(241)
Chapter 50: Fadak in the Political Arena
In addition to being a reason encouraging others to
be unjust to Ahlul-Bayt, the usurping of Fadak by Abu Bakr ignited political
unrest throughout history. Sheikh Ja'far Subhani, a leading historian,
wrote the following in his book The Message p.601 regarding Fadak throughout
history:
"The foundation of the deprivation of the descendants
of Fatima's claim of Fadak was laid in the time of the First Caliph. After
the martyrdom of Ali, Mu'awiyah assumed the reins of government and divided
Fadak amongst three persons (Marwan, Amr bin Uthman and his own son, Yazid).
During the period of the Caliphate of Marwan, all three shares were assumed
by him and he gifted them to his son, Abdul Aziz. He, in turn, gave the
same to his son, Umar. On account of the fact that Umar Bin Abdul Aziz
was an upright person from amongst Bani Umayyah, the first heresy which
he removed was that he returned Fadak to the descendants of Fatima. After
his death, however, the succeeding Umayyad Caliphs again took away Fadak
from the Bani Hashim and it continued to remain in their possession till
their rule came to an end.
During the Caliphate of Bani Abbas, the question of
Fadak vacillated in a strange manner. For example, Saffah
gave it to Abdullah Bin Hassan and after him Mansur
Dawaniqi took it back, but his son Mahdi returned it to
the descendants of Zahrah. After him Musa and Harun took
it away from them on account of some political
