Who is Umm Kulsoom? - A Research

Until this year, I was unaware that Hazrat Fatimah Zehra and Imam Ali had a daughter named Umm Kulsoom who was 18 months of age when our Lady of light passed away.
So I researched and look around and asked around.
I found clip after clip of youtube molvis claiming Umm Kulsoom daughter of Imam Ali did exist and indeed a very interesting claim by scholars' of other school's of Islam that she was married to Caliph Umar. They say this to support their argument to the fact that 

1. Umar had no role in the death of Lady Fatimah and/or 

2. Imam Ali had no difference/grievence with anyone on the death of Bibi Fatimah. 

3. That or the fact that in marrying Umm Kulsoom to Umar, Imam Ali indeed made a mistake and hence is fallible and therefore all Imam's are fallible.
From shia historical chronicles, every now and then, there is just a fleeting mention of Umm Kulsoom in majalis and every one seems to focus on her elder sister Syeda Zainab (as). So understandibly, I never knew she even existed or indeed I always thought she was a daughter of some other wife of Imam Ali. Indeed, as I found out, Imam Ali also had another daughter named Umm Kulsoom from another wife, Umm Saed as Sakafia's. This daughter was Umm Kulsoom al Sughra.
So the big question became, who exactly is Umm Kulsoom al Kubra?
Umm Kulsoom was the fourth child of our Lady Fatimah and Imam Ali, born on 16th ramazan in the 9th year after Hijra. (Interetingly, shia celebrate the birth of Imam Hassan on 15th Ramazan but no one keven mentions about Umm kulsoom's birthday the following day!!)
Umm Kulsoom grew up totally under the influence of Imam Ali having no recollection of Lady Fatimah, she being 18 months when her mother died. Unlike her sister Zainab who has been studied extensively, she is in comparison unknown but enogh materialis available for us to reconstruct her grand persona.
Was she as claimed by other schools married to Caliph Umar? The answer is a definite  NO.
There were a number of Umm Kulsooms living in Arabia at that time and indeed many were from the Quresh. When we study the narrations which discuss Caliph Umar, we find that Umar married an Umm Kulsoom in the 17th year after hijra.
Simple calculations tell us that Umm Kulsoom al Kubra would be 8 when Umar married her. This does not befit the equation, because according to narrations when Umar wanted to marry Lady Fatimah, he was refused by the Prophet as being too old to marry Fatimah. If Prophet Mohammad found Caliph Umar unsuitable in age for marryign Hazrat Fatimah, then her daughter would be even more unsuitable, and one can hardly see Imam Ali going against Prophet Mohammad's decisions however small they may be.
However if we forget this and just look at the 6 sahih books, none of them mention this wedding at all. It is books like Tarikh Baghdad that mention this wedding.
When we examine and scrutinize these narrations some can be rejected simply because they are so bizarre. For example one narrations states that Allah replaced Umm Kulsoom with a Jinn when Umar married her and so Umar married a Jinn!!! Sheer ignorance. I think we can all easily reject this without any quibbling.
Some hadiths can be rejected based on the chains of narrators they have been passed own from ... The chains are weak. One of those who narrates this wedding is a Ali il Lehmi. He openly used to say that people should not call him Ali because he dispised Imam Ali and did not need any association with that name and should be called Ulai instead. Another narrator is Aqab al Gehmi. He was the killer of Ammar ibn Yasir at saffin. Ammar was Prophet's respected companion about whom prophet Mohammad said: Ammar will be killed by infindels. Another narrator is Zubair bin bakr who is known as a very unrelaible narrator. Incidently history tell us that he to openly hated Imam Ali. Since the Sahih books did not include such hadiths, we too can reject them altogether.
There is however one chain of hadith that is considered worthy but the content of the hadith is somewhat strange. No matter what shia's may think of Caliph Umar, his political motivations etc, the content of the hadith is really beneath the dignity of Caliph Umar as well as Imam Ali and one wonders what the scholars of Ahle Sunnah were thinking when they decided to endorse such a hadith. To me it doesn't seem like the character of Umar who will go examining a young girl to see if she is fit for marriage. The hadith makes Caliph Umar sound like a pedophile and in all honestly I put him in a bracket several times higher than what this hadith makes him out to be. I think I can safely just on this merit reject this narration.
I do not know what the Sunni Ulama were thinkign when they endorse such a narration.
Caliph Umar did have a wife named Umm Kulsoom Bint Jarwal Ansari. She died in the 50th year after Hijra. Her namaz Jinaza was lead by Imam Hasan. (Al Istiab by Ibn Abdul Barr Volume 2 page 795 - Tareekhe Khamees vol II p 318 - History of al-Tabri vol 12 p 15) also Roza tul Ihbab Volume 3 page 585 - Al Bidayah wa al-Nihayah - Tareekhe Khamees Volume 3 page 318
Umm Kulsoom al kubra we know was alive at Kerbala in 61 in Hijra as well as present at the funeral of her brother Imam Hassan in 50 Hijra and so could not have been the same Umm Kulsoom.
The question is who did she marry? She married Aun the son of Jafer ibn Abutalib. He fought along side Imam Ali in Saffin, Jamal, Nehrwan and died at Kerbala. They had no children.
Other mentions of Umm Kulsoom: On the night of the 19th when Imam Ali died he was at the house of Umm Kulsoom, she is the chief narrator of the event. We see her supporting Imam Hasan and later Imam Hussain in Kerbala. We can find her sermons along side those of Syeda Zainab. Syeda Zainab and Umm Kulsoom were the rocks on which Islam rests today.

