al-Shifa bint Abdullah (radhiyallahu anha) and the Market

Contrary to what the feminists today have been propagating quite fervently, the second Khalifah, Umar (radhiyallahu anhu), never appointed the noble Sahabiyyah, al-Shifaa bint Abdullah (radhiyallahu anha), in-charge of the marketplace in Madina.

Regarding this baseless allegation which is designed to tarnish, intentionally or otherwise, the impeccable reputation of both these great Sahabah (radhiyallahu anhum), the 5th century Maliki authority, Qadi Ibn Arabi, said:

وقد روي أن عمر قدَّم امرأة على حسبة السوق، ولم يصح؛ فلا تلتفتوا إليه؛ فإنما هو من دسائس المبتدعة في الأحاديث

“It is not authentic so pay no mind to it, as it is one of the conspiratorial machinations of the heretics in hadith.” (Ahkaam ul-Qur’aan)

The fact that it is a complete fabrication will become quite clear by the end of this article.

The false allegation did find its way into several classical Islamic texts. However, despite the fact that in almost every source no sanad is cited, or in one source an extremely defective sanad (a weak narrator, an unknown narrator, and a break in the chain) is given, modern day versions of those heretics continue to cite this story with great relish almost as if its authenticity has been confirmed by divine revelation (Wahi).

We cite below a few examples.

Akram Nadwi, in the footnotes to his translation of Ibn Hazm’s dissertation on women attending mosques, after having just dismissed a number of Hadiths with genuine and authentic sanads, and having also committed chicanery in the actual translation, states unashamedly:

“And it was Umar who appointed a well-known and learned companion from a noble family, al-Shifa bint Abdillah al-Adawiyyah, as the supervisor of the market of Madinah.”

Akram Nadwi’s fraud in the translation and footnotes of this particular book will be the subject of a future article insha-Allah.

Yusuf Qardawi, who, like Akram, also has a special penchant for dismissing genuinely authentic Hadiths with real chains of narrations whilst confidently affirming fabricated and chainless narrations in the very same breath, states as a matter of fact in his book, “Malaamih ul-Mujtama’ ul-Muslim”:

ملامح المجتمع المسلم الذي ننشده

وقد عين عمر بن الخطاب في خلافته الشفاء بنت عبدالله العدوية محتسبة على السوق

“Umar ibn al-Khattaab, during his Khilafah, appointed al-Shifaa bint Abdullah al-Adawiyyah as the inspector of the market.”

The celebrity story-teller, Omar Suleiman, in the article, “Gender Equity & the Advent of Islam”, co-authored with two others, somehow manages to provide further detail to the actual duties involved in the imaginary and supervisory role fabricated for al-Shifaa bint Abdullah (radhiyallahu anha):

Coninued in the link below:

reliablefatwas.com/al-shifa-bint-abdullah-radhiyallahu-anha/