Fatima

This article is about Muhammad's daughter. For other people named Fatima, see Fatima (given name). For the town in Portugal, see Fátima, Portugal. For the Marian apparition, see Our Lady of Fátima. For other uses, see Fatima (disambiguation). 

Fatima bint Muhammad (Arabic: فَاطِمَة بِنْت مُحَمَّد, romanized: Fāṭima bint Muḥammad; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (Arabic: فَاطِمَة ٱلزَّهْرَاء, romanized: Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija.^[1] Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam. Fatima's sons were Hasan and Husayn, the second and third Shia Imams, respectively.^[2][3] Fatima has been compared to Mary, mother of Jesus, especially in Shia Islam.^[4][5] Muhammad is said to have regarded her as the best of women^[6][7] and the dearest person to him.^[8][6] She is often viewed as an ultimate archetype for Muslim women and an example of compassion, generosity, and enduring suffering.^[4] It is through Fatima that Muhammad's family line has survived to this date.^[9][7] Her name and her epithets remain popular choices for Muslim girls.^[10][11]

When Muhammad died in 632, Fatima and her husband Ali refused to acknowledge the authority of the first caliph, Abu Bakr. The couple and their supporters held that Ali was the rightful successor of Muhammad,^[4] possibly referring to his announcement at the Ghadir Khumm.^[12] Controversy surrounds Fatima's death within six months of Muhammad's.^[13] Sunni Islam holds that Fatima died from grief.^[3] In Shia Islam, however, Fatima's (miscarriage and) death are said to have been the direct result of her injuries during a raid on her house to subdue Ali, ordered by Abu Bakr.^[14] It is believed that Fatima's dying wish was that the caliph should not attend her funeral.^[15][16] She was buried secretly at night and her exact burial place remains uncertain.^[17][18]

Her most common epithet is al-Zahra (lit. 'the one that shines, the radiant'),^[6] which encodes her piety and regularity in prayer.^[19] This epithet is believed by the Shia to be a reference to her primordial creation from light that continues to radiate throughout the creation.^[6] The Shia Ibn Babawahy (d. 991) writes that, whenever Fatima prayed, her light shone for the inhabitants of the heavens as starlight shines for the inhabitants of the earth.^[20] Other titles of her in Shia are al-Ṣiddiqa (lit. 'the righteous'),^[11] al-Tahira (lit. 'the pure'),^[21] al-Mubaraka (lit. 'the blessed'),^[21] and al-Mansura (lit. 'helped by God').^[6] Another Shia title is al-Muḥadditha, in view of the reports that angels spoke to Fatima on multiple occasions,^[22][23][24] similar to Mary, mother of Jesus.^[25]

Fatima is also recognized as Sayyidat Nisa' al-Janna (lit. 'mistress of the women of paradise') and Sayyidat Nisa' al-Alamin (lit. 'mistress of the women of the worlds') in Shia and Sunni collections of hadith, including the canonical Sunni Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.^[7]

The name Fatima is from the Arabic root f-t-m (lit. 'to wean') and signifies the Shia belief that she, her progeny, and her adherents (shi'a) have been spared from hellfire.^[6][26][27] Alternatively, the word Fatima is associated in Shia sources with Fatir (lit. 'creator', a name of God) as the earthly symbol of the divine creative power.^[28]

A kunya or honorific title of Fatima in Islam is Umm Abiha (lit. 'the mother of her father'), suggesting that Fatima was exceptionally nurturing towards her father.^[29][30][31] Umm al-Aima (lit. 'the mother of Imams') is a kunya of Fatima in Twelver sources,^[4] as eleven of the Twelve Imams descended from her.^[32]

Fatima was born in Mecca to Khadija, the first of Muhammad's wives.^[1] The mainstream Sunni view is that Khadija gave birth to Fatima in 605 CE, at age fifty, five years before the first Quranic revelations.^[2] This implies that Fatima was over eighteen at the time of her marriage, which would have been unusual in Arabia.^[2][3] Twelver sources, however, report that Fatima was born in about 612 or 615 CE,^[2][33][34] when Khadija would have been slightly older.^[35] The report of the Sunni Ibn Sa'd in his Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kubra suggests that Fatima was born when Muhammad was about thirty-five years old.^[35]

