Once the prophet (pbuh) returned from a journey outside Madinah. He went to the
mosque first of all and prayed two rakats as was his custom. Then, as he often
did, he went to Fatimahs house before going to his wives.
Fatimah welcomed him and kissed his face, his mouth and his eyes and cried.
"Why do you cry?" the Prophet asked."I see you, O Rasul Allah,"she said,"Your
color is pale and sallow and your clothes have become worn and shabby." .
"O Fatimah,"the Prophet replied tenderly, "dont cry for Allah has sent your
father with a mission which He would cause to affect every house on the face of
the earth whether it be in towns, villages or tents (in the desert) bringing
either glory or humiliation until this mission is fulfilled just as night
(inevitably) comes."
With such comments Fatimah was often taken from the harsh realities of daily
life to get a glimpse of the vast and far-reaching vistas opened up by the
mission entrusted to her noble father.
Fatimah eventually returned to live in a house close to that of the Prophet.
The place was donated by an Ansari who knew that the Prophet would rejoice in
having his daughter as his neighbor. Together they shared in the joys and the
triumphs, the sorrows and the hardships of the crowded and momentous Madinah
days and years.
In the middle of the second year after the Hijrah, her sister Ruqayyah fell ill
with fever and measles. This was shortly before the great campaign of Badr.
Uthman, her husband, stayed by her bedside and missed the campaign.
Ruqayyah died just before her father returned. On his return to Madinah, one of
the first acts of the Prophet was to visit her grave.
Fatimah went with him. This was the first bereavement they had suffered within
their closest family since the death of Khadijah. Fatimah was greatly
distressed by the loss of her sister. The tears poured from her eyes as she sat
beside her father at the edge of the grave, and he comforted her and sought to
dry her tears with the corner of his cloak.
The Prophet had previously spoken against lamentations for the dead, but this
had lead to a misunderstanding, and when they returned from the cemetery the
voice of Umar was heard raised in anger against the women who were weeping for
the martyrs of Badr and for Ruqayyah.
"Umar, let them weep,"he said and then added:
"What comes from the heart and from the eye, that is from God and His mercy,
but what comes from the hand and from the tongue, that is from Satan."
By the hand he meant the beating of breasts and the smiting of cheeks, and by
the tongue he meant the loud clamor in which women often joined as a mark of
public sympathy.
The bereavement which the family suffered by the death of Ruqayyah was followed
by happiness when to the great joy of all the believers Fatimah gave birth to a
boy in Ramadan of the third year after the Hijrah. The Prophet spoke the words
of the Adhan into the ear of the new-born babe and called him al-Hasan which
means the Beautiful One.
One year later, she gave birth to another son who was called al-Husayn, which
means "little Hasan" or the little beautiful one.
Fatimah would often bring her two sons to see their grandfather who was
exceedingly fond of them. Later he would take them to the Mosque and they would
climb onto his back when he prostrated. He did the same with his little
granddaughter Umamah, the daughter of Zaynab.
In the eighth year after the Hijrah, Fatimah gave birth to a third child, a
girl whom she named after her eldest sister Zaynab who had died shortly before
her birth. This Zaynab was to grow up and become famous as the "Heroine of
Karbala ".
Fatimahs fourth child was born in the year after the Hijrah. The child was also
a girl and Fatimah named her Umm Kulthum after her sister who had died the year
before after an illness.
It was only through Fatimah that the progeny of the Prophet was perpetuated.
All the Prophets male children had died in their infancy and the two children
of Zaynab named Ali and Umamah died young. Ruqayyahs child Abdullah also died
when he was not yet two years old. This is an added reason for the reverence
which is accorded to Fatimah.
Although Fatimah was so often busy with pregnancies and giving birth and
rearing children, she took as much part as she could in the affairs of the
growing Muslim community of Madinah.
Before her marriage, she acted as a sort of hostess to the poor and d estitute
Ahl as-Suffah. As soon as the Battle of Uhud was over, she went with other
women to the battlefield and wept over the dead martyrs and took time to dress
her fathers wounds.
