Why do we not find a history of Umama, the wife of Imam ʿAli?

History in general has not done justice to principled figures, because the task of writing it lay in the corridors of those with political and worldly interests, in addition to the dominance of the sectarian spirit. This is the state of the history of men whose role was prominent and witnessed; as for women, who were out of view by virtue of their roles in the home and the modesty that accompanies it, their history was erased from many history books, and woman was not a focus in the narration of historical biography.

The sum of what is available about the life of Umama, whom Imam ʿAli (a) married after the martyrdom of al-Zahraʾ (a) at her bequest:

1 – She is the daughter of al-Zahraʾ's (a) sister Zaynab, daughter of the Messenger of Allah (s), and her father is Abu al-ʿAs ibn al-Rabiʿ, the son of Hala bint Khuwaylid, the sister of Lady Khadija (a). Some later Shiʿa have differed over Zaynab's lineage to the Messenger of Allah (s), some saying that she was his stepdaughter along with her two sisters; however, the stronger view is that she was the daughter of the Prophet (s). This is the well-known view of the Shiʿa since early times, the transmitted proofs support it, and it is the apparent sense of the words of al-Zahraʾ (a) that she is her sister's daughter, as well as other narrations. Accordingly, Umama is the granddaughter of the Prophet (s).

2 – Umama was married, before Imam ʿAli (a), to al-Mughira ibn Nawfal ibn al-Harith ibn ʿAbd al-Muttalib; then he separated from her, and Imam ʿAli (a) married her, and she remained with him until his (a) martyrdom. There is a narration from Imam al-Sadiq (a) that al-Hasanayn (a) were with her at the hour of her death throes and had her confirm her bequests by gesture. (In al-Tahdhib, vol. 8, p. 258, hadith 169).

3- It is transmitted from Abu Jaʿfar al-Baqir (a) that al-Zahraʾ (a) “enjoined him—that is, Imam ʿAli—to marry Umama bint Abi al-ʿAs, and said: [She is] my sister's daughter, and she will be tender towards my children.” Al-Bihar, vol. 43, p. 218.

This means that her most important role was to care for the sensitive period after the martyrdom of al-Zahraʾ (a), spreading the tenderness that every home needs, so that the ʿAlawi household would not lack any of the foundations of its completeness, and thereby to deny their enemies [the opportunity] of disparaging it and diminishing its standing in the outward view of the general public; otherwise, those in the house are the branches of prophethood and the source of the Imamate.

4- Umama bore Imam ʿAli (a) a male child named Muhammad al-Awsat.

5- In al-Kafi there is one narration from her, which Fatimah bint ʿAli (a) narrates from her. Vol. 6, p. 369, hadith 1.

Al-Irbili said in Kashf al-Ghumma about Imam ʿAli (a): “On the day he (a) was killed, he had four free women in marriage, and they are: Umama bint Abi al-ʿAs, who is the daughter of Zaynab, daughter of the Messenger of Allah (s); he married her after the death of her maternal aunt, al-Batul Fatimah (a).” Vol. 1, p. 332.

Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi