Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem
FADAK, THE PROPERTY OF FATIMA (S.A.)
The daughter of Prophet Muhammad
(Peace be upon him & his progeny)
Syed H. Akhtar, Austin, Texas
Fadak was a piece of property situated in the vall
ey of Madinah hills. It
had seven villages that included fertile areas and
oases.
After the downfall of the fort of Khaibar, the nobl
es of the area made a peace treaty with the
Prophet (peace be upon him & his progeny) and gave
the land of Fadak as a gift. Half of it
was for the Ummah and half for the Prophet (peace b
e upon him & his progeny). On divine
instructions, Prophet (peace be upon him & his prog
eny) gave it as a gift to his daughter
Fatima (S.A.)
At the time that Prophet (peace be upon him & his p
rogeny) died, the property was in the
possession of Fatima (S.A.) The property was taken
away from Fatima by the Caliph of the
time, citing a (disputed) hadith that “prophets do
not leave inheritance.” She and her family
were deprived of the property. Fadak was designated
as public property.
Fatima contested the ruling with the argument that
it was not inheritance but a gift. The
testimony of Ali (A.S.) and Umm Ayman was considere
d “not sufficient.” Hasan and
Husain were considered minors and their testimony w
as not admissible. Furthermore, even
if it were considered an inheritance, Fatima (S.A.)
proved that the” inheritance hadith” was
false from evidence in the Qur’an, where Prophet So
lomon inherited Prophet David’s
estate. Also, Prophet Zakariya had prayed for an he
ir and was granted a son. Refer to
Qur’an Chapter 27:16. & Qur’an Chapter 19:5-6. Thes
e arguments were not accepted by the
authority.
Afterwards, the Caliph, in light of Fatima’s anger
and extreme displeasure, issued a
document to return Fadak to her. However, for econo
mic and political reasons, the order
was never implemented during his Caliphate. Fadak w
as not returned to Fatima (S.A.) in
her lifetime, subjecting her to extreme emotional p
ain and financial hardship.
Fatima was so hurt that she resolved, not to speak
to the officials involved in this injustice
until she died. She also executed a Will stating th
at those responsible for denying her Fadak
should not be allowed to attend her funeral service
s. This instruction was carried out by Ali
(A.S.)
1.
The second Caliph returned Fadak
to the children of Fatima (A.S.)
2.
The third Caliph took away the property from the c
hildren Fatima (S.A.) and gave it to his
cousin, Marwan ibn Al-Hakam.
3.
Mu’awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan took away the property fr
om Marwan and split it into three parts.
One part remained with Marwan ibn Al-Hakam; other t
wo parts he split between Amr ibn Uthman
bin Affan and to his own son Yezid.
4
. Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz, when he became Caliph (99 AH
), declared that the original owners of
Fadak were the family of Fatima, and ordered his go
vernor in Madinah to give back Fadak
to the
children of Fatima (S.A.)
5.
Yezid ibn Al-Malik succeeded his father, and seiz
ed Fadak from the children of Ali (A.S.) It
then came into the possession of BanuUmayyah, and r
emained with the Umayyads until Bani
Abbas came to power.
6.
Abul-Abbas Abdullah As-Saffah, when he became the
first Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty (AH
132), gave back Fadak to
the children of Fatima (S.A.)
7
. Muhammad Abu Jafar Abdullah al-Mansur Dawaniqi, w
hen he became Caliph (136 AH),
seized Fadak from the descendants of Fatima (S.A.)
8
. Muhammad Al-Mahdi ibn Al-Mansur, when he became C
aliph, returned Fadak
to the
descendants of Fatima (S.A.)
9.
Musa Al-Hadi ibn Al-Mahdi, when he succeeded to th
e Caliphate (169AH), seized Fadak from
the descendants of Fatima (S.A.) His brother Harun
Al-Rashid acquired it thereafter.
10.
Al-Mamun Al- Abbasi, when he became Caliph (210 AH
), gave back Fada
k to the descendants
of Fatima (S.A.) He publicly acknowledged that Fad
ak legitimately belonged to Fatima (S.A.)
11.
Fadak remained with the descendants of Fatima (S.A
.) during the reigns of Al- Mutasim and
Al-Wathiq, until 232 AH.
12.
Jafar Al-Mutawakkil, when he came to power (232 AH
), gave orders to seize Fadak from the
descendants of Fatima (S.A.)
13.
Al-Muntasir succeeded Al-Mutawakkil (247 AH). He g
ave orders to restore Fadak
to the
descendants of Fatima (S.A.) Subsequently, they los
t it after the death of Al-Muntasir.
14.
Al-Mutadid (279 AH), restored Fadak
to the descendants of Fatima (S.A.) It was seized
by Al-
Muqtafi (289 AH). Al-Muqtadir in 295 AH restored Fa
dak
to the children of Fatima (S.A.)
15.
Subsequently, Fadak fell again into the hands of u
surpers. No further history of Fadak is
available since then.
Epilogue:
Thus, we learn that, the Fadak property changed o
wnership more than 16 times over a
period of about 300 years. It was returned to the l
egitimate owners, the descendants of Fatima
(S.A.) eight times. The usurpers were in control of
Fadak most of the time. Presently, Fadak is
under the control of the Saudi government and unfor
tunately, in an extremely run down condition.
(The End)
Note:
The books listed below have extensive references f
rom Ahle Sunnah sources.
References: - 1. Peshawar Nights translated by Hami
d Quinlan and Charles Campbell, Pak Books, New York
1996; pp 254-307
2.
Nahjul Balagha, Peak of Eloquence, sermons, letter
s and sayings of Imam Ali ibn Abu
Talib; translated by Sayed Ali Reza, published by T
ahrike Tarsile Qur’an, inc., Elmhurst, NY. 1996 edi
tion.
Letter #45, footnote pp516-529. More at
www.al-islam.org
. under ‘Fadak.’
