تويت
Fatimah az-Zahra’ (s.a.) was different from all women in her high qualities and noble characteristics that took her to the highest rank of virtue and perfection. She was an example of her father’s morals and mentality. She resembled him in his deep faith in Allah the Almighty, asceticism, and refraining from pleasures of this life. Here, we talk about some of Fatimah’s characteristics:
Infallibility
Fatimah (s.a.) was infallible, and this is an indisputable fact. Allah had purified her from every sin and every defect, and endowed her with all virtues to make her an example for all the women of the world. She was an ideal example in faith, worship, chastity, purity, charity, and kindness to the poor and the deprived.
Proofs on her infallibility
1. The verse of purification; Allah has said, “Allah only desires to keep away the uncleanness from you, O people of the House, and to purify you a (thorough) purifying.” 33:33
The People of the House (the Ahlul Bayt) were Ali, Fatimah, al-Hasan and al-Husayn (a.s.).1 The verse clearly proves the infallibility and purity of these persons from every sin and vices. Allah had chosen these people to be examples for His people and guides to His obedience and pleasure. It is impossible for Allah to give sinners or guilty people this gift. Infallibility, in its concept, definitely would not be far from the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) who were the centers of knowledge and wisdom in Islam. For forty years, I have researched and written books on them, but I could find a slip neither in their sayings nor in their doings. Even their enemies, who were full of grudge against them, did not mention any fault or any bit of deviation about them. Imam Ali (a.s.) says, ‘By Allah, if I am given the seven districts with all that under their skies to disobey Allah in a bran of a grain of barley that I deprive it of a mouth of a locust, I will never do.’ This far extent of piety in the imams is the very infallibility that the Shia believe to be in their imams. Anyhow, Fatimah (s.a.) was one of the fourteen infallible members of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). 2. The Prophet (S) made all his nation, through his repeated sayings, know that Fatimah (s.a.) was a part from him, and that whatever pleased her would please him and whatever displeased her would displease him. That she was a part from the Prophet (S) means that she was infallible since the Prophet (S) was infallible. 3. The true traditions that were transmitted from the Prophet (S) confirmed that Allah would be pleased with the pleasure of Fatimah (s.a.) and would be displeased with her displeasure. These traditions mean that Fatimah (s.a.) had reached a degree of faith and piety that would take her to the same rank of the infallible prophets who sincerely obeyed Allah and knew Him as He was. 4. The Prophet (S) compared his progeny to the Book of Allah as in the mutawatir (successive) tradition of “ath-Thaqalayn”, and since the Book of Allah is infallible from any falseness, so are the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.); otherwise, the Prophet (S) would not compare them to the Book of Allah. Fatimah (s.a.) was at the head of the pure progeny of the Prophet (S) and was the mother of all the infallible imams (except Imam Ali) whom Allah had purified from all uncleanness. Charity to the Poor
Fatimah (s.a.) was charitable and too kind to the poor and the deprived. She, her husband,and her two sons were meant by these Qur’anic verses, “And they give food out of love for Him to the poor, the orphan, and the captive. We only feed you for Allah’s sake; we desire from you neither reward nor thanks.” 76:8-9
Fatimah (s.a.) milled wheat and barley for her poor neighbors who were unable to do that. She carried water to her weak neighbors who could not get water. On the night of her wedding, Fatimah (s.a.) had a new dress on. When she knew that a young woman from the Ansar2 could not find a dress to put on, she took off her wedding dress and gave it to that young woman. Fatimah (s.a.) turned away from every material pleasure and preferred the satisfaction of Allah to everything. Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari said,‘Once, the messenger of Allah (S) led us in offering the Asr (afternoon) Prayer, and when he offered the nafila (a supererogatory prayer), he sat in the qibla and people sat around him. A very old man came complaining of hunger and saying, ‘O prophet of Allah, I am hungry. Feed me! And I am naked (have no clothes). Clothe me!’. The Prophet (S) asked the old man to go to the house of his (the Prophet) daughter Fatimah (s.a.). The old nomad man went to Fatimah’s house and from behind the door he greeted her and said, ‘O daughter of Muhammad, I am naked and hungry. Would you please comfort me, may Allah have mercy on you?’ Fatimah (s.a.) herself was in neediness, and she found nothing to give to the man except a sheepskin that her sons al-Hasan and al-Husayn slept on. The old man did not like it and he gave it back to her. Then, Fatimah (s.a.) took a necklace, which was a present from her cousin Fatimah bint Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib, off her neck and gave it to the man. The old man took the necklace and went back to the Prophet (S) saying to him, ‘Fatimah gave me this necklace and said to me, ‘Sell it! May Allah recompense you with good for it.’ The Prophet (S) cried and said, ‘And how does Allah not recompense you with good for it while the daughter of Muhammad, the principal of the daughters of Adam, has given it to you?’ Ammar bin Yasir asked the Prophet (S), ‘O messenger of Allah, do you permit me to buy this necklace?’ The Prophet (S) said, ‘Buy it, Ammar! If the human beings and the jinn participate in it, Allah will not punish them with Fire.’ Ammar said, ‘O Sheikh (old man), how much is the necklace?’ The old man said, ‘I sell it for a meal of bread and meat, a Yemeni garment that I cover my private parts and offer prayer for my Lord with, and a dinar that takes me to my family.’ Ammar said to him, ‘I give you twenty dinars, two hundred dirhams, a Yemeni garment, my camel to take you to your family, and a meal of wheat bread and meat.’ The old man said, ‘O man, how generous you are!’ He left delightedly saying, ‘O Allah, there is no god but You. O Allah, give Fatimah what no eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard of.’ Ammar perfumed the necklace with musk, enveloped it in Yemeni garment, and gave it one of his slaves saying to him, ‘Take this necklace to the messenger of Allah (S) and you will be his.’ When the slave took the necklace to the Prophet (S), the Prophet (S) asked him to take it to Fatimah (s.a.) who took it and set the slave free. The slave smiled. Fatimah (s.a.) asked him what made him smile and he said, ‘What made me smile was the great blessing of this necklace. It satiated a hungry one, clothed a naked one, made a poor one rich, freed a slave, and then returned to its owner.’
3 Asceticism
Fatimah (s.a.) led an ascetical life, and lived in satisfaction away from the worldly pleasures like her father the Prophet (S) and her husband Imam Ali (a.s.) who had divorced this world and been abstinent from its pleasures. When these verses, “And surely Hell is the promised place of them all. It has seven gates; for every gate there shall be a separate party of them.” 15:43-44
were revealed to the Prophet (S), he cried too much and his companions cried for his crying though they did not know why he cried. One of the companions went to Fatimah (s.a.) who was milling barley and reciting, “And whatever is with Allah is better and more lasting.” 28:60
he greeted and told her about the crying of her father. She wrapped herself with a ragged cloak that was sewed with palm-tree leaves and went to the meeting of her father. When Salman saw her, he said, ‘How sorrowful! The daughters of Caesar and Khosrau are in sarcenet while the daughter of the messenger of Allah wears a ragged wool cloak.’ Fatimah (s.a.) came to the Prophet (S) and told him what Salman said, and then she said, ‘By Him Who has sent you with the truth, I and Ali since five years have nothing but a sheepskin. We give food on it to our camel in the day and in the night we sleep on it, and our pillow is from leather filled with palm-tree fibers.’ Then she asked her father about the reason of his crying and he told her about the revelation of those verses. She said, Woe and woe unto whoever enters Fire.’4 Anas bin Malik said, ‘Once, Fatimah came to the Prophet (S) and said, ‘O messenger of Allah, I and Ibn Abi Talib (Imam Ali) have no bed except a sheepskin. We sleep on it, and give food to our camel on it in the day.’ The Prophet (S) said to her, ‘My daughter, be patient! Moses son of Imran lived with his wife for ten years and she had no bed except an aba.’5 Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari said, ‘Once, the Prophet (S) saw his daughter Fatimah in a ragged garment while milling with her hand and suckling her child. His eyes shed tears and he said, ‘O my daughter, bear the bitterness of this life for the sake of the sweetness of the afterlife…’ She declared her satisfaction by saying, ‘Praise be to Allah for His favors and thanks to Him for His blessings…’6 Fatimah (s.a.) lived a very simple life with no pleasures or any kind of luxury. In her conducts, she showed the real picture of Islam and gave Muslim woman lessons of satisfaction with what Allah had determined for man. Fatimah (s.a.) abstained from all desires of life in food, clothes, and others and she turned sincerely to Allah and preferred pleasing Him to everything else.
