Shia View of Umar - Legacy

Legacy

Even though he evidently was mistaken on several occasions, which is clearly seen by the evidence, he has still set precedence in Sunni jurisprudence. Due to this Shi'a stress the need to enlighten people of Umar's ignorance, so that they stop following a man that believed he could shape the Sunnah of Muhamamd.

Even though Umar did make numerous fatwas in direct violation to the Qur'an, admitted by the Sunnis in the case of Tayammum, and even though he believed he could shape the Sunnah in the case of triple talaq and Adhan, also admitted by the Sunnis, Shi'a believe that there are cases where even the evidence clearly proves it, the Sunnis refuse to acknowledge that Umar made those changes, for example in the case of Nikah Mut'ah. Shia argue that there are only single narrations on the occasions where Muhammad supposedly forbade it, on seven contradictory times, and even though the vast majority of the hadith related to the topic unanimously claim that Umar forbade Nikah Mut'ah, even himself saying so, still the Sunnis choose to hold the few claiming Muhammad as the one forbidding it as authentic. In Shia view, this shows how deep the impact of Umars legacy is, making Sunnis accept traditions that override the Qur'an (4:24), uniquely for this matter, even though those traditions propose that Muhammad forbade it in 7 AH, when Sahih Muslim puts the date of the verse of Mut'ah Nikah in 9 AH.

Shi'a believe Umar to be the main force behind Abu Bakrs rise to power, since they quote him several times stopping Abu Bakr from giving in to Fatimah's cries for justice. Even after his death, Umar was responsible for the election that followed him, an election where Ali is quoted to view it as in effect rigged to the extent that he could not win it, in practice giving away the Muslim nation to Islam's former arch-enemies, the Banu Umayyad, starting with Uthman and continuing with the adopted son of Abu Sufyan, Muawiya I, followed by Yazid I, resulting in the slaughter of Banu Hashim in the battle of Karbala and ultimately the pillage and rape of Medina and the catapult assault on the Kaaba.

Shi'a believe that many hadith where Umar is merited by Muhammad, for example the Hadith of Umar and prophecy, are late Umayyad fabrications.

According to a sayying attributed to the Shi'a imam, Imam Baqir, Umar and his companion Abu Bakr had left Islam and deserve to be cursed:

"Abu Bakr and Omar did not repent before they parted the world. In fact, they did not even mention what they had done to Ali. So may Allah, His angels and all of mankind curse them".

In Haqq al-Yaqeen it is written:

"Regarding the doctrine of Tabarra, we believe that we should seek disassociation from four idols namely, Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman and Mu'awiyah; from four women namely, Ayesha, Hafsa, Hind and Ummul Hakam, along with all their associates and followers. These are the worst creation of Allah. It is not possible to believe in Allah, His Messenger and the Imams without disassociating oneself from their enemies."

It is worthy of a note here in the context that Ayesha, despite the views of the statement, is, on the other hand, reported to have mentioned regret over having rebelled against 'Ali before her death and that 'Ali supplicated for her forgiveness.

Regardless, in accordance with the above stated, it is not strange then that Shi'a believe that disassociation from Umar is one of the Furu al-din (Branches of religion).

Furthermore, Shi'as supplicate curses upon Umar (as well as Abu Bakr), in the Dua Sanamain Quraish.