The story of 'Uthmaan buying the shield of 'Ali, may Allaah be pleased with them both, is not authentic

23-1-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

Your Fatwa No : 145951 mentions the gifts that the Prophet (saw) gave to his daughter, but I heard from another scholar that the gift were not given by the Prophet (saw) but it was bought from the money Ali got by selling his sword or shield. It is said that Uthman bought it for 30 dirhams and gave it back to Ali as a gift. So that was actually a gift from Ali to his wife. Please could you re-check the narration and tell me what is right.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

 

After investigation, we have not come across any evidence that suggests that those things were bought by the Prophet with the price of the sword and shield of ‘Ali .

Rather, the Ahaadeeth (narrations) that prove that it was a gift from the Prophet to Faatimah are the explicit meaning of what we mentioned, so what is explicit cannot be overruled except with evidence.

Moreover, even if we presume that it is correct that ‘Uthmaan bought the shield of ‘Ali then this does not necessitate that those gifts were bought with the price of that shield.

In addition to this, As-Suyooti was asked in his book Al-Haawi about the story of ‘Uthmaan buying the shield of ‘Ali and he replied that it is a false story.

Allaah Knows best.