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Fatima: Difference between revisions
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==Main Attributes== | ==Main Attributes== | ||
[[File:Fatima 4.jpg|thumbnail| A painting of Fatima by Mahmoud Farshchian, an Iranian master of painting and miniatures.]] | |||
In fact, light and Fatima are always linked: at the anthropogonic stage already mentioned, in Shiʿite commentaries on the Light verse, and at her birth and later in her life, especially when she prayed and meditated. She is said to have been “the source of the light on the horizon,” and it is for that reason that she is called “the Confluence of the Two Lights”, <ref>majmaʿ al-nurayn, i.e., those of exoteric prophecy and of the esoteric imamate; Marandi, pp. 4-19.</ref> and that her most famous epithet was al-Zahra. <ref>Resplendent; Hussain, pp. 46 ff.; Ibn Shahrashub, pp. 106 ff.</ref> Ibn Shahrashub <ref>pp. 133 ff.</ref> listed more than seventy honorary names for Fatima, among which the most common are Maryam Kobra (the supreme Mary), Batul, <ref>lit., “Virgin,” defined by the Prophet as “she who never menstruates”; Ibn Babuya, 1385/1966, p. 181.</ref> and the mysterious Omm Abiha (Mother of her father), which has been variously interpreted. | In fact, light and Fatima are always linked: at the anthropogonic stage already mentioned, in Shiʿite commentaries on the Light verse, and at her birth and later in her life, especially when she prayed and meditated. She is said to have been “the source of the light on the horizon,” and it is for that reason that she is called “the Confluence of the Two Lights”, <ref>majmaʿ al-nurayn, i.e., those of exoteric prophecy and of the esoteric imamate; Marandi, pp. 4-19.</ref> and that her most famous epithet was al-Zahra. <ref>Resplendent; Hussain, pp. 46 ff.; Ibn Shahrashub, pp. 106 ff.</ref> Ibn Shahrashub <ref>pp. 133 ff.</ref> listed more than seventy honorary names for Fatima, among which the most common are Maryam Kobra (the supreme Mary), Batul, <ref>lit., “Virgin,” defined by the Prophet as “she who never menstruates”; Ibn Babuya, 1385/1966, p. 181.</ref> and the mysterious Omm Abiha (Mother of her father), which has been variously interpreted. | ||
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Other salient points in the hagiography of Fatima have been brought together by Veccia Vaglieri: her betrothal and marriage to ʿAli, raised to the level of cosmic events; her glorious resurrection on the Day of Judgment; her complaint to God about the injustices wreaked by the community on her kinsmen and followers; her intervention in favor of the Shiʿites; and her hagiography as it developed in other branches of Shiʿism, specifically the Bateniya. | Other salient points in the hagiography of Fatima have been brought together by Veccia Vaglieri: her betrothal and marriage to ʿAli, raised to the level of cosmic events; her glorious resurrection on the Day of Judgment; her complaint to God about the injustices wreaked by the community on her kinsmen and followers; her intervention in favor of the Shiʿites; and her hagiography as it developed in other branches of Shiʿism, specifically the Bateniya. | ||
==Fatima in Quran== | ==Fatima in Quran== | ||
According to early [[Imami]] writings, the name Fatima is explicitly mentioned in the “integral” Koran, <ref>in 20:115; see Kolayni, p. 283; on the “integral” Koran, see Amir-Moezzi, pp. 200-27.</ref> and early Imami exegetes, finding allusions to Fatima in a number of suras, sometimes resorted to rather daring interpretations, for example, identification of the “night of the decree” (laylat al-qadr) or the “holy spirit” (al-ruh al-qods) with the daughter of the Prophet. <ref>Forat, pp. 581-82.</ref> These interpretations differ little in nature from those of “extremist” ([http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/golat Gholat]), some of whom identify her with the cavern of the Seven Sleepers or with the rock of Moses from which water gushes forth.<ref>characterized by Veccia Vaglieri, p. 849, as “deviant”</ref> The distinction between early esoteric Imamism and the Shiʿism considered “extremist” must be made with great care. <ref>Amir-Moezzi, pp. 313-16.</ref> | According to early [[Imami]] writings, the name Fatima is explicitly mentioned in the “integral” Koran, <ref>in 20:115; see Kolayni, p. 283; on the “integral” Koran, see Amir-Moezzi, pp. 200-27.</ref> and early Imami exegetes, finding allusions to Fatima in a number of suras, sometimes resorted to rather daring interpretations, for example, identification of the “night of the decree” (laylat al-qadr) or the “holy spirit” (al-ruh al-qods) with the daughter of the Prophet. <ref>Forat, pp. 581-82.</ref> These interpretations differ little in nature from those of “extremist” ([http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/golat Gholat]), some of whom identify her with the cavern of the Seven Sleepers or with the rock of Moses from which water gushes forth.<ref>characterized by Veccia Vaglieri, p. 849, as “deviant”</ref> The distinction between early esoteric Imamism and the Shiʿism considered “extremist” must be made with great care. <ref>Amir-Moezzi, pp. 313-16.</ref> | ||