Chastity and Veiling
Fatimah (s.a.) was the highest example in chastity, honor and veiling for all Muslim women. Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘Once, a blind man asked permission to visit Fatimah (s.a.), but she asked him to stay behind a screen. The messenger of Allah (S) asked Fatimah (s.a.), ‘Why did you screen him though he is blind and could not see you?’ She said, ‘He could not see me, but I could see him.’ The Prophet (S) said, ‘I witness that you are a part from me.’7 Once, Imam Ali (a.s.) asked Fatimah (s.a.), ‘When is woman closer to her Lord?’ She said, ‘When she keeps to her house…’ Imam Ali (a.s.) offered her answer to the Prophet (S) who said, ‘She is true. Fatimah is a part from me.’8 Veil is beauty and honor for woman. Whenever woman adorns herself with chastity, she will be in a highest position and most honorable rank besides gaining admiration of them all. But if woman is unveiled and unchaste, she will be worthless in the society and no one will appreciate her. The veil and chastity of Fatimah (s.a.) is a high example that every woman who wants to live regardable and honorable in the society.
Deep Faith
Definitely, no one can suspect the unequaled faith and worship of Fatimah (s.a.). She spent most of her days and nights in worshipping. Imam al-Hasan (a.s.) said, ‘Some night, I saw my mother Fatimah (s.a.) in her mihrab bow and prostrate (offer prayers) until the light of morning appeared. I heard her praying to Allah for the believing men and the believing women and mentioning them by name. She prayed to Allah for them too much, but without praying for herself. I said to her, ‘Why do you not pray to Allah for yourself mother?’ She said, ‘O my son, the neighbor (first) and then the house…’9 Al-Hasan al-Basri said about Fatimah (s.a.), ‘No one in the umma worshipped Allah more than Fatimah (s.a.). She offered prayers in the night until her feet swelled.’10 It was transmitted from Fatimah (s.a.) her saying, ‘Whoever raises his true worship to Allah, Allah will send down to him the best of his benefit.’11 Fatimah (s.a.) assigned the last hours of the day of Fridays for Allah the Almighty. In the last ten days of Ramadan, Fatimah (s.a.) spent all the night in worshipping and supplicating, and she encouraged all those in her house to spend the night in worshipping and supplicating. Her feet swelled because of her long standing before Allah the Almighty.12
Devotedness
Fatimah (s.a.) devoted herself to Allah and resorted to Him totally in all of her affairs. This was clear in her du’as.
Her Du’a on Turning to Allah
Fatimah (s.a.) often supplicated Allah with this du’a,“O Allah, by Your knowing of the unseen and Your power over the creation, make me live if You know that life is better to me, and make me die if You know that death is better to me. O Allah, I ask You for loyalty, and for the fear of You in pleasure and in anger, and for economy in wealth and poverty. O Allah, I ask You for incessant bliss, and ask You for ceaseless delight, and ask You for satisfaction with fate, and ask You for a good life after death, and ask You for the looking at Your Face, and the eagerness to Your meeting without a harming distress or a dark sedition. O Allah, adorn us with adornment of faith, and make us guided and guides, O You the Lord of the worlds!” 13
Her Du’a on Resorting to Allah
She recited in this du’a,“O Allah, make me satisfied with what You have given to me, honor me and give me good health as long as You make me live, forgive me and have mercy on me when You make me die. O Allah, do not afflict me with asking for what You have not determined for me, and whatever You have determined for me make it easy and accessible. O Allah, reward my parents for me and whoever has done me a favor with the best of reward. O Allah, take me to what You have created me for, do not make me busy with what You have already secured to me, do not punish me while I ask You to forgive me, and do not deprive me while I beg You. O Allah, make me humble to myself, make Your standing great to me, and inspire me with Your obedience and the doing of what pleases You and avoiding what displeases You, O You the most Merciful of the merciful.” 14
Her Du’a of Tasbih
