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Fatimah
bint Muhammad
Fatimah was the fifth child of Muhammad
and Khadijah. She was born at a time when her noble father
had begun to spend long periods in the solitude of
mountains around Makkah, meditating and reflecting on the
great mysteries of creation.
This was the time, before the Bithah,
when her eldest sister Zaynab was married to her cousin,
al-Aas ibn ar Rabiah. Then followed the marriage of her
two other sisters, Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum, to the sons
of Abu Lahab, a paternal uncle of the Prophet. Both Abu
Lahab and his wife Umm Jamil turned out to be flaming
enemies of the Prophet from the very beginning of his
public mission.
The little Fatimah thus saw her sisters
leave home one after the other to live with their
husbands. She was too young to understand the meaning of
marriage and the reasons why her sisters had to leave
home. She loved them dearly and was sad and lonely when
they left. It is said that a certain silence and painful
sadness came over her then.
Of course, even after the marriage of
her sisters, she was not alone in the house of her
parents. Barakah, the maid-servant of Aminah, the
Prophet's mother, who had been with the Prophet since his
birth, Zayd ibn Harithah, and Ali, the young son of Abu
Talib were all part of Muhammad's household at this time.
And of course there was her loving mother, the lady
Khadijah.
In her mother and in Barakah, Fatimah
found a great deal of solace and comfort in Ali, who was
about two years older than she, she found a
"brother" and a friend who somehow took the
place of her own brother al-Qasim who had died in his
infancy. Her other brother Abdullah, known as the Good and
the Pure, who was born after her, also died in his
infancy. However in none of the people in her father's
household did Fatimah find the carefree joy and happiness
which she enjoyed with her sisters. She was an unusually
sensitive child for her age.
When she was five, she heard that her
father had become Rasul Allah, the Messenger of God. His
first task was to convey the good news of Islam to his
family and close relations. They were to worship God
Almighty alone. Her mother, who was a tower of strength
and support, explained to Fatimah what her father had to
do. From this time on, she became more closely attached to
him and felt a deep and abiding love for him. Often she
would be at Iris side walking through the narrow streets
and alleys of Makkah, visiting the Kabah or attending
secret gatherings off, the early Muslims who had accepted
Islam and pledged allegiance to the Prophet.
One day, when she was not yet ten, she
accompanied her father to the Masjid al-Haram. He stood in
the place known as al-Hijr facing the Kabah and began to
pray. Fatimah stood at his side. A group of Quraysh, by no
means well-disposed to the Prophet, gathered about him.
They included Abu Jahl ibn Hisham, the Prophet's uncle,
Uqbah ibn Abi Muayt, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and Shaybah and
Utbah, sons of Rabi'ah. Menacingly, the group went up to
the Prophet and Abu Jahl, the ringleader, asked:
"Which of you can bring the
entrails of a slaughtered animal and throw it on
Muhammad?"
Uqbah ibn Abi Muayt, one of the vilest
of the lot, volunteered and hurried off. He returned with
the obnoxious filth and threw it on the shoulders of the
Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, while he
was still prostrating. Abdullah ibn Masud, a companion of
the Prophet, was present but he was powerless to do or say
anything.
Imagine the feelings of Fatimah as she
saw her father being treated in this fashion. What could
she, a girl not ten years old, do? She went up to her
father and removed the offensive matter and then stood
firmly and angrily before the group of Quraysh thugs and
lashed out against them. Not a single word did they say to
her. The noble Prophet raised his head on completion of
the prostration and went on to complete the Salat. He then
said: "O Lord, may you punish the Quraysh!" and
repeated this imprecation three times. Then he continued:
"May You punish Utbah, Uqbah, Abu
Jahl and Shaybah." (These whom he named were all
killed many years later at the Battle of Badr)
On another occasion, Fatimah was with
the Prophet as he made; tawaf around the Kabah. A Quraysh
mob gathered around him. They seized him and tried to
strangle him with his own clothes. Fatimah screamed and
shouted for help. Abu Bakr rushed to the scene and managed
to free the Prophet. While he was doing so, he pleaded:
"Would you kill a man who says, 'My Lord is
God?'" Far from giving up, the mob turned on Abu Bakr
and began beating him until blood flowed from his head and
face.
