stylistic:tone, structural:scholar_edition
Shia views

Umar is viewed very negatively in the literature of Twelver Shi'a (the main branch of Shia Islam) and is often regarded as a usurper of Ali's right to the Caliphate. After the Saqifah assembly chose Abu Bakr as caliph, Umar marched with armed men to Ali's house in order to get the allegiance of Ali and his supporters. Sources indicate that a threat was made to burn Ali's house if he refused, but the encounter ended when Fatimah, wife of Ali, intervened. According to the majority of Twelver scholar writings, Fatimah was physically assaulted by Umar, that this caused her to miscarry her child, Muhsin ibn Ali, and led to her death soon after. (see Umar at Fatimah's house). However, some Twelver scholars, such as Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, reject these accounts of physical abuse as a "myth", although Fadlallah mentioned that his speech is a probability, and not a certain reason to reject that event.

Another Shia sect, the Zaidiyyah followers of Zaid ibn Ali, generally has two views about that. Some branches, such as Jaroudiah (Sarhubiyya), don't accept Umar and Abu Bakr as legitimate caliphs. For instance, Jarudiyya believes that Muhammad appointed Ali and believes that the denial of the Imamate of Ali after Muhammad's passing would lead to infidelity and deviation from the right path. The other view accepts Umar and Abu Bakr as legitimate caliphs, albeit inferior to Ali. According to al-Tabari (and Ibn A'tham), when asked about Abu Bakr and Umar, Zayd ibn Ali replied: "I have not heard anyone in my family renouncing them both nor saying anything but good about them...when they were entrusted with government they behaved justly with the people and acted according to the Qur'an and the Sunnah."