The Sunni view is that Fatima had three sisters, named Zaynab, Umm Kulthum, and Ruqayyah, who did not survive Muhammad.^[33] Alternatively, a number of Shia sources state that Zainab, Ruqayyah, and Umm Kulthum were adopted by Muhammad after the death of their mother, Hala, a sister of Khadija.^[33][4] According to Abbas, most Shia Muslims hold that Fatima was Muhammad's only biological daughter,^[33] whereas Fedele limits this belief to the Twelver Shia.^[4] Hyder reports that this belief is prevalent among the Shia in South Asia.^[36] Fatima also had three brothers, all of whom died in childhood.^[37][38][39]

Fatima grew up in Mecca while Muhammad and his few followers suffered the ill-treatment of disbelievers.^[40][3] On one occasion, she rushed to help Muhammad when filth was thrown over him at the instigation of Abu Jahl, Muhammad's enemy and a polytheist.^[40][6] Fatima lost her mother, Khadija, in childhood.^[41][6] When Khadija died, it is said that Gabriel descended upon Muhammad with a message to console Fatima.^[3][6][42]

Marriage

Fatima married Muhammad's cousin, Ali, in Medina around 1 or 2 AH (623–5 CE),^[42][14] possibly after the Battle of Badr.^[43] There is Sunni and Shia evidence that some of the companions, including Abu Bakr and Umar, had earlier asked for Fatima's hand in marriage but were turned down by Muhammad,^[44][14][45] who said he was waiting for the moment fixed by destiny.^[3] It is also said that Ali was reticent to ask Muhammad to marry Fatima on account of his poverty.^[14][31] When Muhammad put forward Ali's proposal to Fatima, she remained silent, which was understood as a tacit agreement.^[14][46] On the basis of this report, woman's consent in marriage has always been necessary in Islamic law.^[47] Muhammad also suggested that Ali sell his shield to pay the bridal gift (mahr).^[48][14]

Muhammad performed the wedding ceremony,^[3] and they prepared an austere wedding feast with gifts from other Muslims.^[3][49][50] Shia sources have recorded that Fatima donated her wedding gown on her wedding night.^[51][52] Later, the couple moved into a house next to Muhammad's quarters in Medina.^[3][6] Their marriage lasted about ten years until Fatima's death.^[53] Fatima's age at the time of her marriage is uncertain, reported between nine and twenty-one.^{[43][54][3][55]} Ali is said to have been about twenty two.^[55][56] 

As with the majority of Muslims, the couple lived in severe poverty in the early years of Islam.^[57][1] In particular, both had to do hard physical work to get by.^[14][58] Shia sources elaborate that Ali worked at various jobs while Fatima was responsible for domestic chores.^[59] It has also been related that Muhammad taught the couple a tasbih to help ease the burden of their poverty:^[60] The Tasbih of Fatima consists of the phrases Allah-hu Akbar (lit. 'God is the greatest'), Al-hamdu-lillah (lit. 'all praise is due to God'), and Subhan-Allah (lit. 'God is glorious').^[61] Their financial circumstances later improved after more lands fell to Muslims in the Battle of Khaybar.^[14][1] Fatima was at some point given a maidservant, named Fidda.^[14]

Following the Battle of Uhud, Fatima tended to the wounds of her father^[62] and regularly visited the graves to pray for those killed in the battle.^[3] Later, Fatima rejected Abu Sufyan's pleas to mediate between him and Muhammad.^[62][3] Fatima also accompanied Muhammad in the Conquest of Mecca.^[3]

Significance

Among others, the Sunni al-Suyuti (d. 1505) ascribes to Muhammad that, "God ordered me to marry Fatima to Ali."^[14][51][56] According to Veccia Vaglieri and Klemm, Muhammad also told Fatima that he had married her to the best member of his family.^[3][63] There is another version of this hadith in the canonical Sunni collection Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, in which Muhammad lauds Ali as the first in Islam, the most knowledgeable, and the most patient of the Muslim community.^[64] Nasr writes that the union of Fatima and Ali holds a special spiritual significance for Muslims, as it is seen as the marriage between the "greatest saintly figures" surrounding Muhammad.^[56]