Such scenes of vicious opposition and
harassment against her father and the early Muslims were
witnessed by the young Fatimah. She did not meekly stand
aside but joined in the struggle in defence of her father
and his noble mission. She was still a young girl and
instead of the cheerful romping, the gaiety and liveliness
which children of her age are and should normally be
accustomed to, Fatimah had to witness and participate in
such ordeals.
Of course, she was not alone in this.
The whole of the Prophet's family suffered from the
violent and mindless Quraysh. Her sisters, Ruqayyah and
Umm Kulthum also suffered. They were living at this time
in the very nest of hatred and intrigue against the
Prophet. Their husbands were Utbah and Utaybah, sons of
Abu Lahab and Umm Jamil. Umm Jamil was known to be a hard
and harsh woman who had a sharp and evil tongue. It was
mainly because of her that Khadijah was not pleased with
the marriages of her daughters to Umm Jamil's sons in the
first place. It must have been painful for Ruqayyah and
Umm Kulthum to be living in the household of such
inveterate enemies who not only joined but led the
campaign against their father.
As a mark of disgrace to Muhammad and
his family, Utbah and Utaybah were prevailed upon by their
parents to divorce their wives. This was part of the
process of ostracizing the Prophet totally. The Prophet in
fact welcomed his daughters back to his home with joy,
happiness and relief.
Fatimah, no doubt, must have been happy
to be with her sisters once again. They all wished that
their eldest sister, Zaynab, would also be divorced by her
husband. In fact, the Quraysh brought pressure on Abu-l
Aas to do so but he refused. When the Quraysh leaders came
up to him and promised him the richest and most beautiful
woman as a wife should he divorce Zaynab, he replied:
"I love my wife deeply and
passionately and I have a great and high esteem for her
father even though I have not entered the religion of
Islam."
Both Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum were happy
to be back with their loving parents and to be rid of the
unbearable mental torture to which they had been subjected
in the house of Umm Jamil. Shortly afterwards, Ruqayyah
married again, to the young and shy Uthman ibn Allan who
was among the first to have accepted Islam. They both left
for Abyssinia among the first muhajirin who sought refuge
in that land and stayed there for several years. Fatimah
was not to see Ruqayyah again until after their mother had
died.
The persecution of the Prophet, his
family and his followers continued and even became worse
after the migration of the first Muslims to Abyssinia. In
about the seventh year of his mission, the Prophet and his
family were forced to leave their homes and seek refuge in
a rugged little valley enclosed by hills on all sides and
defile, which could only be entered from Makkah by a
narrow path.
To this arid valley, Muhammad and the
clans of Banu Hashim and al-Muttalib were forced to retire
with limited supplies of food. Fatimah was one of the
youngest members of the clans -just about twelve years old
- and had to undergo months of hardship and suffering. The
wailing of hungry children and women in the valley could
be heard from Makkah. The Quraysh allowed no food and
contact with the Muslims whose hardship was only relieved
somewhat during the season of pilgrimage. The boycott
lasted for three years. When it was lifted, the Prophet
had to face even more trials and difficulties. Khadijah,
the faithful and loving, died shortly afterwards. With her
death, the Prophet and his family lost one of the greatest
sources of comfort and strength which had sustained them
through the difficult period. The year in which the noble
Khadijah, and later Abu Talib, died is known as the Year
of Sadness. Fatimah, now a young lady, was greatly
distressed by her mother's death. She wept bitterly and
for some time was so grief-striken that her health
deteriorated. It was even feared she might die of grief.
