Judge `Abd al-Jabbar, one of the most prominent Mu`tazilites, has said the following in his attempt to rebut the Shi`a, “... And among what they mention of their charges is the claim that Fatima (A.S.), on account of her anger with Abu Bakr and `Omer, willed that they should not perform her funeral prayers, and that they both should not know where she was buried. So she was buried at night. In a narrative transmitted by Ja`fer ibn Muhammed and others, they claim that `Omer hit Fatima (A.S.) with a whip and struck al-Zubayr with the sword. They also say that `Omer went to her house while Ali (A.S.), al-Zubayr and a group of those who boycotted the swearing of fealty to Abu Bakr assembled tehre. He said to her, `I find none after your father whom I love most but you. Yet by Allah! Since these folks have assembled at your house, they shall all be burnt.’ She, therefore, prohibited people from assembling and they did not go back to her till they swore fealty to Abu Bakr..., in addition to such far-fetched narratives. The answer to these narratives is that we do not believe them.”^[1]

He also said, “As regarding what they mentioned abut `Omer in reference to such burning, had it been true, it would not be demeaning to `Omer because he was right in threatening those who refused to swear the oath of allegiance.”^[2]