resistance instead, and refused to budge.
Short of actually following through on his threat and
killing all of Muhammad’s closest family, Omar was left,
as he saw it, with only one option. If Ali would not come
out, then he, Omar, would have to force his way in. He
took a running leap and threw his whole weight against
the door, and when the latches and hinges gave and it
burst open, all six feet of him came hurtling through,
unable to stop as he slammed full force into the person
who happened to be on the other side of the door at that
moment. That person was Fatima, several months
pregnant with the Prophet’s third grandson.
Some say she was only badly bruised. Others that she
broke her arm as she fell. But all agree that even Omar
was stunned by the sight of the Prophet’s heavily
pregnant daughter doubled over in pain at his feet. As
Ali bent over his injured wife, Omar retreated without
another word. He had made his point.
A few weeks later, the fragile Fatima gave birth to a
stillborn infant boy. Nobody was sure if the miscarriage
was a result of her being knocked down by Omar or
whether she was so frail that it would have happened
regardless. Either way, some overture might have been
warranted from Abu Bakr, or at least from Omar, but
there was none. Indeed, there was less than none.
To add insult to the injury that had already been done
her, Fatima would now lose the property she considered