Although her older sister, Umm Kulthum,
stayed in the same household, Fatimah realized that she
now had a greater responsibility with the passing away of
her mother. She felt that she had to give even greater
support to her father. With loving tenderness, she devoted
herself to looking after his needs. So concerned was she
for his welfare that she came to be called "Umm
Abi-ha the mother of her father". She also provided
him with solace and comfort during times of trial,
difficulty and crisis.
Often the trials were too much for her.
Once, about this time, an insolent mob heaped dust and
earth upon his gracious head. As he entered his home,
Fatimah wept profusely as she wiped the dust from her
father's head.
"Do not cry, my daughter," he
said, "for God shall protect your father." The
Prophet had a special love for Fatimah. He once said:
"Whoever pleased Fatimah has indeed pleased God and
whoever has caused her to be angry has indeed angered God.
Fatimah is a part of me. Whatever pleases her pleases me
and whatever angers her angers me."
He also said: "The best women in
all the world are four: the Virgin Mary, Aasiyaa the wife
of Pharoah, Khadijah Mother of the Believers, and Fatimah,
daughter of Muhammad." Fatimah thus acquired a place
of love and esteem in the Prophet's heart that was only
occupied by his wife Khadijah.
Fatimah, may God be pleased with her,
was given the title of "az-Zahraa" which means
"the Resplendent One". That was because of her
beaming face which seemed to radiate light. It is said
that when she stood for Prayer, the mihrab would reflect
the light of her countenance. She was also called
"al-Batul" because of her asceticism. Instead of
spending her time in the company of women, much of her
time would be spent in Salat, in reading the Quran and in
other acts of ibadah.
Fatimah had a strong resemblance to her
father, the Messenger of God. Aishah, the wife of the
Prophet, said of her: "I have not seen any one of
God's creation resemble the Messenger of God more in
speech, conversation and manner of sitting than Fatimah,
may God be pleased with her. When the Prophet saw her
approaching, he would welcome her, stand up and kiss her,
take her by the hand and sit her down in the place where
he was sitting." She would do the same when the
Prophet came to her. She would stand up and welcome him
with joy and kiss him.
Fatimah's fine manners and gentle speech
were part of her lovely and endearing personality. She was
especially kind to poor and indigent folk and would often
give all the food she had to those in need even if she
herself remained hungry. She had no craving for the
ornaments of this world nor the luxury and comforts of
life. She lived simply, although on occasion as we shall
see circumstances seemed to be too much and too difficult
for her.
She inherited from her father a
persuasive eloquence that was rooted in wisdom. When she
spoke, people would often be moved to tears. She had the
ability and the sincerity to stir the emotions, move
people to tears and fill their hearts with praise and
gratitude to God for His grace and His inestimable
bounties.
Fatimah migrated to Madinah a few weeks
after the Prophet did. She went with Zayd ibn Harithah who
was sent by the Prophet back to Makkah to bring the rest
of his family. The party included Fatimah and Umm Kulthum,
Sawdah, the Prophet's wife, Zayd's wife Barakah and her
son Usamah. Travelling with the group also were Abdullah
the son of Abu Bakr who accompanied his mother and his
sisters, Aishah and Asma.
In Madinah, Fatimah lived with her
father in the simple dwelling he had built adjoining the
mosque. In the second year after the Hijrah, she received
proposals of marriage through her father, two of which
were turned down. Then Ali, the son of Abu Talib, plucked
up courage and went to the Prophet to ask for her hand in
marriage. In the presence of the Prophet, however, Ali
became over-awed and tongue-tied. He stared at the ground
and could not say anything. The Prophet then asked:
"Why have you come? Do you need something?" Ali
still could not speak and then the Prophet suggested:
"Perhaps you have come to propose marriage to
Fatimah."
"Yes," replied Ali. At this,
according to one report, the Prophet said simply:
"Marhaban wa ahlan - Welcome into the family,"
and this was taken by Ali and a group of Ansar who were
waiting outside for him as indicating the Prophet's
approval. Another report indicated that the Prophet
approved and went on to ask Ali if he had anything to give
as mahr. Ali replied that he didn't. The Prophet reminded
him that he had a shield which could be sold.
