Why didnt Imam Ali ع raise his sword to get Fadak
Reply 1
Janabe Abu Basir asked Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) that when Hazrat Ali (as) became Caliph why he did not take Fadak back. Imam (as) said, because :
"Both the tyrant and the tyrannized had gone to the Court of Allah. The tyrannised is getting the reward of her patience and the tyrant is being punished. For this reason only, Hazrat Ali (as) thought it proper not to take it back, so that this continuation of reward and punishment should not be hampered"
(Elalul Sharaya by Sheikh Sadooq, v 1, pg 154, h 1)
Imam Ali`s reasons for not fighting at the time to restore Fadak are the same as why he didnt fight to claim his rightful throne back, and we have addressed these points in our previous articles
Reply 2
If the Nawasib are still not satisfied then allow us to give a more comprehensive reply from Kanz al Ummal, Volume 11 page 399 Tradition 31519 :
Rasulullah (s) said to Ali:
"When people love this world and shall usurp inheritance and love money so much amd used the religion of Allah as a source of income and the property of Allah as estates, what will you do ? Ali (ra) replied: "I shall leave them alone, and shall seek out Allah (swt), his Prophet (s) and the next world. I Shall bear PATIENCE in relation to worldly problems until I meet you". Rasulullah (s) said: "You spoke correctly, O Allah ! Give Ali patience"
Nasibi objection :
Imam Jafar Sadiq ع said :
"Members of the Ahlul Bayt will not resume property usurped from them. As a matter of fact, when Rasulullah (s) conquered Mecca, he did not take his home back from the Meccans who had usurped it from him"
(Elalul Sharaya by Sheikh Sadooq, v 1, pg 155, h 2)
The above refutation is mentioned in your books. But this refutation is not sound, because Umar bin Abdul Aziz, during his Khilafa, gave the orchard called Fadak to your Imam Muhammad Baqir (as), who accepted it, so that it was possessed by the Ahlul Bayt until it was seized by Abbasid Khalifas.
Reply :
Since Nawasib have deprived themselves from attaining the benefits of the rhetoric and wisdom bestowed on the Ahlulbayt (as), they are incapable of grasping the matter and analyzing the issue from all its aspects. The Nasibi author has stated that "Members of the Ahlul Bayt will not resume property usurped from them" but failed to understand the actual meanings of this belief in the light of the practice of the very members of Ahlulbayt (as). The Nasibis did not understood the key word used in the sentence ie. Resume, whilst the actual meaning of this sentence is that if the members of Ahlulbayt (as) are in power, they "themselves" do not take back the property or any other right that has been usurped from them but they (as) expect the usurpers or their adherents to realize the sin they committed and restore the legitimate right of Ahlulbayt to them (as)"
Let us see one such tradition, recorded by Shaykh Saduq in Elalul Sharaya , Volume 1 page 155 so that the points we have explained become clearer :
Hasan ibn Ali ibn Fadhal narrated from Abul Hasan (Ali ibn Musa Al Ridha) [as] : I asked him about Amir ul Momineen (as), why he did not seek to return Fadak when he ruled the people, and he replied :
"Because we the Ahlul Bayt do not take our rights from those who have wronged us, except Him (Allah). And we are the Awliya of the Momineen, we rule for them and take (and return) their rights from those that wronged them, and we do not take it for ourselves"
The words of the Imam (as) make it clear that they rule for the benefit of the common man, when it comes to their personal usurped rights, they do not take them back themselves rather their expectation is that the usurpers and their adherents express remorse for the sin of usurping the right of Ahlul bayt (as) and accordingly restore that right to them.