The Dimensions of Lady Fatima's (a.s.) Character in Details
The Birth
Another characteristic of Lady Fatima is her generosity and giving. The stories of her granting her wedding gown to...
Another characteristic of Lady Fatima is her generosity and giving. The stories
of her granting her wedding gown to a needy person on the night of her wedding
and giving food to those who needed it for three consecutive nights (remaining
hungry for those nights) when she and her family might have been the ones in
need of it most (because they were fasting those three days and didn’t have any
other food in the house to break their fasts with) are famous. The latter has
been mentioned in surah Dahr (Insan) of the Qur’an.
Her worship is so vast, that it covers every second of her life; her behavior,
her speaking, her looking, her efforts, even her breathing throughout the day
and night were all worship.1 Every night, after putting her children
to sleep and running all of the remaining chores in the house, she would stand
to prayer, to the extent that her blessed feet would become swollen.2
Her excellence’s worship is so unique, that the light coming from it would
astonish and give pleasure to the angels of high ranks, to the extent that
seventy-thousand high-ranked angels would send peace and blessings upon her.3
One of the things that the Shia is proud of is the Sahifa or book of Fatima (a.s.).
Shias believe that this book has been given to Lady Fatima (a.s.) through divine
inspiration.4
The modesty and covering of Lady Fatima (a.s.): Many different beautiful
instances of Lady Fatima’s (a.s.) doings and sayings regarding hijab and
covering have been reported that women need to follow. One day, the Prophet (pbuh&hh)
asked those present in the mosque: “What is the best way of living for women?”
Lady Fatima (a.s.), answered through Salman (who had gone to Lady Fatima’s (a.s.)
house for an answer that he didn’t know): “It is best for women not to see non-mahram
men and for non-mahram men not to see them either.”5
In the end, we will point to the most important trait that she must be followed
in, which is the defending of imamate and wilayah. That is because she is the
one who exhibited the best defense against imamate and wilayah after the death
of the Prophet (pbuh&hh).6 She was well acquainted with the people of
her time and knew that they didn’t deserve her guidance and also didn’t bear the
courage to rise along with her against the situation that had come up after the
Prophet’s (pbuh&hh) death, yet she wanted to defame misguidance and unveil the
truth for future generations. As she herself said: “I know that you are all
pitiful and caught in the claws of despicableness. Not helping has taken over
your whole existence and the cloud of unfaithfulness has shadowed over your
hearts, what can I do? For I am burning inside and cannot hold my tongue from
complaining.”7
Lady Fatima (a.s.) never hesitated in unveiling the truth, so that all Muslims
throughout history would know that silence isn’t acceptable regarding important
issues that have to do with culture and religion and that they must be
confronted. She stood up against the falsification of Islam, revealing the truth
and making clarifications, because she knew through divine inspiration and the
angel Jibra’il what was to take place in the future and knew that eventually one
day, some deserving hearts would embrace this truth and play an important role
in the fruiting of imamate and the achievement of the goal of creation.8
* Source: shiastudies.net
1- Ihqaqul-Haqq,
vol. 4, pg. 481.
2- Biharul-Anwar, vol. 42, pg. 117.
3- Ibid, vol. 43, pg. 12, hadith 6.
4- From the will of Imam Khomeini, Sahifeye Nour, vol. 21, pg. 171. We are proud
to have supplications from our imams that have also been named “the ascending
Qur’an” (signifying that they have no difference with “the descending Qur’an”
other than the fact that one is ascending to Allah (swt) from his best servants
and the other is descending from Allah (swt)). We are proud to have the
supplication of Munajat Sha’baniyyah of the Imams, the Dua’a Arafat of Imam
Hussein (a.s.), the Sahifah Sajjadiyyah of Imam Sadjad (a.s.) and the Mus-haf of
Fatima or the Sahifah of Fatima which was revealed unto her through divine
inspiration.
5- Wasa’elul-Shia, vol. 14, pp. 43 and 172; Biharul-Anwar, vol. 43, pg. 54.
6- Ayatullah Misbah Yazdi, Jami az Zolale Kowsayr, pg. 145.
7- Kashful-Ghummah, vol. 1, pg. 491; Al-Ihtijaj, pg. 102; Dala’ilul-Imamah, pg.
37.
8- Ayatullah Misbah Yazdi, Jami az Zolale Kowsayr, pg. 149.
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