Martyrdom of Our Innocent Lady of Qom
Dec 29, 2017 05:35 UTC
Salaam and heartfelt condolences to you on the sad passing away anniversary of a very noble lady, who despite her departure from the mortal world exactly 1239 lunar years ago, continues to guide those seeking her intercession in the Divine Court.
Her holy shrine in the Iranian city of Qom, which today is the centre of diffusion of the genuine teachings of Islam all over the world, is one of the important sites of pilgrimage for the faithful from all parts of the globe.
Named Fatema in honour of her illustrious ancestress, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (peace upon her), the Immaculate Daughter of Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny), she earned the epithet of ‘Masouma’ because of her spotless personality.
"There will pass away in Qom a lady of my descendants known as Fatema bint Musa, by whose intercession believers will enter the heaven.”
What you heard were the words of a grandfather regarding his granddaughter, decades before the girl was born. The grandfather was no ordinary person, neither was the granddaughter.
He was the Prophet’s 6th Infallible Heir, Imam Ja’far Sadeq (AS), the same person who had expressed the famous statement on the holiest sanctuaries of Islam and their location in the following words:
“Indeed, God has a sanctuary and that is Mecca (the Holy Ka’ba); the Messenger of God (Prophet Muhammad) has a sanctuary and that is Medina; the Commander of the Faithful (Imam Ali) has a sanctuary and that is Kufa (in Iraq) and we (the Ahl al-Bayt) have a sanctuary and that is Qom (in Iran).”
These truthful words of Imam Sadeq (AS) were materialized in 202 AH, 54 years after his martyrdom, when his prophesied granddaughter, left Medina to visit her brother Imam Reza (AS), who had been forced to come to Khorasan by the crafty self-styled caliph, Mamoun, but before reaching her destination, circumstances compelled her to break her journey in the city of Qom, where she passed away 17 days after her arrival.
Today, the 10th of Rabi as-Sani is that fateful day when the soul of this noble lady left the mortal world for the ethereal heavens, thereby materializing the prophecy that on the Day of Resurrection, among the 8 gateways to paradise, one will be from Qom.
Fatema al-Ma’soumah (peace upon her) needs no introduction. She was the consanguineous sister of Imam Reza (AS), thus sharing the same mother, the noble lady Najma, although 25 years separated the birth of the two siblings.
She was divinely inspired. Her knowledge of the holy Qur’an, the Hadith, and the jurisprudential laws of Islam was proverbial. She is the narrator of several hadith on the virtues of the Ahl al-Bayt including the famous event of Ghadeer-Khom where on Divine Commandment Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny) had proclaimed his dear cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS) as vicegerent on the 18th of Zilhijja in 10 AH.
In fact, her knowledge was divinely-inspired as is evident by the perfect answers she provided in the absence of her father, while still a small girl, to a group of pilgrims from Iran who submitted a series of questions at the house of the 7th Imam in Medina. Later when this group of Iranians chanced to meet Imam Kazem (AS) on their return journey, they showed him the set of answers his little daughter had provided to their questions. The Imam, on seeing her perfectly correct answers, remarked “Fidaha Abuha”, which means “may her father be sacrificed for her”.
Ma’soumah was as virtuous as the Mother of Jesus the Virgin Mary (peace upon them), which means no man of her age was worthy of her hand, and this was the reason she did not marry, although girls in Arabia were usually married in their early teens.
Thus at the age of 28, along with some of her brothers, she started on her long journey across Arabia, Iraq and into the Iranian heartland, when her entourage was attacked near Saveh (west of modern Tehran) by brigands affiliated to the usurper Abbasid regime, resulting in the martyrdom of two of her brothers.
Suffering exhaustion from the arduous journey and possibly wounded from the skirmish, she and her entourage turned towards nearby Qom, where the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt accorded them a grand reception.
The Ash’ari clan of Yemeni origin which had shifted to Qom from Kufa because of the tyranny of the Abbasid regime gave her a grand funeral and laid her to eternal rest in a garden outside the city which has since become a sprawling golden-domed mausoleum, thronged throughout the year by pilgrims from all over the world.
On hearing of her death, Imam Reza (AS) expressed deep sorrow, and said: Whoever visits her grave, aware of her status, paradise is the reward. He also said:
“Whoever visits Ma’suma in Qom is like the one who has visited me.”
Now we better understand why the bliss of paradise is associated with Our Innocent Lady of Qom, and why Imam Sadeq (AS) had given the tidings of the intercession with God Almighty on Resurrection Day of his granddaughter.
No wonder, Qom has become the centre of diffusion of the genuine teachings of Islam with students coming from all over the globe to learn the legacy of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt.
Let us join the pilgrims and the angels at her shrine to salute her in the proper manner with the words:
"O Fatema! Intercede for me for (the reward of) paradise, for indeed you
AS/MG
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