It should be noted that the words of ‘she frowned’ are found in a tradition of Sahih Bukhari, which means ‘she became angry’ or ‘she frowned’. Doubtlessly, it was an occasion which called for frowning or anger, because, in her opinion, Fadak was her property which was confiscated by the first Caliph, but it is extremely shameless that Qadi Sanaullaah, in his Saiful Malool, translated it as, “she felt ashamed”!

Is this an occasion for feeling ashamed? Lady Fatima was considering Fadak her own property and had approached the court for the return of a property, which she claimed as hers. His Eminence, Ali (a.s.) and other witnesses too had, seeing her claim as genuine, testified in her favor.

Thereafter also, the members of the holy family considered Fadak as the property of Fatima and that is why this property had been, on a number of times, returned to Ahlul Bayt by the Umayyad Caliph, Umar bin Abdul Aziz as well as other Caliphs of Bani Abbas. In short, it nowhere appears that either Fatima or anyone else from Ahlul Bayt had ever thought that confiscation of Fadak was an act of justice or fairplay. In such circumstances, if Lady Fatima became displeased and angry with Abu Bakr, it was not out of place, because whenever someone is angry with anybody he or she expresses his or her anger and does not become ashamed! The tradition of Bukhari shows that Lady Fatima stopped talking to Abu Bakr.

Similarly, it is seen from Sharh Ibn Abil Hadid1 that Lady Fatima had desired in her will that Abu Bakr should not even attend her funeral prayer. These narrations show that Lady Fatima had become very angry with Abu Bakr and do not show that ‘she was ashamed’. The reason why Qadi Sanaullaah had to create such unrelated meaning appears to be that he was aware of the Prophet’s words:

“One who hurts Fatima, hurts Allah and His Messenger.”

Hence he felt the need, because of his love for Abu Bakr, of translating ‘she frowned’ (Ghazabat) as ‘she felt ashamed’ (Nadimat). O Allah! Please save us from those who misinterpret the words of the Prophet! Justice-loving people should ponder how Ghazabat here can mean Nadimat. The truth is that the Qadi had, by creating such extraordinary meaning, wanted to help Ahlul Sunnat people in a big way. It is obvious that if Ghazabat is to mean Nadimat then it will prove that Lady Fatima had made a false claim and that she failed in her case and so felt ashamed.

But falsehood can never flourish. Every just and truth-loving person knows that Fatima (s.a.) had distanced herself from Abu Bakr with anger and that till her death, she was extremely displeased with the Caliph so much that she also passed away with a disappointed heart and met her departed father within six months of the latter’s demise. It is very sorrowful that those scholars who know ‘darning’ (making desired mending in Quranic verses), very often close their eyes at any insult to Ahlul Bayt.

See what a serious insult Qadi Sanaullaah has hurled at Lady Fatima by translating Ghazabat as Nadimat. Thereby he intended to allege that the sinless lady was one who did not know the truth, who made a false claim because of greed etc. The truth, however, is that there is no dearth of such untruthful translators among Muslim scholars. They, very easily, twist the meaning of Quranic verses and the Messenger’s words without caring for insult to Ahlul Bayt, only to support the Caliphate of the triad. We will come across a number of such examples henceforth.

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1.Vol. 2, Pg. 292