Ali did not marry again while Fatima was alive.^[65][45] However, al-Miswar ibn Makhrama, a companion who was nine when Muhammad died, appears to be the sole narrator of an alleged marriage proposal of Ali to Abu Jahl's daughter in Sunni sources. While polygyny is permitted in Islam, Muhammad reportedly banned this marriage from the pulpit, saying that there can be no joining of the daughter of the prophet and the daughter of the enemy of God (Abu Jahl). He is also said to have praised his other son-in-law, possibly Uthman or Abu al-As. Soufi notes that the reference to the third caliph Uthman might reflect the Sunni orthodoxy, in which Uthman is considered superior to his successor Ali.^[66]

Buehler suggests that such Sunni traditions that place Ali in a negative light should be treated with caution as they mirror the political agenda of the time.^[14] In Shia sources, by contrast, Fatima is reported to have had a happy marital life, which continued until her death in 11 AH.^[51] In particular, Ali is reported to have said, "Whenever I looked at her [Fatima], all my worries and sadness disappeared".^[51]

The Sunni al-Hakim al-Nishapuri (d. 1014) and al-Khwarazmi (d. 1173^[67]), and the Shia al-Qadi al-Nu'man (d. 974) and al-Tabari al-Shia (eleventh century^[68]), have likened Fatima to the full moon, the sun hidden by clouds, or the sun that has come out of the clouds. The first expression is a common metaphor for beauty in Arabic and Persian. The Shia al-Majlesi (d. 1699) explains that the second expression is a reference to Fatima's chastity, while the third expression refers to her primordial light.^[69]

Soufi details that Fatima's manners closely resembled Muhammad's.^[8] Her gait was also similar to the prophet's, according to Veccia Vaglieri, who also argues that Fatima must have enjoyed good health on the account of bearing multiple children, her arduous house chores, and her journeys to Mecca.^[3] Her sources are silent about the appearance of Fatima, which leads her to the conclusion, "Fatima was certainly not a beautiful woman".^[3] In contrast, the Sunni al-Khwarazmi relates from the prophet that, "If beauty (husn) were a person, it would be Fatima; indeed she is greater," while some Shia authors have likened her to a human houri.^[70][10]

Fatima died in 11/632, within six months of Muhammad's death.^[14][166] She was 18 or 27 years old at that time according to Shia and Sunni sources, respectively.^[33] The exact date of her death is uncertain but the Shia commonly commemorates her death on 13 Jumada II.^[167] The Sunni belief is that Fatima died from grief after Muhammad's death.^[3][4] Shia Islam, however, holds that Fatima's injuries during a raid by Umar directly caused her miscarriage and death shortly after.^[14][4][137]

Al-Tabari mentions the suffering of Fatima in her final days.^[13] Shia traditions similarly describe Fatima's agony in her final days.^[168] In particular, the Isma'ili jurist al-Nu'man similarly reports a hadith from the fifth Imam to the effect that "whatever had been done to her by the people" caused Fatima to become bedridden, while her body wasted until it became like a specter.^[169] This hadith seems to contain a reference to Fatima's injuries during the raid.^[169] Ayoub describes Fatima a symbol of quiet suffering in Islamic piety.^[170] In particular, the Twelver Shia believe in the redemptive power of the pain and martyrdom endured by the Ahl al-Bayt, including Fatima, for those who empathize with their divine cause and suffering.^{[21][171][172]}

Multiple sources report that Fatima never reconciled with Abu Bakr and Umar,^{[134][173][107][15]} partly based on a tradition to this effect in the canonical Sunni collection Sahih al-Bukhari.^[174][175] There are some accounts that Abu Bakr and Umar visited Fatima on her deathbed to apologize, which Madelung considers self-incriminatory.^[134] As reported in al-Imama wa al-siyasa,^[176] Fatima reminded the two visitors of Muhammad's words, "Fatima is part of me, and whoever angers her has angered me."^[13][176] The dying Fatima then told the two that they had indeed angered her, and that she would soon take her complaint to God and His prophet, Muhammad.^[75][177] There are also Sunni reports that Fatima reconciled with Abu Bakr and Umar, though Madelung suggests that they were invented to address the negative implications of Fatima's anger.^[134]

• ^{Reference: /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatima}