Hazrat-e Fatemeh (SA): Truth Patience And Revolutionary Struggle

Words fall immeasurably short when describing the greatness of certain personalities. Their sheer perfection is enough to startle minds and in turn lead to a form of inner silence when tasked with their description. This, indeed, is the quality of great beings. The beloved daughter of the Final Messenger (s), Hazarat-e Fatemeh (sa), stands at the pinnacle of such personalities.

In the course of her short life, which spanned approximately twenty years, she soared to the insurmountable heights of brilliance and perfection. It is enough of a testament that her existence is weaved into the very heart of the Islamic message, since any study of Islam is surely incomplete without her mention. How then does one go about beginning to describe such a personality? Even more importantly perhaps, what practical lessons can we derive from her life and example? Living the Cause The Holy Prophet (s) said: ‘Surely Allah becomes angry for the anger of Fatimah and becomes satisfied for her satisfaction.’ From the early years of her childhood right up to her final moments, Lady Fatima (sa) lived for a single objective: Islam. She shared the pains and sufferings of her father in the harsh, ignorant and oppressive reality of pre-Islamic Makkah. Such was her care, affection and insight that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) referred to her as ‘the mother of her father’. In Medina, new challenges faced the fledgling Islamic community and once again she surged to the forefront in order to protect the faith. It is in the very nature of revolutionary ideologies, particularly religious ones that their veracity hinges upon the characters of its leaders, as well as those of their near kin. In this respect, the role played by Lady Fatima (sa) is particularly important; both in her individual and social life. One cannot help but shed tears when reading about just how simply this great personality lived. Hers was a life qualified by day-to-day hardships in which she grinded wheat, kneaded the dough and contentedly confronted inadequacies in food and other basic needs, which took a cruel toll on her body. Despite the utter simplicity of her life, she was nonetheless a pillar of support for all those around her and an unrivalled figurehead of learning and spirituality. One should not easily overlook the vital role that this example played in instilling the right practical ethics into early Medinite society, particularly its womenfolk to whom Lady Zahra (sa) delivered regular classes and solved their problems. About her worship it is sufficient to narrate the following words that have reached us from the pages of history: ''There was no one in this nation who worshipped more than Fatimah (sa); she used to pray until her feet became swollen.''[2] Generosity and Altruism Imam Hassan (a) narrates: ‘I saw my mother Fatimah (sa) standing up in her mihrab [prayer niche] every Friday night. She bowed and prostrated herself until dawn, and I heard her praying for the believers, naming them, and she prayed much for them and never for herself. So I said to her: O mother! Why don''t you pray for yourself as you pray for others? She said: O my son! The neighbor [first], then the house!’ [3] This overwhelming concern for others and profound selflessness is an integral feature of the life of Lady Fatima (sa). When one inspects the characters of the greatest personalities, be it the blessed Maryam, Prophet Isa or the Final Messenger (peace be upon them all), one notices that their concern for the welfare of others vastly overshadowed any personal concern. Indeed, it was as if they did not have an existence of their own, but rather that theirs was a life for the well-being of others. In this respect, Lady Zahra (sa) stands out as a matchless exemplar of selfless generosity and altruism. So deeply was this quality embedded in her being that Allah, the Almighty, chose to specifically pay tribute to her generosity, sacrifice and sincerity in the Holy Quran.[4] Truth and Patience The Holy Prophet’s wife, ‘Aysha narrates: ‘I have not seen any one more truthful than her - Fatimah – except only her father.’[5] The final months of Lady Fatima’s life, following the death of her father, were undoubtedly the most painful and trying. It was during this period of tribulation that all her matchless attributes could be witnessed most visibly. In the mosque of the Holy Prophet, she delivered her eternally reverberating sermon through which she established the true identity of the Islamic message and sowed the seeds of revolution. The profundity of her words and the contents of her sermon constitute a guiding template for the entire Ummah till the end of time. In fact, even death could not silence the revolution that she began. In a final act of revolutionary struggle, she willed to be buried at night in an unmarked grave so that through this act the Ummah would raise questions, identify those who had wronged her and thereby distinguish truth from falsehood. Peace be upon you, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (a); may Allah (swt) grant us your intercession on the Day of Reckoning.
Source: Islamic Center of England