Umar’s Atrocious Conduct Post Death Of The Prophet (saw) - Sunni Sources

Dr. Al Muhammad as-Sallabi
Disciplining By Hitting
Umar Ibn Al-Khattab used this method and was famous for carrying his stick with which he struck people. He struck some of the governors because of some deeds that they committed. During Umar's vist to Syria, he entered the house of one of his governors and found they had too many possession's. 'Umar got angry and started hitting them with his stick. Also during Umar's vist to Syria, some of the governors came to meet him. The first ones who met him were Yazeed ibn Abi Sufyan and Aboo Ubaydah, then Khalid, who came riding horses and wearing fine garments, that did not befit the Mujahideen. Umar dismounted, picked up some stones and started throwing them, and said, 'How quickly you have changed your ways! Are you receiving me in this manner?....."
Source: Umar Ibn Al-Khattab His Life And Times. Vol. 2, Pg. # 251.

Umar Beats His Wife In The Middle Of The Night

Hakim Al-Nishaburi:

It was narrated that Ash'ath bin Qais said: "I was a guest (at the home) of Umar one night, and in the middle of the night he went and hit his wife, then he called me and said to me: 'O Ash'ath, learn from me something that I heard from the Messenger of Allah (swt) saying, "A man should not be asked why he beats his wife, and ask not which one of his brother he trusts or does not trust and do not go to sleep until you have prayed the Witr."

Footnote: Al-Hakim: The chain is Saheeh 'Authentic' but they (Bukhari and Muslim) have not narrated it.

Al-Dhahabi: It is Saheeh 'Authentic.'

Source: Al-Mustadrak ala Al-Sahihain. Vol. 4, Pg. 194. H # 103/7342.

A Woman Complaining To Umar About Her Husband

A woman came to Umar and said, 'O Amir ul Mumineen, my husband is very bad and is not good.' Umar said to her, 'Who is your husband?' She said, 'Aboo Salamah.' Umar knew him, for he was a companion of the Prophet (saw). Umar said to her, 'We do not know anything good about your husband.' Then he asked a man who was near him, "What do you say?" He said, ''O Amir ul Mumineen we do not know anything but that.' He sent for her husband and he told her to sit behind him (Umar). A man soon came back with her husband and Umar asked him, 'Do you know this woman?' He said, 'Who is she O Amir ul Mumineen?' He said 'She is your wife!' He asked 'What is she saying?' He said, 'She claims you are very bad and not good.' He said, 'What a bad thing she has said O Amir ul Mumineen, by Allah, she is the best clothed woman and has the most comfortable home but her husband is impotent.' He said (to her), ''What do you say?' She said, 'He is telling the truth,' Umar took his stick and started hitting her, saying 'O enemy of yourself, you have taken his youth and consumed his wealth and now you're saying things that are not right about him.' She said, 'O Amir ul Mumineen, let me off this time, and by Allah you will not see me do this again.'

Source: Umar Ibn Al-Khattab His Life And Times. Pg. # 269 - 270.

Umar Instructs A Man To Beat His Wife

Malik Ibn Anas:

Yahya related to me from Malik that Abdullah ibn Dinar said, "A man came to Abdullah ibn Umar when I was with him at the place where judgments were given and asked him about the suckling of an older person. Abdullah ibn Umar replied, 'A man came to Umar ibn al-Khattab and said, 'I have a slave-girl and I used to have intercourse with her. My wife went to her and suckled her. When I went to the girl, my wife told me to watch out, because she had suckled her!' Umar told him to beat his wife and to go to his slave-girl because kinship by suckling was only by the suckling of the young'.

Footnote: Narration is Saheeh Mawqoof 'Authentic from a Tab'ee.

Source: Mutwaata Malik. Vol. 3, Pg. # 1403.

 

Umar Hits Slaves

Ibn Abi Shaybah:

Narrated Abd Al-A’laa from Mo’ammar from Al-Zuhri from Anas who said: Umar saw a slave-girl wearing Hijab then he beat her and said: "Do not make yourself like free women!"

Narrated Alee Ibn Mos’har from Al-Mokhtar Ibn Folfol from Anas Ibn Malik who said: A slave girl of Muhajirun or Ansaar came to Umar wearing Jilbab (complete Hijab), he said: "Have you been freed?" She said: “No!” He said: “Put it off your head.” Jilbab is for the freed women. So she hesitated, so he got up to her with the whip (darrah), and he hit her on the head, until she threw it.

Source: Al-Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah. Vol. 3, Pg. # 128.

Al-Albani:
Narrated Abd Al-A’laa from Mo’ammar from Al-Zuhri from Anas. (Al-Albani: I say: This chain is Authentic, if Al-Zuhri heard it from Anas) Narrated Alee Ibn Mos’har from Al-Mokhtar Ibn Folfol from Anas Ibn Malik who said: A slave girl of Muhajirin or Ansaar came to Umar wearing Jilbab (complete Hijab), he said: "Have you been freed?" She said: “No!” He said: “Put it off your head!” Jilbab is for the freed women. So she hesitated, so he got up to her with the whip (Darrah), and he hit her on the head, until she threw it.

Al-Albani: I say: This this is Saheeh 'Authentic' by the criteria of Muslim.

Source: Irwaa Al-Ghalil. Vol. 6, Pg. # 204.