Her Du’a of Tasbih15 Fatimah (s.a.) recited in this du’a, “Glory be to Him Who has shone with might and power. Glory be to Him Who has hidden in seven heavens that no eye can see. Glory be to Him Who has lowered creatures with death and honored Himself with life. Glory be to Him Who remains and everything else perishes. Glory be to Him Who has chosen praise to Himself and accepted it. Glory be to the Ever-living, the Omniscient. Glory be to the Forbearing, the Honorable. Glory be to the Most High, the Great. Glory be to Allah and by His praise.”16
Her Du’a on an Important Thing
Fatimah (s.a.) supplicated to Allah with du’a for relieving griefs and fulfilling needs: “By Yaseen and the Wise Qur'an, and by Taha and the Great Qur'an, O You, Who is able to fulfill all needs of requesters, Who know what is there inside conscience, O You Who cheer up the distressed, Who relieve the grieved, O
You Who is merciful to the old, Who nourish infants, O You Who do not need expression, have blessings on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad!”17 Her Du’a for Making Things Easy
“O Allah the Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the great throne, our Lord and the Lord of everything, the Revealer of the Torah, the Bible and the Qur'an, the Splitter of grains and stones, I seek Your protection from everything that You will pull down. You are the First that nothing was before You, and You are the Last that nothing will be after You. You are the Evident that there is nothing above You, and You are the Hidden One that there is nothing below You. Pay for me the debt and save me from poverty!”18
Her Du’a for Healing
“In the name of Allah the light, in the name of Allah the light of light, in the name of Allah a light on light, in the name of Allah Who is the Manager of affairs, in the name of Allah Who has created the light from the light, praise be to Allah Who has created the light from the light, and sent down the light on the mountain in a recorded book, in a spread parchment, in a determined measure, on a happy prophet. Praise be to Allah Who is with glory mentioned, with pride is known, for better or for worse is thanked, (O Allah) and send blessings on our master Muhammad and on his pure progeny!”19
Her Du’a in Morning and Evening
“O You the Ever-living, the Eternal, by Your mercy I ask for help; so help me and do not let me be deceived by my self for a twinkle of an eye at all, and repair all my affairs!”20
Her Du’a at Sleeping
“Praise be to Allah the Sufficer, glory be to Allah the Highest. Allah is sufficient to me and enough. What Allah wills he fulfills. Allah hears whoever calls upon Him. There is no escape from Allah, and no ****ter beyond Allah. “Surely I rely on Allah, my Lord and your Lord; there is no living creature but He holds it by its forelock; surely my Lord is on the right path.” (11:56). “Praise be to Allah, Who has not taken unto Himself a son, and Who has no partner in the Sovereignty, nor has He any protecting friend through dependence. And magnify Him with all magnificence.” (17:111).”21 Fatimah (s.a.) supplicated Allah on every day of the week with a special du’a. The following are her du’as of the week days:
Her Du’a on Saturday
“O Allah, open to us the treasures of Your mercy, and give us, O Allah, a mercy that You torture us after it neither in this life nor in the afterlife, give us from Your wide favor a halal (lawful), good livelihood, do not make us in neediness, do not make us need other than You, make us more grateful to You, and make us more in need to You and satisfied and abstinent with You than any other than You. O Allah, enrich us in this life. O Allah, we seek Your protection from turning Your face away from us in a case where we look forward to You in it! O Allah, have blessing on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, and give us what You like, and make it strength to us in what You like, O You the Most Merciful of the merciful!”
Her Du’a on Sunday
“O Allah, make the first of this day prosperity, the middle of it, righteousness, and the last of it success! O Allah, have blessing on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, and make us from those who turn to You and You receive them, and rely on You and You satisfy them, and beg You and You are Merciful to them…”
Her Du’a on Monday
“O Allah, I ask You for strength in worshipping You, insight in Your Book, and understanding in Your commands. O Allah, have blessing on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, and do not make the Qur'an barren with us, the straight path crooked, and Muhammad (blessings of Allah be on him and on his progeny) averting from us!”
