ভূমিকা
Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A Critical Assessment of Umm Kulthum’s Marriage to Umar Section 2: A Study of the Chains of Transmission of the Narrations The narrations that you went through were the most important reports that have been passed on by Sunni Muslims’ most famous books. Some of these narrations relate to the allegation that the Commander of the Faithful, Ali (a.s.) married his daughter to Umar.
Some relate to the marriage of Umm Kulthum after Umar‘s death and others relate to the event of her death and her son.
Based on Sunni Muslims’ rules and principles in the science of hadith (tradition) and relying on the sayings of their scholars in `ilm al-rijal [the science of narrators‘ biographies], if one carefully looks and examines the chains of the transmission of these narrations, he will come to understand that the story in its entirety is baseless and unsubstantiated let alone the relevant details and minor incidents in connection with it?[^1] Now, before verifying the chains, we shall remind you of a few points concerning these narrations: The stories that you went through in the previous section have not been reported in the two well-known and respected books, namely Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.
The authors of these two books have disregarded these narrations, not mentioning them in their books. These narrations have also not been narrated in the other Sunni books which are widely known as Sihah Sittah. Hence, all the authors of the six so-called authentic books have disregarded these traditions and agreed not to narrate them. This story has not been related in other hadith books such as Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
He and a group of his followers maintained that anything that is not recorded in this book – Musnad Ahmad – is not authentic.[^2] It is worth noting that in many cases and in different topics, Sunnis do not present their arguments with reliance on the narrations which are authentic simply because Bukhari and Muslim have not narrated them in their books or that they have not been recorded in the other Sihah books!
The Focal Point in this Regard The focal point that can be mentioned in this regard is that this story has been narrated by their narrators from the Shia Imams, the Ahl Al-Bayt (a.s.). The above narrations have been transmitted in the books of Al- Tabaqat of ibn Sa‘ad, Al-Mustadrak of Hakim, Al-Sunan Al-Kubra of Bayhaqi and Al-Durriyat Al-Tahirah of Dulabi.