Ibn Hajar:

Narration of Umar: "Take off your your veil, you stinky! Are you resembling yourself to free women?" I haven’t seen it in this form, but it is famously known that Umar has beaten a slave-girl who had veil and he said "Take off your veil, and do not resemble yourself to free women", it has been narrated by AbdulRazaq through an Authentic chain. And from Abdulrazaq from Ibn Jarij who said: "Umar beat Aqeela a slave-girl of Abi Musa because she wore Jilbaab (full veil)."

And Ibn Abi Shayba recorded another incident through an Authentic chain from Anas that: Umar saw a slave-girl wearing Jilbaab (Full veil), whereupon he said: "Have you been freed?" She said: “No! He said: “put it off your head.” Jilbaab is for the freed women. She hesitated, so he went up to her with the whip (Darrah), and he hit her on the head, until she threw it. And narrated it Muhammad ibn Al-Hassan in Al-Athaar from Abi Hanifa from Himad from Ibraheem that Umar used to beat the slave-girls who wore veil and used to say: "Do not resemble yourselves to free women!"

Source: Al-Diraya Fi Takhrij Ahadeeth Al-Hidayah. Vol. 1, Pg. # 124.

Note the followers of the Ahlulbayt (a.s) have similar narrations that have been attributed to the Imams of the Ahlulbayt (a.s) in which they are said to have whipped slave women. These narrations are as follows:
Defence One

سألت أبا عبد الله (ع) عن المملوكة تقنع رأسها إذا صلت؟ قال لا قد كان أبى إذا رأى الخادمة تصلى في مقنعة ضربها لتعرف الحرة  من المملوكة

“I asked Aboo AbdAllah (a.s) concerning the possession’s covering of her head when she prayed? He replied: ‘No! For when my father saw the female servant *praying* with a scarf on, he *hit* her so that the free can be known from the possession”.

Source: Ilal Sharai. Vol. 2, Pg. # 345 - 346.

Reply One

The narration is Da`eef (Weak) the primary narrator is Majhool (unknown) he is said to be 'Hamaad al-Khaadam' and there is no attestation of him in the Imami books of Rijal.

Defence Two

ليس على الأمة قناع في الصلاة

Imam Al-Baqir (a.s) said: “There is no cover for the slave girl during prayer.”

Reply Two

This narration is authentic. However, notice it states a slave woman is not required to cover herself during prayer whereas the books of the opponents state the slave girl is not required to cover her head in front of the public. In addition, there is no mention of the Imam (a.s) hitting the slave girl in this narration.

Defence Three

لا كان أبى رضوان الله عليه إذا رأى أمة تصلى وعليها مقنعة ضربها وقال يا لكع لا تتشبهي بالحرائر

Imam Jafar Al-Saddiq (a.s): “No, when my father, (a.s) saw a slave girl praying and she had a scarf on her, he hit her! And he said: ‘You rascal! Do not resemble the free ones!’”

Source: Qadi Nu`man al-Maghribi’s Da`a’im al-Islam. Vol. 1, Pg. # 177. Also recorded in Mustadrak Al-Wasa’il. Vol. 3, Pg. # 217.

Reply Three

The narration is chain-less and is therefore weak.

Umar Treats Slaves As Sexual Objects

Al-Bayhaqi:

Narrated Aboo Al-Qasim Abdul Rahman Ibn Ubaidullah Al-Harfi in Baghdad, from Alee Ibn Muhammad Ibn Al-Zubair from Al-Hasan Ibn Alee Ibn Affan from Zaid Ibn Al-Hebab, from Himad Ibn Salama from Thamana Ibn Abdullah Ibn Anas from his grandfather Anas Ibn Malik who said: "The slave-girls of Umar were serving us with uncovered hair and their breasts were shaking."

Footnote: Narration is Saheeh 'Authentic'.

Source: Sunan Al-Kubra. Vol. 2, Pg. # 320 - 321.

Al-Albani:

Al-Bayhaqi has narrated through Hamad Ibn Salama from Thamana Ibn Abdullah Ibn Anas from his grandfather Anas who said: "The slave-girls of Umar were serving us with uncovered hair and their breasts were shaking."

Al-Albani: The chain of this Hadeeth is 'Jayyid' (at a level between Hasan and Saheeh) and all of it’s narrators are trustworthy except the teacher of Bayhaqi Abul Qasim Abdul Rahman Ibn Ubaidullah Al-Harbi and he is very Truthful as Al-Khatib says and Al-Bayhaqi said: "And the reports from Umar Ibn Al-Khattab concerning that matter are authentic."

Source: Irwa Al-Ghalil. Vol. 6, Pg. # 204.

At times the word 'Tad'tarib' has been mistranslated as  'Tadrabu' (hair). Thus making the text sound like “The slaves of `Umar used to serve us with their hair uncovered and hitting their breast.” This is not the case in order to clarify these are two different words:

Tad'tarib = Shaking, Wobbling تضطرب 

Tadribu = Hitting تضرب

The correct word has been recorded by Al-Albani who chose Tad'tarib (Wobbling) in his book Irwa Al-Ghalil as we have shown above. Albani wrote the tradition with this word only. If Umar's advocates are going to insist that this did not mean topless per se, we will point out that under Islamic law a woman is expected to dress modestly, in a manner that does not attract male attention, hence the duty to cover her bosom.  This was clearly not the case here, even if these slave girls were clothed, it was tantamount to not being clothed, since the shape and movements of their breasts were clearly visible, so much so that it came to the attention of the narrator who cited it.  This lack of modest dressing was all going on under the roof of Umar, simply so that slave girls could appear as sex objects whom dinner guests could ogle at.

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