Do prophets leave an inheritance? Fatima's claim between al-Hilli and Ibn Taymiyya

Fatima's claim to her inheritance from the Prophet is one of the best-known points of disagreement between Sunnis and the Imamiyya. Ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli listed it among his charges against Abu Bakr, and Ibn Taymiyya answered it in Minhaj al-Sunna on several counts. ¹

In Ibn Taymiyya's quotation al-Hilli says: Abu Bakr withheld Fatima's inheritance, and she said, "Son of Abu Quhafa, do you inherit from your father and I not inherit from mine?" He relied on a report that he alone transmitted, and he was himself her adversary, since charity was lawful for him; and the Qur'an contradicts what they relate, for God set out the inheritance verse without making it particular to the community to the exclusion of the Prophet, and gave the lie to their report by saying that Solomon inherited from David and by Zechariah's prayer for an heir. ¹

Fatima's words. Ibn Taymiyya holds that the saying attributed to her, "Do you inherit from your father and I not inherit from mine?", is not known to be authentic, and that even if it were it would prove nothing, because her father cannot be compared with any human being: Abu Bakr is not closer to the believers than their own selves, nor is charity forbidden to him. He gives as the reason that God protected the prophets from bequeathing worldly goods, so that no one could impugn their prophethood by saying they sought the world and left it to their heirs – just as He protected our Prophet from writing and poetry. ^{1 2}

The claim that he alone transmitted it. He says that the hadith "We are not inherited from; what we leave is charity" was transmitted from the Prophet by Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Talha, al-Zubayr, Sa'd, Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf (may God be pleased with him), al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (may God be pleased with him), the Prophet's wives and Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him), and that the reports from them are established in the Sahih and Musnad collections; to say Abu Bakr alone transmitted it is, for him, ignorance or a lie. ² In a footnote the editor lists the places of the hadith in al-Bukhari, Muslim and the Sunan of Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi. ³

The claim that he was her adversary. He holds that Abu Bakr claimed the property neither for himself nor for his household; it was charity for those entitled to it, as a mosque belongs to the Muslims. A trustworthy man who testified that someone had made his house a mosque or his well a public fountain would be believed even if he might use them himself, because his testimony is for a general, unbounded cause. ^{2 3} He adds that Abu Bakr had no need of this charity and neither he nor his family benefited from it; that even if the transmitter had benefited, his report would be accepted, since this is transmission and not testimony, like a report of sighting the new moon; and that the same hadith denied an inheritance to his own daughter Aisha. ^{3 4}

The claim that it contradicts the Qur'an. Ibn Taymiyya holds that the general wording of the inheritance verse addresses those it intends; the plural "you" in the Qur'an sometimes covers the Prophet with the believers and sometimes the community without him, as in the verses on obeying and loving him, and as in the marriage verse, which does not include the Prophet, to whom more than four wives were permitted. ^{4 5} He argues from the context of the inheritance verse itself: it tells them that they do not know which of their fathers and sons is nearer to them in benefit, and then promises reward for obeying the Messenger in the limits of inheritance – words that do not fit the Messenger, who is therefore not included; here he also cites the Prophet's words at the Farewell Pilgrimage, "No bequest to an heir". ⁶

The Imami position is given here only through Ibn Taymiyya's quotation and needs to be set out from Imami books themselves; the rest of the chapter on Fadak and its being a gift (from p. 1148 on in this export) has not yet been read.