Ali sold the shield to Uthman for four
hundred dirhams and as he was hurrying back to the Prophet
to hand over the sum as mahr, Uthman stopped him and said:
"I am returning your shield to you
as a present from me on your marriage to Fatimah."
Fatimah and Ali were thus married most probably at the
beginning of the second year after the Hijrah. She was
about nineteen years old at the time and Ali was about
twenty one. The Prophet himself performed the marriage
ceremony. At the walimah, the guests were served with
dates, figs and hais ( a mixture of dates and butter fat).
A leading member of the Ansar donated a ram and others
made offerings of grain. All Madinah rejoiced.
On her marriage, the Prophet is said to
have presented Fatimah and Ali with a wooden bed
intertwined with palm leaves, a velvet coverlet, a leather
cushion filled with palm fibre, a sheepskin, a pot, a
waterskin and a quern for grinding grain.
Fatimah left the home of her beloved
father for the first time to begin life with her husband.
The Prophet was clearly anxious on her account and sent
Barakah with her should she be in need of any help. And no
doubt Barakah was a source of comfort and solace to her.
The Prophet prayed for them:
"O Lord, bless them both, bless
their house and bless their offspring." In Ali's
humble dwelling, there was only a sheepskin for a bed. In
the morning after the wedding night, the Prophet went to
Ali's house and knocked on the door.
Barakah came out and the Prophet said to
her: "O Umm Ayman, call my brother for me."
"Your brother? That's the one who
married your daughter?" asked Barakah somewhat
incredulously as if to say: Why should the Prophet call
Ali his "brother"? (He referred to Ali as his
brother because just as pairs of Muslims were joined in
brotherhood after the Hijrah, so the Prophet and Ali were
linked as "brothers".)
The Prophet repeated what he had said in
a louder voice. Ali came and the Prophet made a du'a,
invoking the blessings of God on him. Then he asked for
Fatimah. She came almost cringing with a mixture of awe
and shyness and the Prophet said to her:
"I have married you to the dearest
of my family to me." In this way, he sought to
reassure her. She was not starting life with a complete
stranger but with one who had grown up in the same
household, who was among the first to become a Muslim at a
tender age, who was known for his courage, bravery and
virtue, and whom the Prophet described as his
"brother in this world and the hereafter".
Fatimah's life with Ali was as simple
and frugal as it was in her father's household. In fact,
so far as material comforts were concerned, it was a life
of hardship and deprivation. Throughout their life
together, Ali remained poor because he did not set great
store by material wealth. Fatimah was the only one of her
sisters who was not married to a wealthy man.
In fact, it could be said that Fatimah's
life with Ali was even more rigorous than life in her
father's home. At least before marriage, there were always
a number of ready helping hands in the Prophet's
household. But now she had to cope virtually on her own.
To relieve their extreme poverty, Ali worked as a drawer
and carrier of water and she as a grinder of corn. One day
she said to Ali: "I have ground until my hands are
blistered."
"I have drawn water until I have
pains in my chest," said Ali and went on to suggest
to Fatimah: "God has given your father some captives
of war, so go and ask him to give you a servant."
Reluctantly, she went to the Prophet who
said: "What has brought you here, my little
daughter?" "I came to give you greetings of
peace," she said, for in awe of him she could not
bring herself to ask what she had intended.
"What did you do?" asked Ali
when she returned alone.
"I was ashamed to ask him,"
she said. So the two of them went together but the Prophet
felt they were less in need than others.
"I will not give to you," he
said, "and let the Ahl as-Suffah (poor Muslims who
stayed in the mosque) be tormented with hunger. I have not
enough for their keep..."
Ali and Fatimah returned home feeling
somewhat dejected but that night, after they had gone to
bed, they heard the voice of the Prophet asking permission
to enter. Welcoming him, they both rose to their feet, but
he told them:
"Stay where you are," and sat
down beside them. "Shall I not tell you of something
better than that which you asked of me?" he asked and
when they said yes he said: "Words which Jibril
taught me, that you should say "Subhaan Allah- Glory
be to God" ten times after every Prayer, and ten
times "AI hamdu lillah - Praise be to God," and
ten times "Allahu Akbar - God is Great." And
that when you go to bed you should say them thirty-three
times each."