Her Du’a on Tuesday
“O Allah, make the inadvertence of people as a mention to us, and make their mention as gratitude to us, and make the good we say by our tongues as a true intention in our hearts. O Allah, Your forgiveness is greater than our sins, and Your mercy is more hopeful than our deeds. O Allah, have blessing on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, and lead us rightly to the good deeds and right doings…
” Her Du’a on Wednesday
“O Allah, guard us by Your eye that does not sleep, by Your ****ter that is beyond reach, and by Your great attributes. O Allah, send blessing on Muhammad and his progeny, and keep for us what if other than You keeps, it will be lost, and cover for us what if other than You covers, it will be exposed, and make all that obedient to us, for You are the Hearing of du’a, Near, Responder…
” Her Du’a on Thursday
“O Allah, I ask You for guidance, piety, chastity, and the doing of what You like and please. O Allah, I ask You from Your might for our weakness, from Your richness for our poverty, and from Your patience and knowledge for our ignorance. O Allah, send blessings on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, and assist us in thanking, mentioning, obeying and worshipping You by Your mercy, O You the Most Merciful of the merciful.”
Her Du’a on Friday
“O Allah, make us the nearest of those who come near to You, the best of those who turn to You, and the most successful of those who ask and supplicate You. O Allah, make us from those who as if they see You until the Day of Resurrection when they will meet You, and do not make us die except on Your satisfaction. O Allah, make us from those who are sincere to You in their deeds, and the most beloved to You from among all Your people. O Allah, send blessings on Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad, and forgive us with definite forgiveness that we do not commit an error after it, nor do we engage in a sin or an offence. O Allah, bless Muhammad and the progeny of Muhammad with growing, continuous, pure, successive, recurrent blessing by Your mercy, O You the Most Merciful of the merciful.”22 You can easily see in these du’as the essence of Islam and the true faith in Allah that Fatimah (s.a.) had. Her Amulet
Fatimah (s.a.) sought the protection of Allah through this amulet that was written in it: “In the name of Allah, O You the Ever-living, the Eternal, by Your mercy I ask for help; so help me and do not let me be deceived by my self for a twinkle of an eye at all, and repair all my affairs!”23
Tasbih of Fatimah (s.a.)
After every prayer Fatimah (s.a.) offered, she recited the tasbih that the Prophet (S) had taught her only. Ameerul Mo'minin Imam Ali (a.s.) said, “Fatimah was the most beloved one to her father. The quern had affected her hands. She carried water with the skin until it affected her neck. She swept the house until her clothes became dusty. She set fire under the ****ing pot until her clothes darkened with smoke. She suffered some harm because of that. One day, we heard that some slaves were brought to the Prophet (S). I said to Fatimah, ‘You could go to your father asking him for a servant to help you.’ She went to her father but found him busy. She felt shy to ask him and then she came back. On the second day, the Prophet (S) came to Fatimah’s house and asked her why she had come to him the day before, but she felt shy to tell him. I said, ‘By Allah, I shall tell you O messenger of Allah. She milled with the quern until her hands were affected, carried water with the skin until her neck was affected, swept the house until her clothes became dusty, and set fire under the ****ing pot until her clothes darkened. We were informed that some slaves or servants were brought to you, and so I said to her to ask you for a servant.’ The Prophet (S) said, ‘Shall I tell you about what is better than what you ask me for? When you go to bed, you recite thirty-four takbirs, thirty-three tasbihs, and thirty-three tahmids.24 This is better for you than a servant.”25 The Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) paid too much attention to this tasbih. They taught it to their sons and daughters as an educational method and spiritual nourishment. Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, ‘We teach our children the memorizing of this tasbih and reciting it after prayer and at sleeping.’ Reciting this tasbih is a kind of glorification of Allah. Fatimah (s.a.) loyally practiced this tasbih and heartily kept on it since the moment when her father had taught it to her. She went to the tomb of her uncle, the eternal martyr Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib, took a handful of soil from his tomb, and made the beads of her rosary by which she practiced this tasbih called as the “tasbih of Fatimah”. Muslims imitated her in taking rosaries to glorify Allah with. When Imam al-Husayn (a.s.) was martyred, the Shia made their rosaries from the soil of Kerbala where the imam was buried to practice with them the “tasbih of Fatimah”. They also made, and still make, from the soil of Kerbala small dried pieces to prostrate on them in the prayers. Many traditions were transmitted from the infallible imams about the preference of this soil.
Fatimah’s worship
The happiest times Fatimah (s.a.) had were the times when she communicated with her Lord in prayer. When she offered the prayer, her heart traveled high to the Divine Sphere, and her body shook out of the fear of her Lord. After each prayer, Fatimah (s.a.) devotedly supplicated to her Lord with some du’as. The following are some of those du’as:
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