Umm Kulthum bint Ali

ProfileUmm Kulthum bint Ali

Umm Kulthum (may Allah be pleased with her) was the daughter of Ali and Fatimah, born near the end of the Prophet's ﷺ life, and younger than Zaynab. According to the early biographies, Umar asked Ali for her hand, and Ali said that he had kept his daughters for the sons of Ja'far. Umar said that he would marry her, for there was no man on earth who would care more for her company than he, and Ali agreed. According to the early biographies, Umar told the Companions to congratulate him, and said that he had heard the Prophet ﷺ say that every cause and every lineage will be cut off on the Day of Judgement except his cause and his lineage, and that he wanted to have a tie to the Prophet ﷺ as well. This saying is reported in books outside the six, and was not graded here. According to the early biographies, he gave her a large dowry, in honour of her lineage.

Tha'labah ibn Abi Malik told that Umar ibn al-Khattab shared out some garments among the women of Madinah, and a good garment was left. One of those with him said, "O chief of the believers, give this garment to your wife, the granddaughter of Allah's Messenger ﷺ", meaning Umm Kulthum, the daughter of Ali. Umar said that Umm Salit had more right to it, and that she was among the Ansari women who had pledged themselves to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and used to carry the water skins for them on the day of Uhud (Sahih al-Bukhari).

According to the early biographies, she bore Umar two children, including a son, Zayd, and she nursed his wounds after he was stabbed. According to the early biographies, one night when Umar was walking round Madinah he found a man outside a worn tent, and his wife was in labour inside, and they were travellers with no one to help. Umar went home and told his wife that Allah had driven good to her, and she came with flour and fat, and helped the woman while Umar cooked, and when she said that the woman had a son, Umar said to the man that his wife had given birth to a boy, and the man learned that the one cooking for him was the Commander of the Believers. Umar told him to come the next day, and said he would give a stipend for the child.

According to the early biographies, after Umar's death Ali gave her in marriage to Awn ibn Ja'far, who died, and then to his brother Muhammad ibn Ja'far, who died, and then to Abdullah ibn Ja'far, whose wife, her sister Zaynab, had died. According to the early biographies, she used to say that she was ashamed before her mother-in-law, Asma bint Umays, for two of her sons had died while married to her, and she feared that the third would too.

According to the early biographies, one night there was a quarrel between two clans, and her son Zayd went out to make peace, and was struck on the head and died. They told her, and she wept, and died that same night. Ibn Juraij told, from Nafi, that Ibn Umar offered the funeral prayer for nine together, with the men nearest the imam and the women towards the qiblah in one row, and that the body of Umm Kulthum bint Ali, the wife of Umar, was placed with that of her son Zayd, and the boy was placed nearer the imam. The imam that day was Sa'id ibn al-As, and Ibn Umar, Abu Hurayrah, Abu Sa'id and Abu Qatadah were among the people. When someone objected, they said that it was the Sunnah (Sunan an-Nasa'i, graded sahih).

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