HOLY LADY FATIMAH was the only daughter of the Holy Prophet and Holy Lady Khadijah. the circumstances of her birth are described by Holy Lady Khadijah as follows: At the time of the birth of Holy Lady Fatimah, I sent for my neighbouring qurayshite women to assist me. They flatly refused, saying that I had betrayed them by supporting Muhammad.
I was perturbed for a while, when, to my great surprise, I sighted four strange tall women with halos around them, approaching me. Finding me dismayed, one of them addressed me thus, “O Khadijah! I am Sarah, the mother of Ishaq, and the other three are, Mary the mother of Christ, Asiyah the daughter of Muzahim, and Umm kulthum, the sister of Moses. We have all been commanded by God to put our nursing knowledge at your disposal.” saying this, all of them sat around me and rendered the services of midwifery until my daughter Fatimah was born. The motherly blessings and affection received by Holy Lady Fatimah were only for five years, after which Holy Lady Khadijah left for her heavenly home. Hereafter the Holy Prophet brought her up.
Marriage
When Fatimah comes of age, there come forward a number of aspirants ask for her hand in marriage. The Holy prophet was awaiting the Divine order in this respect, till Imam ` Ali approached him and asked for her hand in marriage. The Holy Prophet come to Holy Lady Fatimah and asked, “My daughter! Do you consent to be wedded to ` Ali, as I am so commanded by Allah? “Holy Lady Fatimah thereupon bowed her head in modesty.
Umm Salamah narrates: ” The face of Fatimah bloomed with joy and her silence was so suggestive and conspicuous that the Holy Prophet stood up reciting ` Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is most great). Fatimah’s silence is her acceptance.” On Friday, 1st Dhi’l – Hijjah 2 A H, the marriage ceremony took place. All the Muhajirun (Emigrants) and Ansar (Helpers) of Medina assembled in the mosque while Imam ` Ali was seated before the Holy Prophet with all the ceremonious modesty of a bridegroom. The Holy Prophet first recited an eloquent sermon and they announced: I have been commanded by Allah to get Fatimah wedded to ` Ali, and so I do hereby solemnize the matrimony between ` Ali and Fatimah on a dower of four hundred mithqals of silver.
Then he asked Imam ` Ali, “Do you consent to it, O `Ali? ” Yes, I do, O Holy Prophet of Allah! ” replied Imam ` Ali. Then the Holy Prophet raised his hands to pray thus O my god! bless both of them, sanctify their progeny and grant them the keys of The beneficence, Thy treasures of wisdom and Thy genius; and let them be a source of blessing and peace to my ummah. Her children; Imam Hasan, Imam Husayn, Zaynab and um Kulthum, are well-known for their piety, goodness and generosity. Their strength of character and action changed the course of history and fortified Islam which otherwise would have been lost to mankind.
Her Ethical Attributes
Holy Lady Fatimah inherited the genius and wisdom, the determination and will – power, piety and sanctity, the generosity and benevolence, the devotion and worship of Allah, the self-sacrifice and hospitality, forbearance and patience, and the knowledge and nobility of disposition of her illustrious father, in both words and deeds. ” I often witnessed my mother, “says Imam Husayn, ” absorbed in prayer from dusk to down. “Her generosity and compassion for the poor were such that no destitute or beggar ever returned from her door unattended.
The Property of Fadak
The Holy Prophet during his lifetime gave Holy Lady Fatimah a gift of very extensive land, known as Fadak, which was documented in her name as her absolute property. The death of the Holy Prophet affected her very much and she was very sad and grief-stricken and wept her heart out crying all the time. She was confronted, after the demise of her father, with the deprivement of the rightful claim of leadership of her husband Imam ` Ali, and the usurpation of her inheritance, the Fadak. Throughout her life, she never spoke to those who oppressed her and deprived her of her rightful claims.
She requested that her oppressors should be kept away even from attending her funeral. Her ill-wishers even resorted to physical violence. Once the door of her house was pushed on her, the child she was carrying was hurt and the baby – boy was stillborn. Her house was set on fire. Having been molested and stricken with grief, which crossed all limits of forbearance and endurance, she expressed her sorrows in an elegy composed by herself to mourn her father the Holy Prophet. A couple of the elegy, with particular reference to her woeful plight, she expressed thus: O my father! after your death, I was subjected to such tortures and tyranny that if they had been inflicted on the `Day’, it would have turned into ` Night’.
Continued in the next article: ( Holy Lady Fatima the Daughter of the Prophet (2) )