Ali used to say in later years: "I
have never once failed to say them since the Messenger of
God taught them to us."
There are many reports of the hard and
difficult times which Fatimah had to face. Often there was
no food in her house. Once the Prophet was hungry. He went
to one after another of his wives' apartments but there
was no food. He then went to Fatimah's house and she had
no food either. When he eventually got some food, he sent
two loaves and a piece of meat to Fatimah. At another
time, he went to the house of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari and from
the food he was given, he saved some for her. Fatimah also
knew that the Prophet was without food for long periods
and she in turn would take food to him when she could.
Once she took a piece of barley bread and he, said to her:
"This is the first food your father has eaten for
three days."
Through these acts of kindness she
showed how much she loved her father; and he loved her,
really loved her in return.
Once he returned from a journey outside
Madinah. He went to the mosque first of all and prayed two
rakats as was his custom. Then, as he often did, he went
to Fatimah's house before going to his wives. Fatimah
welcomed him and kissed his face, his mouth and his eyes
and cried. "Why do you cry?" the Prophet asked.
"I see you, O Rasul Allah," she said, "Your
color is pale and sallow and your clothes have become worn
and shabby." "O Fatimah," the Prophet
replied tenderly, "don't cry for Allah has sent your
father with a mission which He would cause to affect every
house on the face of the earth whether it be in towns,
villages or tents (in the desert) bringing either glory or
humiliation until this mission is fulfilled just as night
(inevitably) comes." With such comments Fatimah was
often taken from the harsh realities of daily life to get
a glimpse of the vast and far-reaching vistas opened up by
the mission entrusted to her noble father.
Fatimah eventually returned to live in a
house close to that of the Prophet. The place was donated
by an Ansari who knew that the Prophet would rejoice in
having his daughter as his neighbor. Together they shared
in the joys and the triumphs, the sorrows and the
hardships of the crowded and momentous Madinah days and
years.
In the middle of the second year after
the Hijrah, her sister Ruqayyah fell ill with fever and
measles. This was shortly before the great campaign of
Badr. Uthman, her husband, stayed by her bedside and
missed the campaign. Ruqayyah died just before her father
returned. On his return to Madinah, one of the first acts
of the Prophet was to visit her grave.
Fatimah went with him. This was the
first bereavement they had suffered within their closest
family since the death of Khadijah. Fatimah was greatly
distressed by the loss of her sister. The tears poured
from her eyes as she sat beside her father at the edge of
the grave, and he comforted her and sought to dry her
tears with the corner of his cloak.
The Prophet had previously spoken
against lamentations for the dead, but this had lead to a
misunderstanding, and when they returned from the cemetery
the voice of Umar was heard raised in anger against the
women who were weeping for the martyrs of Badr and for
Ruqayyah.
"Umar, let them weep," he said
and then added: "What comes from the heart and from
the eye, that is from God and His mercy, but what comes
from the hand and from the tongue, that is from
Satan." By the hand he meant the beating of breasts
and the smiting of cheeks, and by the tongue he meant the
loud clamor in which women often joined as a mark of
public sympathy.
Uthman later married the other daughter
of the Prophet, Umm Kulthum, and on this account came to
be known as Dhu-n Nurayn - Possessor of the Two Lights.
The bereavement which the family
suffered by the death of Ruqayyah was followed by
happiness when to the great joy of all the believers
Fatimah gave birth to a boy in Ramadan of the third year
after the Hijrah. The Prophet spoke the words of the Adhan
into the ear of the new-born babe and called him al-Hasan
which means the Beautiful One.
One year later, she gave birth to
another son who was called al-Husayn, which means
"little Hasan" or the little beautiful one.
