# Why didn't Ali take back Fadak when he became caliph?

*What became of Fadak, and why did Ali not take it back?*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/51qevhjqnt4/s/5/
- Date: 2020-02-28 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Fadak between Fatima (r) & Abu Bakr (r) Detailed Overview | Mufti Abu Layth (19:52–25:05)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Qevhjqnt4&t=1192s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/51qevhjqnt4/

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

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth finds it a huge open question that Ali never reclaimed Fadak as caliph, and says the Shia answers he heard did not make sense to him.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says it is a huge question mark that Ali never took Fadak back during his caliphate.

**Evidence, his words at 23:46:** “I feel that this is a huge kind of it's a huge question mark that why did I leave this is such a big deal” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Qevhjqnt4&t=1426s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth relates from Sahih al-Bukhari that Umar gave its guardianship to Ali and al-Abbas, who quarrelled over it, and that Umar told them it was theirs to manage, not to own; Ali then kept control. He says that Uthman gave it to Marwan, most likely to manage, that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz restored it to the Prophet's family, and that under the Abbasids it was taken and returned repeatedly, including by al-Ma'mun. He says he raised at the symposium that Ali never took Fadak back when he became caliph, though he had demanded it from Umar and needed resources for his wars. He found the answers he was given weak: that one does not demand what is not given, that Ali kept silent for unity though he fought other Companions, and that Fadak was a metaphor for the caliphate.

## Sources and names cited

- Fadak
- Ali ibn Abi Talib
- al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib
- Umar ibn al-Khattab
- Uthman ibn Affan
- Marwan ibn al-Hakam
- Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
- Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
- the Abbasids
- al-Ma'mun
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- Shia

## Transcript (machine tier, 19:52–25:05)

[19:13] really his personal property so if today an imam went out on war and he got a certain landing truce and that becomes fee then that really is not his personal property to say okay you know why I'm gonna give this to my nephew that's not how I mean that would upset a lot of Muslims because they'll be like no this is Muslim general kind of welfare property it's an endowment so I see that angle of a worker is more correct although the line of arguing of myrath seems to not then make a bit of sense that because they're discussing inheritance whereas they should have

[19:51] been really discussing fate so that's the thing one thing that definitely gets quite I think after fought after Abu Bakr Omar Odilo Han in sahih al-bukhari mentions that he gives the guardianship of it to Ali on a bus and then they start arguing over it and what happens in fact Mahadi seems to use his words that they insult each other and actually swear at each other and it mentions the sways as well this is Ali and Abbas to each other and and then it mentions Omar saying to them that look I didn't give this to you as your personal you know property I gave you to just manage it but as by the way those who manage it do

[20:30] you get to benefit from it they can keep the benefits but they don't own the actual thing so here it mentions in re Wyatt that Ali overcomes a bus and manages to keep it now this is what some other rewired mentioned now then in the time of Earthmen and I'm not quite sure I think here there is a question mark it becomes hazy because earth man seems to give it to his cousin Marwan I'm not quite sure what was going on there maybe earth man at that time felt that you know people don't really need it or

[21:10] whatever or maybe I'm gonna you know I have since as I'm the Imam I can do so he gives it to Marwan does he give it to him as ownership or does he give it to him as managing I would think he gives it to him as managing why because otherwise it would have been the inheritance of marwan's kids but you see marwon son after him Abdul Malik who becomes the king the Caliph and then his son you get Walid and suleiman they ought to have inherited it but in the time of Omar ibn Abdul Aziz after them and he's not from Abdul Malik he's from Abdul Malik's brother Abdul Aziz he says I'm giving this back I'm returning it to how it was in the time

[21:50] of overcurrent Omar and he says that this was wrong you know I I disagree should be like how it was so he he gives it restores the guardianship back to the family of the Prophet and then what happens is in the Abbasids time because they felt that I li na snatched it from a bus as the hadith says they snatch it back someone su snatches it back then Mamun gives it back then what overkill snatches it back and it just becomes a kind of a toy really but there was something really interesting that needed to be highlighted here and I mentioned

[22:28] this by the way in the symposium I went to that I said that look if this was such a key issue one thing that you there's a huge kind of a pothole in this argument and that is during the reign of Ali after us man when he becomes Calif he never takes it back and then some of the the Shia Imam said to me that look here but that's because I Lee you know it's he didn't want to because like they gave me a few answers one was because no land is given to you you don't demand e I said look come on that sounds that isn't really mm you know that's a weak

[23:07] response because truly speaking he comes to Omar asking for it demanding it so we know he was passionate about he even overcomes a bus on it so we know he was passionate about it so the other argument they gave was that I lira deal on at that time for the sake of unity but that was a weak argument as well because during a euro Delano's time he actually goes to war gained several company of the profit including the wife of the Prophet and other people so I don't think unity was it doesn't make any sense and since Frederick was so fertile it would have been an excellent resource for his army the kind of supplies and

[23:46] things like this because he a little DeLong spends most of his Calif 'el rule you know the four or five years he has in civil war so he would need resources and the fact that it's so close to Medina and the Umayyads who was fighting against later on or the Huaraz were up north in damascus or iraq he could have easily taken for that but yeah he never even mentioned further he doesn't really you know and so I feel that this is a huge kind of it's a huge question mark that why did I leave this is such a big deal why did I lira deal on not take it

[24:25] in his in his lifetime as a Calif and and and I feel that none of the Shia responses seem to make sense of one of the Shia kind of students of knowledge did say to me that this was a metaphor photic it was never about for that he was a metaphor about the Kaylee the the caliphate so when for tomorrow Dylan came to a worker she really came saying that he ought to be the Imam I found that a bit weak as well because one it just doesn't really sit right - if she's coming to him a worker then she's kind of acknowledging that he's the Imam and I don't know but so I wanted to really go over this and sum this up that the key

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 51Qevhjqnt4/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/51qevhjqnt4/s/5/

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