Umar's Disturbing Fatwa! (regarding lady who committed adultery)

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

We have written a series of articles about the extreme ignorance of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of Sunnis. Sunnis have written lots of exaggeration about this man. There is even one particular hadith that says: "Were there to be any prophet after me, it would be Umar!". Sunnis love to mouth this hadith, forgetting that it is a direct attack against the legitimacy of Abubakr's caliphate. Anyway, in this article, once again, we will examine the credentials of this man who would have been the next prophet after Muhammad (pbuh)!!


In Sunan Abu Dawud Book 38, Number 4385 (English translation), we read:

Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:

Ibn Abbas said: A lunatic woman who had committed adultery was brought to Umar. He consulted the people and ordered that she should be stoned.

Ali ibn AbuTalib passed by and said: What is the matter with this (woman)? They said: This is a lunatic woman belonging to a certain family. She has committed adultery. Umar has given orders that she should be stoned.

He said: Take her back. He then came to him and said: Commander of the Faithful, do you not know that there are three people whose actions are not recorded: a lunatic till he is restored to reason, a sleeper till he awakes, and a boy till he reaches puberty?

He said: Yes. He then asked: Why is it that this woman is being stoned?

He said: There is nothing. He then said: Let her go. He (Umar) let her go and began to utter: Allah is most great.

http://www.islam.us/...ud/038.sat.html

There is a mistake in the chain of narration above since Imam Ali was not narrating from Ibn Abbas in the Arabic original. Rather, it is simply Ibn Abbas narrating. Therefore, in the Arabic, the phrase "Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:" does not exist.

That said, let us now cite the Arabic from Sunan Abu Dawud (Dar al-Fekr) 2/545, Hadith 4399:

حدثنا عثمان بن أبي شيبة ثنا جرير عن الأعمش عن أبي ظبيان عن ابن عباس قال : أتي عمر بمجنونة قد زنت فاستشار فيها أناسا فأمر بها عمر أن ترجم فمر بها على علي بن أبي طالب رضوان الله عليه فقال ما شأن هذه ؟ قالوا مجنونة بني فلان زنت فأمر بها عمر أن ترجم قال فقال ارجعوا بها ثم أتاه فقال يا أمير المؤمنين أما علمت أن القلم قد رفع عن ثلاثة عن المجنون حتى يبرأ وعن النائم حتى يستيقظ وعن الصبي حتى يعقل ؟ قال بلى قال فما بال هذه ترجم ؟ قال لا شىء قال فأرسلها قال فأرسلها قال فجعل يكبر

Shaykh al-Albani comments upon the hadith:

صحيح

Shaykh al-Albani has also declared it sahih in his Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah4/348, Hadith 3048 and 2/102, Hadith 1003, and in his Irwa al-Ghalil 2/5. Shaykh al-Arnaut too has declared it sahih in his Musnad Ahmad 1/140, Hadith 1183.

The narration has also been recorded and authenticated by other Sunni scholars of Hadith.

The question that comes to mind immediately is: what would have happened had Imam Ali not intervened? Obviously, an innocent person would have been executed by Umar!

What is further baffling about this is that Umar himself knew that he was ignorant about this matter, and consulted some of the Sahabah. Yet, they all advised him to stone the innocent woman?

Was this the level of knowledge of these so-called righteous Salaf? How are we supposed to base our religion on the ignorance of such people?

How many more wrong fatwas did Umar pass, which were not fortunate enough to be corrected by the ONLY knowledgeable Sahabah (i.e. Imam Ali)?

Now, we are bak at the initial hadith. With this and other facts in mind, is it really true that Umar was the most qualified of the Sahabah for prophethood after the Holy Prophet (pbuh)? Put differently, is it true that had there been a prophet after Muhammad (pbuh), it would have been Umar?!

http://www.wilayat.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=464:umars-disturbing-fatwa-and-issues-arising&catid=63:05-Umar-Ibn-Khattab-%282nd-Caliph%29 

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