Fatimah would often bring her two sons to see their
grandfather who was exceedingly fond of them. Later he
would take them to the Mosque and they would climb onto
his back when he prostrated. He did the same with his
little granddaughter Umamah, the daughter of Zaynab.
In the eighth year after the Hijrah,
Fatimah gave birth to a third child, a girl whom she named
after her eldest sister Zaynab who had died shortly before
her birth. This Zaynab was to grow up and become famous as
the "Heroine of Karbala". Fatimah's fourth child
was born in the year after the Hijrah. The child was also
a girl and Fatimah named her Umm Kulthum after her sister
who had died the year before after an illness.
It was only through Fatimah that the
progeny of the Prophet was perpetuated. All the Prophet's
male children had died in their infancy and the two
children of Zaynab named Ali and Umamah died young.
Ruqayyah's child Abdullah also died when he was not yet
two years old. This is an added reason for the reverence
which is accorded to Fatimah.
Although Fatimah was so often busy with
pregnancies and giving birth and rearing children, she
took as much part as she could in the affairs of the
growing Muslim community of Madinah. Before her marriage,
she acted as a sort of hostess to the poor and destitute
Ahl as-Suffah. As soon as the Battle of Uhud was over, she
went with other women to the battlefield and wept over the
dead martyrs and took time to dress her father's wounds.
At the Battle of the Ditch, she played a major supportive
role together with other women in preparing food during
the long and difficult siege. In her camp, she led the
Muslim women in prayer and on that place there stands a
mosque named Masjid Fatimah, one of seven mosques where
the Muslims stood guard and performed their devotions.
Fatimah also accompanied the Prophet
when he made Umrah in the sixth year after the Hijrah
after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. In the following year,
she and her sister Umm Kulthum, were among the mighty
throng of Muslims who took part with the Prophet in the
liberation of Makkah. It is said that on this occasion,
both Fatimah and Umm Kulthum visited the home of their
mother Khadijah and recalled memories of their childhood
and memories of jihad, of long struggles in the early
years of the Prophet's mission.
In Ramadan of the tenth year just before
he went on his Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet confided
to Fatimah, as a secret not yet to be told to others:
"Jibril recited the Quran to me and
I to him once every year, but this year he has recited it
with me twice. I cannot but think that my time has
come."
On his return from the Farewell
Pilgrimage, the Prophet did become seriously ill. His
final days were spent in the apartment of his wife Aishah.
When Fatimah came to visit him, Aishah would leave father
and daughter together.
One day he summoned Fatimah. When she
came, he kissed her and whispered some words in her ear.
She wept. Then again he whispered in her ear and she
smiled. Aishah saw and asked:
"You cry and you laugh at the same
time, Fatimah? What did the Messenger of God say to
you?" Fatimah replied:
"He first told me that he would
meet his Lord after a short while and so I cried. Then he
said to me: 'Don't cry for you will be the first of my
household to join me.' So I laughed."
Not long afterwards the noble Prophet
passed away. Fatimah was grief-striken and she would often
be seen weeping profusely. One of the companions noted
that he did not see Fatimah, may God be pleased with her,
laugh after the death of her father.
One morning, early in the month of
Ramadan, just less than five month after her noble father
had passed away, Fatimah woke up looking unusually happy
and full of mirth. In the afternoon of that day, it is
said that she called Salma bint Umays who was looking
after her. She asked for some water and had a bath. She
then put on new clothes and perfumed herself. She then
asked Salma to put her bed in the courtyard of the house.
With her face looking to the heavens above, she asked for
her husband Ali.
He was taken aback when he saw her lying
in the middle of the courtyard and asked her what was
wrong. She smiled and said: "I have an appointment
today with the Messenger of God."
Ali cried and she tried to console him.
She told him to look after their sons al-Hasan and
al-Husayn and advised that she should be buried without
ceremony. She gazed upwards again, then closed her eyes
and surrendered her soul to the Mighty Creator.
She, Fatimah the Resplendent One, was
just twenty nine years old.
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