Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Tdlib 209
5. As for the RZfidis' slander against 'Umar (&) and their claim that
he accused the Messenger of Allah (@) of not knowing what he was
saying, as he said "he is delirious," and he did not comply with what
the Prophet (g) wanted, and he said "you have the Book of Allah"
and "the Book of Allah is sufficient for us", the response to that is
that the first claim, which is that 'Umar (&) accused the Messenger
of Allah of being delirious and not aware of what he was saying is
false, because this phrase, "is he delirious?" is not proven to be the
words of 'Umar(4)
in the fxst place. Rather these are the words of
one of the people who were present, but the reports narrated in
Bukhari and Muslim do not specify who said it. What is proven is
that they said, "What is the matter with him? Is he delirious?"546 It
appears thus, in the plural, not the singular, hence some of the
scholars said that these were not the words of 'Umar (&). Ibn Hajar
said: "It seems to me that the third possibility is most likely, which
was mentioned by al-Qumbi, and that the one who said that was one
of those who had recently become Muslim. It is common for one who
is faced with severe pain to be distracted by the pain from canying
out what he wants to do."547 Al-Dahlawi said: "How can it be proven
that the one who said these words was 'Umar, when in most reports it
appears in the plural ('they said')?"548
What is proven with regard to this phrase is that it came in the
form of a question ("is he delirious?"). This is unlike what is
mentioned in some reports, where it says "he was delirious" and the
like, which is less likely to be the case according to the conclusions of
those scholars and hadith commentators who examined the matter,
such as al-Q2& '1~2d~~~, al-~u~fllhi~~~, an-~awawi~~' and Ibn
~ajar.~" They stated that the interrogative form here is indicative of
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objection to those who said: "Do not write (the document).
Al_
QuTfllbi quoted the evidence that the Prophet (g) was infallible and
was protected against making mistakes in conveying the message in