Documents of the Right Word

He followed Rasûlullah’s example and did the same. Until his
death, he carried on a faultless administration. Now you two are
there to have me talk, to ask from me. Since both of you ask the
same question, there must be one answer for both of you. You,
hadrat Abbâs, are here to ask about the right of your brother’s son,
Alî, and you, hadrat Alî, are here to ask about your wife’s right,
which is an inheritance from her father. I have quoted to you the
hadîth-i-sherîf, ‘We do not leave inheritance behind us...’, which
you admit to have heard. Then I have informed you about the
policy followed by Abû Bekr-i-Siddîq, who was the rightly-guided
Khalîfa of our master the Rasûl-i-ekrem. The very day I became
the Khalîfa I assigned the task of carrying on this business to you,
making it a stipulation that you were to follow the same policy as
before.’ Thus, in the presence of hadrat ’Uthmân and his friends,
he (the Khalîfa, hadrat ’Umar) answered hadrat Alî and Abbâs’s
question, stating that they had been given this duty under that
stipulation. (And he went on), ‘Now, if you have come here to ask
for permission to do something contrary to this stipulation; I swear
by the greatness of the Creator of earth and heavens that I shall
not give permission to do something counter to the wishes of
Allâhu ta’âlâ and His Messenger. If you are incapable to execute
this task, return it to me! I shall provide your needs for you.’ When
Urwa-t-abn-i-Zubeyr was asked about this event, he repeated that
he had heard it from Mâlik bin Ews ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ as it was.
And he added a narration reported by hadrat Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu
anhâ’, the blessed wife of our master Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi
wasallam’: One day the Ezwâj-i-tâhirât (the Prophet’s pure wives)
‘radiy-Allâhu anhunna’ sent me to my father (hadrat Abû Bekr-isiddîq)
to ask my father, who was the Khalîfa at that time, about
the portions they were to receive from the ghanîmat. He stated,
‘Don’t you fear Jenâb-i-Haqq? Our master Rasûlullah’s hadîth-isherîf,
(We Prophets do not leave inheritance), shows that you do
not have any portions. Do you remember this hadîth-i-sherîf?’
Upon this refusal, I remembered the hadîth-i-sherîf and went
back.
“In order to explain that those who are vulgarly obstinate
despite all these clear evidences must be malevolent people, I have
quoted the hadîth-i-sherîf in the book Bukhârî-i-sherîf exactly as it
is. Hadrat Abû Bekr ‘radiy-Allâhu anh’ heard this hadîth-i-sherîf
from our master Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu alaihi wasallam’. It is the
most dependable document for him. For there are three ways of
learning something: First, by perceiving it; second, by hearing it
– 23 –