Qunfath’s Version Contradicts The Shaikh’s Consensus

 

Someone says, “Shaikh al-Tusi transmits the consensus of the Shi`a regarding the ruling system’s statement, that is, that `Omer hit Fatima (A.S.) in the stomach till she miscarried, whereas the narratives according to the evidences gathered by the Imamites and by others say that it was Qunfath who did it.”

It is as if he wants to say, “These transmissions contradict one another; therefore, they should be dropped.”

Our answer is as follows:

 

FIRST: Shi`as have all agreed on the first, but they did not discount the possibility that Qunfath, too, did it. The narratives collected by Imamites and others, many of which will be quoted, prove that the foul deed did, indeed, take place. Al-Mugharah, too, took part in beating al-Zahra’ (A.S.) till he caused her to bleed as will be discussed in the part containing texts and legacies. There is no objection that all of them took part in doing something like that, thus causing the miscarriage. It is, then, accurate to attribute it to all of them, and to each of them individually, because they were all behind it. Such an attribution does not mean that each one of them was a separate cause in the miscarriage.

 

SECOND: Texts have clearly shown, as you will see, that the assault on the house of Fatima (A.S.) was repeated, just as the ceremonies of swearing the oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr were repeated, too.^[1] One such recurrence aimed at burning the house just as Abu Bakr was sitting on the pulpit to receive people’s oath of allegiance and seeing what was going on without opposing it or changing it, as al-Mufid, may Allah rest his soul in peace, proves in his book titled Al-Amali. Repeated assaults are documented in numerous narratives, sometimes quite openly. This is the conclusion which one reaches from comparing the narratives with one another where the particulars of the individuals and the norms of their conduct distinguished one assault from another.

Some narratives assert that Abu Bakr himself used to issue orders to attack. Prior to the assault, threats of burning were made, and firewood was gathered. Then the fire was partly ignited, then the door was broken open and the truthful lady, the purified al-Zahra’ (A.S.), was beaten by more than one assailant. She fell on the ground and that man (`Omer) kicked her with his foot, too. All of this will be detailed in the texts’ part to come, by the Will of Allah Almighty.

Some narratives regarding miscarrying al-Muhassan enjoy authentic isnad. Some other narratives, which prove the fact that the beating and the like took place, are also authentic. The same opponent pointed out to the authenticity of the narrative by al-Tabari in Dala’il al-Imama. The narratives, collectively, are consecutively reported from the venues of the Household of Infallibility. If you add to them other texts, they will be more than consecutively reported. The fact that non-Shi`as have referred to this matter is regarded as noteworthy, knowing that they do no wish to exonerate the doers from what they all did.