1. It is narrated from Madan bin Abu Talha Yamari that:
Umar delivered a sermon on Friday and reminisced about the Prophet and
Abu Bakr and then said: “Nothing is as important to me as the issue of Kalalah
that I should leave after me: because I did not ask the Prophet regarding Kalalah
and His Eminence also did not warn me about anything other than Kalalah. So
much so that he hit at my chest and asked me if the last verse of Surah Nisa was
not sufficient for me?”1
2. It is narrated from Masruq that he asked Umar bin Khattab regarding the
inheritance of Kalalah. He held his beard and said: “Kalalah…Kalalah…then said
after a moment: if I had understood it, it would have been better than all what is
present in the world.”2
3. In Sunanul Kubra, Baihaqi has narrated from Umar bin Khattab that: “If I
the Prophet had clarified three important issues for me, I would have preferred it
over having red-haired camels: Caliphate, Kalalah and usury.”3
4. In his Tafseer,4 Tabari has narrated from Umar that he said: “If I come to
know the rule of Kalalah, it would be preferable to me than the palaces of
Shaam.”
5. It is narrated from Shobi that they asked Abu Bakr about Kalalah and he
said: “At this moment, I am expressing my view about Kalalah; if it is right it is from Almighty Allah and if it is an error, it is from myself and from Satan.” In
my view, Kalalah are heir other than the parents and children. When Umar came
to power, he said: “I am ashamed to reject Abu Bakr’s ruling.”5
Allamah Amini says: What has made the issue of Kalalah so difficult and
why its meaning and rule was so ambiguous, whereas its connotation is clear?
When Umar asked the Prophet many times about this issue, did the latter
reply to him or not? If he replied, then why he did not remember? Perhaps he
failed to understand. An issue, which was more precious for him than red-haired
camels, the whole world or the palaces of Shaam.
If they say that the Prophet did not reply, we would say: A Prophet, who
knows that he would become his successor and queries would be posed to him,
and the most obvious of them being the matter of Kalalah, how he did not clarify
it and delayed explaining its rule.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) definitely did not commit this error. But the fact
is that he told Hafasa: “In my view your father will not remember it.”6 Or: “In my
view, he would not apply it.”7
This statement has clarified the facts and the reader, provided he is honest,
will become aware of the truth. His great humiliation is that he, after all this, and
after his own statement that: The facts about Kalalah have not become clear to
me, yet he did not refrain from giving decisions, without paying attention to the
command of Almighty Allah:
وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِۦ عِلْمٌ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلسَّمْعَ وَٱلْبَصَرَ وَٱلْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْـُٔولًۭا (٣٦)
“And follow not that of which you have not the knowledge;
surely the hearing and the sight and the heart, all of these, shall
be questioned about that.”8
And the words of Almighty Allah:
وَلَوْ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَيْنَا بَعْضَ ٱلْأَقَاوِيلِ (٤٤) لَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُ بِٱلْيَمِينِ (٤٥) ثُمَّ لَقَطَعْنَا مِنْهُ ٱلْوَتِينَ (٤٦) فَمَا مِنكُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ عَنْهُ حَـٰجِزِينَ (٤٧)
“And if he had fabricated against Us some of the sayings, We
would certainly have seized him by the right hand, Then We
would certainly have cut off his aorta. And not one of you could
have withheld Us from him.”9
And he acted according to personal opinion and regarded it as following
Abu Bakr, whereas he was himself aware that Abu Bakr was similar to him and
he heard him say: “I express my opinion about it. If it is correct, it is from
Almighty Allah and if it is wrong it is from myself and Satan.”
إِنَّ ٱلظَّنَّ لَا يُغۡنِي مِنَ ٱلۡحَقِّ شَيۡـٔٗا (٢٨)
“They do not follow anything but conjecture, and surely conjecture does not avail against the truth at all.”10