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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Critical Assessment of Umm Kulthum’s Marriage to Umar Section 1: The Narrators and Their Narrations One of the narrations widely known among Sunni Muslims is the narration to which they have made recourse in order to argue that the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (a.s.) married out his daughter, Umm Kulthum, to Umar.

They have transmitted this narration in their sources and we will cite it from their most famous booksOne of the narrations widely known among Sunni Muslims is the narration to which they have made recourse in order to argue that the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (a.s.) married out his daughter, Umm Kulthum, to Umar.

They have transmitted this narration in their sources and we will cite it from their most famous books Ibn Sa’ad’s Narrations in Al-Tabaqat Al-Kubra As far as we know, the earliest narrator who has passed on this tradition is Muhammad bin Sa‘ad b. Mani‘ Zuhri (d. 230 A.H), the author of Al- Tabaqat Al-Kubra. He has included several narrations in his book on this subject which are as follows.

The first narration Umm Kulthum was the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib ibn Abdul Muttalib ibn Hashim ibn Abd Manaf ibn Qusai. Her mother was Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (S)[^1] and Khadijah bint Khuwailid ibn Asad ibn Abdul Uzza ibn Qusai. She was a young girl when Umar married her. The fruit of this marriage was a son called Zaid and a daughter called Ruqayyah. Umm Kulthum remained Umar‘s wife until he was killed.

After Umar, Awn ibn Ja‘far ibn Abi Talib ibn Abdul Muttalib married her (!)[^2], but Awn too died and thereupon, Awn‘s brother, Muhammad ibn Ja‘far ibn Abi Talib became her husband. He too, passed away. Then his brother, Abdullah ibn Ja‘far ibn Abi Talib married Umm Kulthum after the death of her sister, Zainab, the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.).

Umm Kulthum made reference to it saying: “I feel embarrassed towards Asma bint Umais whose two sons died when they were in my company, and I am worried about the third one! Umm Kulthum died in Abdullah ibn Ja‘far‘s house and did not bear a child with anyone of them!” The second narration Umar ibn Al-Khattab asked Ali ibn Abi Talib for the hand of Umm Kulthum in marriage.