At the Battle of the Ditch, she played a major supportive role together with
other women in preparing food during the long and difficult siege. In her camp,
she led the Muslim women in prayer and on that place there stands a mosque
named Masjid Fatimah, one of seven mosques where the Muslims stood guard and
performed their devotions.
Fatimah also accompanied the Prophet when he made Umrah in the sixth year after
the Hijrah after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. In the following year, she and her
sister Umm Kulthum, were among the mighty throng of Muslims who took part with
the Prophet in the liberation of Makkah.
It is said that on this occasion, both Fatimah and Umm Kulthum visited the home
of their mother Khadijah and recalled memories of their childhood and memories
of jihad, of long struggles in the early years of the Prophets mission .
There is a miraculous incident related in Al-Bidayah way An-Nihayah, once a
lady sent Fatimah some bread and roasted meat. She put this in a plate and
covered it with cloth. Then she sent a message to her father to come and eat.
When he arrived she removed the cloth and to her astonishment she found the
plate full of bread and plenty of meat. She understood that this abundance and
plenty had come from Allah. She praised Almighty Allah and asked Allah to
mention and bless His and started to serve the meal to him, beginning with
Allah Almightys Name.
When the prophet (pbuh) saw such a huge amount he smiled and asked who had sent
it all. She promptly said Allah gave it to her and He provides sustenance to
whom He pleased without limits Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him) smiled and ate the meal with his daughter and her family .
Yet there was so much food still left over that it was sent to the Mothers of
the Believers.
They also ate their fill and then it was distributed among the neighbors.
In Ramadan of the tenth year just before he went on his Farewell Pilgrimage,
the Prophet confided to Fatimah, as a secret not yet to be told to others:
"Jibril recited the Quran to me and I to him once every year, but this year he
has recited it with me twice. I cannot but think that my time has come."
On his return from the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet did become seriously
ill. His final days were spent in the apartment of his wife Aishah. When
Fatimah came to visit him, Aishah would leave father and daughter together.
One day he summoned Fatimah. When she came, he kissed her and whispered some
words in her ear. She wept. Then again he whispered in her ear and she smiled.
Aishah saw and asked:
"You cry and you laugh at the same time, Fatimah? What did the Messenger of God
say to you?"
Fatimah replied: "He first told me that he would meet his Lord after a short
while and so I cried.
Then he said to me: 'Dont cry for you will be the first of my household to join
me.' So I laughed."
Not long afterwards the noble Prophet passed away. Fatimah was grief-striken
and she would often be seen weeping profusely. One of the companions noted that
he did not see Fatimah, may God be pleased with her, laugh after the death of
her father.
One morning, early in the month of Ramadan, just less than five month after her
noble father had passed away, Fatimah woke up looking unusually happy and full
of mirth.
In the afternoon of that day, it is said that she called Salma bint Umays who
was looking after her. She asked for some water and had a bath. She then put on
new clothes and perfumed herself. She then asked Salma to put her bed in the
courtyard of the house.
With her face looking to the heavens above, she asked for her husband Ali. He
was taken aback when he saw her lying in the middle of the courtyard and asked
her what was wrong.
She smiled and said: "I have an appointment today with the Messenger of God."
Ali cried and she tried to console him. She told him to look after their sons
al-Hasan and al-Husayn and advised that she should be buried without ceremony.
She gazed upwards again, then closed her eyes and surrendered her soul to the
Mighty Creator.
She, Fatimah the Resplendent One, was just twenty nine years old.
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveIslam_LiveIslam/
In the name of Allah, the Most-Merciful, the All-Compassionate
"May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon You"
Praise be to Allaah, we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with
Allaah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah
guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allaah leaves astray, no one
can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness
that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.
Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah
As-Salaam Alaikum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakatuhu
Fatimah Bint Muhammad
(3 of 3)
by Abdul Wahid Hamid
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
