do not leave things in inheritance matter Akana siddhappa right so whatever we leave is is a charity the question on reincarnation I'll come to that in just a moment as soon as I just finish this topic of verdict all right so I will I will discuss that I'm just gonna let me

[11:30] just finish this right so the the issue here is that we know that happened okay that she's denied this now the question is was who was right here right holid sheriffy I'll come to your question as well just on momento momento right so I'm chakra and much love right so I really want to explain this in some detail so now we have these reports we have an in-body that for tomorrow the Allahu Allah

[12:08] comes she asks for this in fact I'm going to bring the hadith in front of you so you can see this hadith iya that Fatima is asking a worker she asks for the cidade of medina and she asks for also father and haber now and then this goes on to mention it gives a kind of story in a worker saying know that look I'm just going to leave it as how the Prophet had it and that the Prophet kind of oversaw think he kind of oversaw it but not as a as his property but as a guardian as a manager of it basically

[12:47] and he actually belongs to the Muslims and then it mentions that and then this went on to Omar and then Omar kind of allowed the guardianship of the managing of it to Ali and Abbas and then but that's of the Bernina deal and father can labor he kept control of under the state and then it mentions that in other narrations it does go on that this in the time of Osman is then given to Marwan now I want to highlight here there's some important points right and that is it's a really important question

[13:26] this land of fadak or fate fate what we're calling faith we're spelling it as FA why and then with an apostrophe for the hamza fate now they do you does one own fate or is he simply managing it because this is what allah says that you have obtained without having to struggle for it so it belongs lillahi wa li rasool volatile korba well your time I will misaki Nawab Mississippi now does it belong to the

[14:04] general public is this an endowment or is this personal property here there is a difference of opinion among scholars on what they should and ought to be now this really if one can understand that they understand the whole debate abu bakr radiallahu one denies Fatima this based on his understanding that this is really not personal property this belongs to the state belongs the general Muslims so her for tomorrow

[14:43] de la on her her perspective was that this belonged to the Prophet himself now we do the Shia sources seem to indicate they claim that fatima of the law on her during her lifetime was gifted this by the Prophet and she simply came to Abu Bakr to just kind of state her claim and a worker denied it so this is why some of the Shia then go on to say so this is he usurped he kind of snatched stole her land from her now some of them claim that they go to that extent then within

[15:22] the Sunni sources they like in Abu Dawood is a hadith that the Prophet in his lifetime Fatima asks her for Fatah and these lands and the Prophet said no he doesn't give it to her now one might say well that doesn't sound like you know is that the case the Prophet would have surely given it to her but actually in the sunni sources you do see this another very famous hadith in which in the SIA inside Hari I believe we the way thought they must cease that there's many more servants have been brought in by the state and she comes to the Prophet and complains about her struggling with household work and asked

[16:01] for a a slave a servant to kind of help her and the Prophet when he finds out that this is what she came for he comes to visit her and he tells her that shall I tell you something better than that and that is to recite this dua every day but he doesn't give her the slave now my point is that it's within the Sunni sources it appears that during the lifetime of the Prophet Fatima was not given this was not gifted this although the Shia sources claimed it was so that changes the kind of debate slightly from the two perspectives we all agree that

[16:38] during our workers after the prophecy lots and Fatima comes to a worker she asks for it she isn't given it she is upset with Abu Bakr that much is kind of true and I do think from an inheritance perspective for tomorrow deal on her was right I feel because looking at it and looking at these arguments from the Quran but this is the thing I kind of now feel both were right in their own way and I want to explain this that Fatima in the sense that in the Quranic mentions that the prophets do inherit like what what is the Suleiman Dawood and Solomon inherited

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 51Qevhjqnt4/s/3. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/51qevhjqnt4/s/3/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.