Is it proven that ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote a letter to the Nile in Egypt so that its water would flow by Allah’s leave?

I want to know the authenticity of the story about Umar writing a
letter to River Nile. It seems to me as illogic, for the Qur'aan and
the Saheeh Sunnah do not teach such thing. Also that for drought,
Salah Ul Istisqa is authentically established.
Praise be to Allaah.
Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
It was narrated to us via Ibn Luhay'ah from Qays ibn al-Hajjaaj from
someone who told him: When Egypt was conquered, its people came to
'Amr ibn al-'Aas and said to him: O Ameer, this Nile of ours is used
to something andcannot flow unless it is done. He said, What is that?
They said: On the twelfth night of this month, we take a young girl
from her parents, and we placate her parents, then we dress her in
jewellery and the finest garments there can be, then we throw her into
this Nile.
'Amr said to them: This issomething that cannot happen in Islam; Islam
erases that which came before it (of bad customs).
So they stayed for a while, during which the Nile did not flow at all,
neither a little nor a lot, until they thought of leaving. Then 'Amr
wroteto 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, telling him about that. He wrote to him,
saying: You did the right thing. Iam sending you a piece of paper with
my letter; throw it into the Nile.
When his letter came, 'Amr took the piece of paper on which was written:
"From the slave of Allah 'Umar, Ameer al-Mu'mineen, to the Nileof the
people of Egypt.
To proceed: If you only flow on your own initative, then do not flow,
for we have no need of you. But if you only flow on the command of
Allah, the One, the Subduer, and He is the One Who causesyou to flow,
then we askAllah, may He be exalted,to make you flow."
He threw the paper in the Nile and by Saturday morning, Allah had
caused the Nile to flow (to a depth or width of) sixteen cubits in one
night, and Allah put an end to that custom of the people of Egypt
untiltoday.
End quote from al-Bidaayah wa'n-Nihaayah, 7/114-115
Similar reports were alsonarrated by Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam in Futooh
Misr,p. 165; al-Laalkaa'i in Sharh I'tiqaad Ahl as-Sunnah, 6/463; Ibn
'Asaakir in Tareekh Dimashq, 44/336; Abu'sh-Shaykh in al-'Azamah,
4/1424, via Ibn Luhay'ah.
This is a da'eef isnaad that is not saheeh, and this report cannot be
proven with such an isnaad. Ibn Luhay'ah – whose full name was
'Abdullah ibn Luhay'ah ibn 'Uqbah – is da 'eef ashe used to get mixed
up,and in addition to that he is mudallis. See at-Tahdheeb, 5/327-33;
Mizaan al-I'tidaal, 2/475-484
Qays ibn al-Hajjaaj is sadooq, from the sixth level of hadeeth
narrators (tabaqah) according to al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar; they are the
ones who it is not proven that they met any of the Sahaabah. See:
Taqreeb at-Tahdheeb, 1/25
Sometimes he narrated it as a mursal report and sometimes he narrated
itfrom the one who told him, but the one who told him is majhool and
not known.
So the report is da'eef (weak) and is not saheeh (sound)
If this story were true, everyone would know about it and it would be
well known, and it would have been widelynarrated through confirmed
isnaads, because it is an important and significant event, the like of
which should not be ignored; rather an incident less significant than
this would not be overlooked by historiansand narrators.
And Allah knows best.

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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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