Fatima: Difference between revisions

Fatima was probably the youngest daughter of [[Muhammad]] and his first wife, [[Khadija]], the only daughter to live long enough to bear numerous offsprings. Her date of birth is variously given as between five years before and two years after the beginning of the Prophet’s mission. <ref>Lammens, pp. 8-14.</ref> She was particularly close to her father and is said to have followed him to Medina shortly after his emigration (hejra). Although there is disagreement over details, she became the wife of the Imam [[ʿAli ibn Abi Talib|Ali b. Abi Taleb]] probably in 2/623-24. Muhammad arranged this marriage in obedience to divine will, having already rejected requests for her hand by Abu Bakr, ʿOmar, and probably the very wealthy ʿAbd-al-Rahman b. ʿAwf. <ref>Ibn Saʿd, pp. 11-20; Ibn Rostam, p. 12.</ref>  

Before the occupation of the prosperous oasis of Khaybar ʿAli and Fatima were poor. As long as she lived Fatima was ʿAli’s only wife and bore him five children: [[Hasan]], [[Hussain ibn Ali|Hussain]], Muhassen (or Muhsen, dead at very young age), Omm Kulthum, and [[Zaynab]]. She was apparently much affected by her father’s death and died of illness in Medina a few months later, in 11/633. Reports on her death, her burial, and the exact place of her grave are contradictory. <ref>Yaʿqūbī, Taʾrīḵ II, pp. 128-30; Tabari, III, pp. 2436 ff.; Masʿūdī, Morūj VI, p. 165.</ref> Today three sites in Medina are visited as her burial place.

She seems to have performed only three acts of political significance, each recorded in almost all sources, both [[Sunni]] and [[Shiʿa|Shiʿite]], though in different versions. First, after the conquest of Mecca she refused her protection to [[Abu Sufyan]]; second, after the death of the Prophet she courageously defended ʿAli’s cause, fiercely opposed the election of Abu Bakr, and had violent disputes with him and particularly with ʿOmar; third, she laid claim to the property rights of her father and challenged Abu Bakr’s categorical refusal to cede them, particularly Fadak and a share in the produce of Khaybar.

Her luminous pre-existential entity, issuing from the divine light thousands of years before the creation of the world, devoted itself to the praise of God while circumambulating the divine throne. <ref>Ibn Babuya, 1385/1966 pp. 135 ff.; Khazzaz, pp. 110-11, 169-70.</ref> Her name, like those of all the people of the mantle, was derived from a divine name. <ref>al-Fater “the Creator”; Ibn Babuya, 1405/1985, p. 252; No’mani, p. 137; Ibn ʿAyyash, p. 23.</ref> She was present in the light of the fourteen impeccable ones when it was placed in Adam’s loins (solb). It was because of this light that angels were ordered to prostrate themselves before him. <ref>Hasan al-ʿAskari, pp. 219 ff.; Ibn Babuya, 1385/1966, pp. 6, 209; idem, 1405/1985, p. 255.</ref> Among the names God taught to Adam <ref>Koran 2:31-33.</ref> were those of the people of the mantle, including that of Fatima. <ref>Hasan al-ʿAskari, p. 217; Forat, p. 56.</ref>

According to early [[Imami]] writings, the name Fatima is explicitly mentioned in the “integral” Quran, <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>

Esoteric or popular beliefs about Fatima, often connected with episodes in her hagiography, constitute the basis of several feasts and pilgrimages ([[ziara]]). The most important of the former are commemorations of the ordeal ([[mubahala]]) witnessed by the ahl al-ʿabaʾ, who are thus recognized as legitimate leaders of the community, celebrated on 21 Dhu’l-hejja; <ref>Schmucker; Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 550-91.</ref> of Fatima’s birth (mawludiya) on 21 Ramadan, with a secondary celebration on 15 Shaʿban (which also commemorates the birth of the Mahdi Fatemi; the laylat al-baraʿa; the death of Salman); of her death on 3 Jomada II, with a secondary celebration on 2 Ramadan; of her figure as al-Masjed al-Aqsa, on 27 Rajab, commemorating Muhammad’s meʿraj. <ref>Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 576-77.</ref> Specific ziarat are made for Fatima at Medina. <ref>Massignon, 1969, III, pp. 295 ff.</ref> In private [[Rawza-Khani|rawza-khani]] (recitation of the [[martyrdom]] of Hussain) assemblies held by Persian women at any time of year, the most popular story is of Fatima’s invitation to a wedding, where she converts those present. <ref>ʿarusi-e Qoraysh; Massignon, 1969, I, p. 580.</ref> Special offerings are dedicated to Fatima: small pots (digcha-ye hazrat-e Zahra) on the last Wednesday of Safar and samanu, a kind of pudding reputed to have been her favorite dish. <ref>Shakurzada, pp. 26-27, 46 ff., 83; Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 47 n. 2.</ref> On the last Wednesday of the solar year [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/caharsanba-suri chaharshanba suri] some families used to break and replace their earthenware pots in her honor. <ref>Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 146 n. 2.</ref> Offerings and thanks are dedicated to Fatima as an intercessor on various occasions and in various sanctuaries throughout the Islamic world. She is especially invoked by Shiʿite women during childbirth. <ref>Massignon, 1969, III, p. 296.</ref>

Popular devotion finds its utmost expression in representations of redemptive suffering focused on the [[Karbala]] paradigm. As mistress of the bayt al-ahzan (house of sorrows) and the Day of Judgment, <ref>Ayoub, 1978, pp. 48 ff., 212 ff.</ref> Fatima is present in most rituals as an “icon”: She wears a crown for Muhammad, a necklace or sword for ʿAli, and earrings of diamonds and rubies for Hasan and Hussain. <ref>Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 517, 568, 583, 612; Kashefi, p. 67; Calmard, p. 416; Ayoub, pp. 213-14.</ref> Hussain’s daughters Fatima Kobra, who allegedly married her cousin [[Qasim b. al-Hasan|Qasim b. Hasan]] at Karbala, and the sickly [[Fatima Soghra]], who remained in Medina, were both named after her. <ref>Kashefi, pp. 24, 391 ff.; Calmard, pp. 390, 393, 401.</ref> Banners ([[Alam|ʿAlam]]) related to Fatima are carried in [[Muharram]] processions. The 17th-century traveler Adam Olearius mentioned having seen at Ardabil a miraculous ʿalam allegedly made by her daughter. <ref>Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 131.</ref> The large Bibi ka ʿalam, made of gold (with pendant diamonds on each side symbolizing earrings), is carried on an elephant in Ashura processions at Hyderabad, Deccan, and is venerated by both Sunnites and Shiʿites. <ref>Hollister, p. 169; Pinault, pp. 158-59.</ref> The symbol of the open hand of Fatima (cf. the hand of God among Jews, of Mary among Christians) is widespread in Sunnite areas, <ref>Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, I, p. 23, II, pp. 2 ff., with illustrations and references to Venus and Babylonian cults.</ref> but among Shiʿites the open hand (panja) represents that of Hazrat-e [[ʿAbbas b. ʿAli]] (q.v.), severed at Karbala. <ref>Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 27 n. 1; Eilers, p. 111 n. 7.</ref> Rawza-khanis and other liturgies and rituals connected with Fatima also found their way into passion plays ([[taʿzia]]; see bibliography).