Returning Fadak to Its Condition in the Prophet's Time

رد فدك إلى حالها النبوية

c. 717 CE · 99 AH

On his accession Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz gathered the Banu Marwan and declared: the Prophet ﷺ held Fadak, spending from it, providing for the young Banu Hashim and marrying off their widows; Fatima asked him for it and he refused, and it remained so through Abu Bakr and Umar, then Marwan granted it as iqta' until it reached Umar himself — 'I saw a thing the Prophet withheld from Fatima and it is not lawful for me; I bear you witness that I have returned it to what it was in the Prophet's time.' He began with his own kin, confiscating their holdings and naming them mazalim ¹.

Overview

Al-Suyuti relates that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz gathered the Banu Marwan when he succeeded, and announced the return of Fadak to its state in the time of the Prophet. ²

The report

Umar said, according to the book, that the Prophet had Fadak, from which he spent and supported the young of the Banu Hashim and married off their unmarried women. Fatima asked for it and he refused. It remained so in the lifetime of Abu Bakr and then Umar; then Marwan granted it as a fief, and then it came to Umar. ²

He then said: "I have seen a matter that the Messenger of God withheld from Fatima; it is not a right for me," and he called them to witness that he returned it to what it had been. ²

The grievances

He began with his relatives and the people of his house and took what was in their hands, and this was called "grievances". ²

The date is approximate, at the start of his caliphate in 99 AH, and derived.

The Building of the Fortress of Masisa

In al-Baladhuri from al-Waqidi and others: in year 84 Abdullah ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan led the summer raid, entering by the pass of Antioch and coming to Masisa, where he built its fortress on the ancient foundation and settled garrison troops among them three hundred picked men of known valour and stoutness — the Muslims had never dwelt there before — and built a mosque atop the fortress hill; Abu al-Khattab al-Azdi says the first to build its fortress in Islam was Abd al-Malik through his son Abdullah in year 84, its building and garrisoning complete in year 85; the fortress held a church called Herya which the summer columns from Antioch would reach and winter at yearly, numbering a thousand five hundred to two thousand; Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz went out to Herya-Masisa meaning to demolish it and the forts between it and Antioch, saying 'I hate for the Byzantines to besiege its people', until the people showed him it was populated only to shield Antioch and that razing it would leave the enemy no barrier before it, so he held back and built them a congregational mosque by Kafarbayya with a cistern bearing his name — called the fortress mosque, ruined in al-Mu'tasim's caliphate; then Hisham built the rabad, Marwan ibn Muhammad built the suburb east of the Jayhan with a wall, timber gate and moat, and Abu al-Abbas set four hundred more men at Masisa, granting them estates.

Returning Fadak to Its Condition in the Prophet's Time

At a glance

In time

Overview

The report

The grievances

Connections

People and things also explored

Sources

Time

The Building of the Fortress of Masisa