Fadail Sayyidat Al Nisa Al Alamin Fatima Zahra (SA)
Fatima was the youngest of the daughters of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. She was born before the mission of the Prophet ﷺ when Quraysh were rebuilding the Kabbah, and some people differed about when she was born. Most of them agreed it was before the mission. She was named Fatima because Allah inspired His Messenger to name her that, and also the name of the woman who raised the Prophet ﷺ was also Fatimah. She was the most beloved to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said: She is a part of me; what distresses her distresses me, and what harms her harms me.
She had three titles: Zahra, Batul (because God set her apart from other women in beauty, virtue, and honor, or due to her devotion to God), and Umm Abiha (because of her love for her father and the way she looked after him).
Scholars such as Al Subki, Ibn Hajar, and others said she was called Al Zahra because she never menstruated. She was a pure, immaculate human houri, who never menstruated nor bled during childbirth. If she did, it was only for an hour and it ended within that hour so that she would never miss a prayer. It is narrated by some that she never missed a prayer. If you read these and think of Shia narrations, let me tell you that they are not Shia narrations at all. Hanafi and Shafi'i scholars included this in their books, and they held this belief. Works from Ottoman-era scholars are available for you to verify. Scholars who held this belief and those who followed it were supported by a very large group.
The Prophet ﷺ would pass by her house and recite, and he did this for six months: Indeed, Allah desires to remove all impurity from you, O People of the House, and to purify you completely. Aisha (RA) said: I never saw anyone more similar in manner, demeanor, and guidance to the Messenger of Allah than his daughter Fatima. Once Fatima came and stood before him, and he saw that the blood had left her face and she was pale from hunger. He ﷺ prayed for her, and after that, she never felt hunger again. The Prophet ﷺ told Ali: I was commanded (by Allah) to marry you (to Fatima) from the heavens. When Ali married Fatima, the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Give her something.’ Ali replied: ‘I have nothing.’ The Prophet said: ‘Where is your Hutamiyya armor?’ ... So he gave it as her dowry, and its value was four hundred dirhams.
Fatima endured hardship and hunger, sometimes going days without food, yet she never complained or asked Ali for more than he could provide. She said: I am too shy before Allah to burden you with what you cannot afford. The Prophet ﷺ would visit her home for forty mornings after her marriage, saying: I am at war with those who are at war with you, and at peace with those who are at peace with you. Ibn Abbas narrated that the Prophet said: The lady of the women of the worlds is Mary, then Fatima, then Khadija, then Asiya. The Prophet ﷺ said: Faṭimah is part of me, and I do not like that she be harmed. By Allah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah and the daughter of the enemy of Allah will never be together under one man. The Prophet ﷺ said: Indeed, Allah is pleased with your pleasure and is angered by your anger (Fatima).
The Prophet ﷺ said: Fatima protected her chastity, so Allah made her and her descendants forbidden for the Fire. She once complained to her father and asked for a servant; he told her a specific dhikr, and that is tasbih Fatimah. And Ali (AS) said: I have never missed doing that dhikr after every prayer ever since I heard him telling it to Fatima (Musnad Ahmad). The Prophet ﷺ compared her to Maryam, saying: Allah will treat you, O Fatima, as He treated Maryam. When Fatima received a gold necklace as a gift, the Prophet ﷺ warned her about the dangers of worldly adornment. She immediately sold the necklace and used the dirhams to free a slave. The Prophet ﷺ then said: Praise be to Allah who has saved Fatima from the Fire.
Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn fell ill, so the Prophet visited them among some people. They said: "O Abu al-Hasan, if you vow, then Faatimah vowed that if they recover, they will fast three days." They recovered, but they had nothing. So Ali borrowed from a Jewish man named Aas'a. Faatimah prepared food and brought it to him at sunset. A beggar was standing at the door, asking for food. Ali said: Faatimah, the daughter of the best of people, with glory and certainty, do you not see the miserable and poor? He stands at the door, complaining to God and seeking help, complaining to us, hungry and sad. Every person is bound by what he earns, and the doer of good seeks help. His appointment is in the Garden of Eden. God has forbidden it to the stingy. And for the miser, there is a humiliating position; he loves to be thrown into the fire, into the prison. Faatimah said: Your command is heard.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said to Fatimah: Are you not pleased that you are the leader of the women of Paradise, and your two sons are the leaders of the youth of Paradise? The Messenger said: Fatima will carry my offspring. Aisha narrated that Fatima said: The Prophet ﷺ confided to me 'You will be the first of my family to join me, and what a good predecessor I am for you!' She said: So I wept. And she passed away six months after the passing of Rasul Allah ﷺ.
Imam Ahmad narrated from Raf'i: Fatima fell ill, and on the day of her death, she said to me: O my slave girl, pour me some water to wash. So I washed myself in the best way I ever did. Then she put on new clothes and said: Place my bed in the middle of the house. So I lay down on it and faced the qiblah and said: O my slave girl, I am about to be taken away now and I have washed myself, so let no one uncover my face. So she died. Ali came and I told him, so he carried her and buried her after she had washed herself. This is what Ibn Ibn Hajar Asqalani narrated in his work and deemed the most authentic report about this, as the isnad is sound.
Her funeral was carried at night, and Fatima was the first Muslim woman to have a covered bier (a type of coffin or funeral carriage) to preserve her modesty. This was suggested by Asma bint Umays, who had seen such a practice in Abyssinia. Fatima was pleased with this and saw it as a good practice, and thus decided to use it, as it protected her body from being outlined or exposed during the funeral. Imam Ali, along with her sons and a small group of close companions such as Salman, Abu Dharr, Miqdad, Ammar, Abbas, and a few others, performed the funeral rites and buried her. The Prophet said: When the Day of Resurrection comes, it will be said: O people of the assembly, lower your gaze until Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, passes by, and she will pass by wearing two green or red cloaks (Mujam Kabir).
Scholars which I mentioned above, and Al Suyuti, al Minawi, Ibn Hajar, and Al Subki, consider her the most superior woman of this nation, then her mother, and then Aisha. She had 5 kids (Muhsin is disputed): Imam Hassan AS, Imam Husayn AS, Muhsin, Zaynab SA, and Umm Khulthum SA. And what a blessing she has that most of the great saints of God in this nation, especially those at the highest level, were from her descendants. The Sultan Awliya was a double Sayyid, and many other saints of this nation were also from her descendants.
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