The Holy Prophet (SA) said, “The best of the women of the world are four: Maryam bint Imran, Asiya bint Muzahim, Khadija bint Khuwaylid, and Fatima bint Muhammad.”
From them, the best is Lady Fatima al-Zahra (AS). It is important to learn about them because they are our role models.
Fatimah al-Zahra bint Muhammad (SA)
“Indeed We have given you abundance. So pray to your Lord, and sacrifice. Indeed it is your enemy who is without posterity (Surah Kawthar, 108:1-3).”
The daughter of Prophet Muhammad (SA) and Lady Khadijah bint Khuwaylid was born in Mecca on Friday, the 20th of Jamadi al-Thani in the fifth year after the declaration of the Prophetic message.
Lady Fatimah has nine names:
- Fatimah, traditions state that this name means her followers are protected from Hell-fire
- al-Siddiqa (the Truthful one)
- al-Mubarakah(the Blessed one)
- al-Tahirah (the Pure one)
- al-Zakiyyah (the Chaste one)
- al-Radhiyyah (the Grateful one)
- al-Mardhiyyah (the One who shall be Pleased), traditions state that she will be pleased on the Day of Judgment when her followers are forgiven,
- al-Muhaddathah (the one other than a prophet to whom an angel speaks)
- al-Zahra (the Splendid one).
Lady Fatima has numerous other titles like Sayyidat Nisa al-‘Alamin (the Leader of the Women of the Worlds), Umm Abiha (the Mother of her Father), Umm al-Aimma (the Mother of the Imams), Batul, Hawra, Insiya, Kawthar (the Fountain in Paradise) and Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Power).
The motherly blessings and affection Lady Fatimah received from her mother were only for five years, and then her beloved mother passed away. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of the sorrows Lady Fatimah would witness in her short life. She constantly saw her father mistreated by the Meccans. However, she would put on a smile and treat his wounds, earning the title Umm Abiha.
In the first year of Hijrah, after the Holy Prophet (SA) migrated to Medina, Lady Fatimah (AS) was married to Imam ‘Ali (AS). Indeed, no one but Imam ‘Ali was worthy to be her husband. When the Prophet (SA) asked how he found Fatimah, Imam ‘Ali (AS) replied that she was the best help in worshiping Allah.
In her small home, Lady Fatimah (AS) raised such children who would illuminate the earth with their guidance. Imam Hasan and Husayn (AS) were her sons, who are the Masters of the youths of Paradise. Muhsin was sadly martyred while still in his mother’s womb. Her daughters are Lady Zaynab and Lady Umm Kulthum, who saved the message of Imam Husayn (AS) after Karbala.
The Holy Prophet said many traditions about Lady Fatimah; alas, the Muslims neglected them. He said, “Whoever annoys her, he has surely annoyed me, and whoever annoys me, he has surely annoyed Allah,” and “Fatimah is a part of me, angers me what angers her, and delights me what delights her.”
Every morning on his way to the mosque he would pass by Fatimah’s house and say, “Peace be with you, O Ahl al-Bayt (Household of the Prophet) and the Substance of the Message.”
Lady Fatimah (AS) was a perfect embodiment of knowledge, wisdom, determination, piety, generosity, patience, self-sacrifice and devotion. Her sons would witness her absorbed in prayer from dusk to dawn. They would ask if she prayed for them, and she would answer that we must pray for others before ourselves. No beggar or destitute ever returned from her door empty-handed, not even on her wedding night.
Even when Fizza came to help Lady Fatimah as a servant, Lady Fatimah divided the work equally. Lady Fizza acquired so much knowledge from the blessed home of Lady Fatimah that for years Lady Fizza only spoke using the verses of the Holy Qur’an.
One of her special gifts to the Muslim ummah is the tasbih of her name, which we have mentioned is greater than 1,000 rak’ah of prayers. It will always remind every worshiper of Allah of the devotion and piety of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra (AS).
“Indeed We have given you abundance. So pray to your Lord, and sacrifice. Indeed it is your enemy who is without posterity (Surah Kawthar, 108:1-3).”
As a daughter, her father stood up for her and called her Umm Abiha. As a wife, Lady Fatimah (AS) never complained or asked Imam ‘Ali (AS) for anything. As a mother, she was loving and affectionate so much so that on her last day the children would not eat and kept asking where their mother was. Not only is Lady Fatima an ideal daughter, wife, and mother, but she is also an epitome of a leader, a teacher, a servant of Allah, and a defender of Imamate. She is the one with whose pleasure Allah is pleased and with whose displeasure Allah is displeased. Lady Fatima (AS) is the one who was tested (Mumtahana) before her creation.
The Ahl al-Bayt (AS) faced their greatest trials after the Holy Prophet (SA) passed away on the 28th of Safar, 11 AH. There are different narrations, but Lady Fatimah only lived 75 or 90 days (and some say six months) after her father passed away.
Those who usurped the right of Imam ‘Ali to be the successor of the Prophet (SA) gathered at the house of Lady Fatimah (AS) and, to get to Imam ‘Ali (AS), burned her door. Lady Fatimah (AS) was behind the door and that is how her unborn son Muhsin was martyred. Lady Fatimah (AS) would mourn the Prophet (SA), but the people would ask Imam ‘Ali to tell her not to cry. The usurpers also took her garden named Fadak from her, so she gave the famous Sermon of Fadak. Of course, Fadak was a symbol of the Imamate which they had usurped.
The exact location of her grave will not be known until Imam Mahdi appears and informs us. The reason it is a secret is to make the Muslims ponder on why the daughter of the Prophet passed away so displeased and unhappy. Her grave may be in Jannat al-Baqi’, her house, or between the Prophet’s tomb and his minbar (pulpit).
The dates for her martyrdom are 13th Jamadi al-Awwal or 3rd Jamadi al-Thani, 11 AH. Lady Fatimah (SA) was only eighteen years old when she passed away. Imam ‘Ali (AS) states that she was a flower nipped in the bud, who has left her fragrance in his mind. Even though he married afterwards, he always mourned his beloved wife Fatimah and never dyed his hair to show that he was still in mourning.
Before her demise, Lady Fatimah (SA) made a will to Imam ‘Ali (AS) to bathe her at night, shroud her at night, and bury her at night so that those who had displeased her should not be allowed to attend her funeral.
Imam ‘Ali (AS) made forty graves in Jannat al-Baqi. Alas, the brave lion of Allah who had remained patient while Fatimah (SA) was suffering could bear it no longer when people came the next day and said they would dig up the graves to perform the funeral prayer of the daughter of the Prophet (SA).
