What would he have lost...

What would he have lost, where he had occupied the position of her father, if he had given Fadak to Fatima (s) without a trial? An imam could do that due to his general guardianship and what the value of Fadak was before the general advantage of the Muslims and before avoiding evils! [^1] Tafseer Mafateehul Ghayb by ar-Razi, vol.8 p.125. [^2] P.21 in his book Shubah ar-Rafidha. (137) This is what many earlier and later scholars have wished that Abu Bakr had done.

Here we quote a word concerning this subject said by Professor Mahmood Abu Riyya, the Egyptian coeval scholar: “There is a matter that we have to say a frank word about; it is the situation of Abu Bakr towards Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her), the daughter of the messenger of Allah, and what he has done to her concerning the inheritance of her father.

Let us suppose that we submit to the traditions narrated by a single narrator and submit that they may limit the general verdicts of the Qur’an and that the Prophet (s) has said: “We, the Prophets, do not bequeath”; nevertheless Abu Bakr could give Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) some of her father’s inheritance and that Fadak might be considered as a part of that inheritance.

This would be his right that no one could refute because he was the caliph and the caliph could give whatever he liked to whomever he liked.

The caliph himself had donated some of the Prophet’s inheritance to az-Zubayr bin al-Awwam,[^1] Muhammad bin Maslama and others.[^2] This very Fadak itself had been donated to Marwan by the caliph Othman after a short time!”[^3] Ibn Abul Hadeed mentioned in his book Sharh Nahjol Balagha some speech of some earlier scholars, who had criticized the two caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar, due to their situations toward Fatima az-Zahra’ (s) after her father’s death: “It would be better for them to be more generous, besides their faith, than to commit what they had committed toward the daughter of the messenger of Allah”.

Ibn Abul Hadeed commented: “This speech has no answer!”[^4] Let us away from generosity and let us discuss the matter of the trial. The legal evidences were sufficient to make it obligatory to judge for [^1] He was the caliph’s son-in-law. His wife was Asma’, the daughter of Abu Bakr.