Click here to listen to the biography of Lady Umm Kulsoom (as) and listen to the sermon and the strength of her sermon.
She died in Madina, 4 months after Kerbala on 16th Rajab in the 61st year of Hijra.


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I'm including below other informations I found when researching the following claims of a scholar who calimed that: Ali Married his daughter Umm Kulsoom to Caliph Omar. Shias say Ali in infallible. The Molvi goes on to say that shias say that umar is kafir (??)so why did he marry his daughter to a kafir. He then quotes an ayat of quran 60:10 "They are not lawful wives for disbelievers nor are the disbelievers lawful husbands for them." How he asks? He then says there are two explanations: Either ali is not infalliable and made a mistake or there is no dispute between Ali and Umar. There is no third possibility he says.

Well there is a 3rd possibility. This is an entirely fabricated event or at least one where a the identity has been swapped: Simple mathematics and is evidence derived from Sunni canonical books and scholars of high repute tell a different tale ....
Sunni Historical evidence shows that the marriage of Umm Kulthum and Umar took place in the year 17 Hijri when Umm Kulthum was 5 or 4 years of age. This would put her date of birth to 12 or 13 Hijri. History of Abul Fida, vol I p 171 - al Farooq by Shibli Numani, vol II p 539. Historical evidences show that Hazrat Fatima ( May Allah bless her ) passed away 6 month after the demise of his father, and thus her date of death was in the year 11 Hijri, and that Umm Kulthum, daughter of Ali was born in the year 9 Hijri. Sahih al-Bukhari, Arabic-English Version, Tardition 5.546 - Anwarul Hussania, v3, p39 Then how is it possible for Umm Kulthum to be born after the death of Hazrat Fatima (as) if the Sunnis claim that she was married to Omar in the year 17 Hijri at an age of 4 or 5 years, that would put the date of birth as 12 or 13 Hijri, which is long after the death of her mother?!
The Sunni scholar Ibn Qutaybah in his book "al Maarif " mentioned that all the daughters of Imam Ali(as) were married to the sons of Aqeel and Abbas with 2 exceptions, but he did NOT mention the claim that Umm Kulthum (May Allah bless her) were married to Omar. The exceptions were for Ummul Hasan binte Saeed and Fatima. al-Maarif, Ibn Qutaybah, p 80
It would be appropriate to mention the other wives of Omar at this juncture, not only during his pagan days but also after embracing Islam.
His first wife was Zainab sister of Uthman b. Mazun. His second wife was Qariba, daughter of Ibn Umait ul Makzami, and sister of the Holy Prophet's ( saw ) wife Umm Salma ( May Allah be pleased with her ). She was divorced in 6 A.H after the conclusion of the Truce of Hudaibiya. His third wife was Malaika, daughter of Jarul al Khuzai, who was also called Umm Kulthum, also she did not embrace Islam and was divorced in 6 A.H. On arrival at Medinah he married Jamila, daughter of Asim b. Thabit who was high placed Ansari and had fought at Badr. Jamila first name was Asia which the Holy Prophet ( saw ) changed to Jamila on her conversion to Islam. Omar divorced her also for some unknown reason. Omar also had other wives namely, Umm Hakim, daughter of al Harith b. Hisham al Makhzumi, Fukhia Yamania and Atika, daughter of Zaid b. Amr b. Nafil. Al Faruq - Volume II by Shibli Numani English Translation
At least in Shibli Nomani's writing I do not find any evidence of any child bride. So why is there an insistance that there was another child bride Umm Kulsum who is about 4 years of age?
I found that there is evidence of such an Umm Kulsoom. After the death of Abu Bakr a daughter was born to him that was named Umm Kulthum. Please refer to the following Sunni references to confirm this fact. History of al-Tabari Volume 3 page 50, Printed in Egypt - Tareekhe Kamil Volume 3 page 121, Printed in Egypt - Tareekhe Khamees Volume 2 page 267, Printed in Egypt - Al-Isaba, by Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Volume 3 page 27
Please also do bear in mind that Abu Bakr died in the year 13 A.H as mentioned in the following Sunni book of reference. History of the Caliphs by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, page 551
This would imply that the original claim made by the first references I gave for the age of Umm Kulthum at the time of marriage of 4 or 5 years would stand correct. Since for Umm Kulthum binte Abu Bakr to be born in 13 A.H and married in 17 A.H would give her an age of 4 years. Since Aisha was the elder sister of Umm Kulthum binte Abu Bakr, for this reason Omar had sent for Umm Kulthum hand's to Aisha, and Aisha had accepted this. Tareekhe Khamees Volume 2 page 267 - Tareekhe Kamil Volume 3 page 21 - Al Istiab by Ibn Abdul Barr Volume 2 page 795
Though this is not my concern but I would still say that I find it absolutley beneath the dignity of a man, at the head of the Islamic Empire and of the stature of Umar, to be marrying a child merely 4 years old, when he himself is in his late 50's.

Finally I found another story from the life of Caliph Omar:
It is said that Caliph #2 of Islam used to visit the streets of Madina at night to get first hand information about public opinion and know how about their problems, so He may solve immediately.
One day he saw a person sitting outside a tent and a women was crying inside the tent. On his repeatedly enquiring about what the problem was, the man said that his wife is going to deliver a baby and no one (any lady) is there to look after her.
The great caliph went back home and brought back with him his wife, Umme Kulsoom, she treated and looked after that woman in her delivery.
If as per sheikhs lecture Umme Kalsoom was indeed married to Caliph omar, she must've been a small girl. Definitely the great Caliph would not have taken her to such a risky and difficult job for any child bride to handle, that needs a well matured woman's support to a woman delivering a baby.

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