Farewell O Most Noble Lady

Heartfelt condolences to you on a very tragic day. It is the day when the noblest lady that ever graced Planet Earth was forced to leave the mortal world for defending the God-given rights of her husband.

Now we have a special feature on this sad occasion that continues to plunge in grief the followers of the blessed household of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).

“O Prophet of Allah, peace be upon you from me and from your daughter who has come to you and who has hastened to meet you.

“O Prophet of Allah, my patience about (the sufferings of) your chosen (Fatema) has been exhausted, and my power of endurance has weakened, except that I have ground for consolation in having endured the great hardship and heart-rending event of your separation. I laid you down in your grave when your last breath had passed (when your head was) between my neck and chest.

“Surely, those who, when an affliction visits them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and to Him do we indeed return.’ (Holy Qur'an 2:156)

“Now the trust has been returned and what had been given has been taken back. As to my grief, it knows no bounds, and as to my nights they will remain sleepless till Allah chooses for me the house in which you are now residing.

“Certainly, your daughter will apprise you of the ganging together of (certain people of) your Ummah for oppressing her. You ask her in detail and get all the news about the position. This has happened when a long time had not elapsed and your remembrance had not disappeared.

“My salaam (salutation) be on you both, the salaam of a grief stricken but not a disgusted or hateful person; for if I go away it is not because I am weary (of you), and if  I stay it is not due to lack of  belief  in what Allah has promised the patients. (Nahj al-Balagha Sermon 201)

What you heard and read were the words of a bereaved husband for his beloved wife. To be more precise this is how the Commander of the Faithful, the Leader of the Pious, Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), expressed grief while to rest Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), as the couple’s two little sons, Imam Hasan (AS) and Imam Husain (AS), watched in silence with tears flowing down their cheeks.

Today is the day of the tragic martyrdom anniversary of the Apple of the Eye of the Almighty’s Last and Greatest Messenger, that is, his only daughter, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA). There can be no better description of the tragedy that struck the Ahl al-Bayt, especially the aggrieved husband and children than the above recited words of Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS).

He said these moving sentences while laying her in an unmarked grave at a stil unidentified spot in Medina in the dead of night on the 3^rd of Jamadi al-Akher, with only a few loyal companions in attendance, barely 95 days after the passing away of her father.

She had the suffered the tragedy of miscarriage and subsequent death in defence of the political right of leadership of her husband, as a consequence of the storming upon her of the door of her blessed house by a roguish group of her father’s companions, who ignoring God’s express commandment in declaring Imam Ali (AS) the vicegerent of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), had usurped the rule of the Islamic state.

Why; because they had no faith. If the conspirators had even an iota of belief in their hearts, about God, the Prophet, and the Holy Qur’an, they would not have dared to commit such a treason and mislead the Ummah.

Mortals cannot describe the peerless position of Hazrat Fatema Zahra (SA), the “Baz’at ar-Rasoul” or Part of the Prophet. Hailed by her father as “Seyyedat-nisa al-‘alamin min al-awwalin wa’l-akherin” (Chief of women of the worlds of all time), she was often referred to as “Umm Abiha” (Mother of her own Father) for the care and concern she had for her widower father after the passing away of her mother, the Immaculate Hazrat Khadija (SA).

She was the last person that the Prophet would bid farewell before leaving Medina and the first one he would visit on returning from his trips. Her status is evident from the following narration found in one of the six famous Sunni compilations of hadith, the Sihah as-Sitta: “Kaanat Fatema iz dakhalat ‘ala Rasoul-Allah qaama ilayha fa qabbalaha wa ajlasaha fi majlesahu” (Whenever Fatema would enter the presence of the Messenger of Allah he would rise to his feet in her honour and seat her in his own place).” 

Despite her lofty merits, as the supreme symbol of feminine virtues, the “The Muhaddessa”, as she is also known because of the fact that angels used to speak with her, Hazrat Fatema (SA), was allowed to live barely 95 days after the passing away of the Prophet.

The “Siddiqat- al-Kubra” (the Most Truthful Lady), who was unsullied from all worldly impurities (Batoul), and who is the central figure in the revelation of the Verse of Purity (Holy Qur’an 33:33), was deprived of her patrimonial inheritance of the Orchard of Fadak, and when laid claim to it in an eloquent sermons that is also the defence of Islam, the defence of her father’s mission, and the defence of “Wilaya” (divinely-decreed authority) of her husband, she was belied by the self-styled caliph. 

Alas, the usurpers of the rights of the Prophet’s Ahl al-Bayt even disregarded the Prophet’s famous saying: “Fatema baz’atu minni fa qad azaha azani, fa qad azani aza Allah Jalle Jalaluhu” (Fatema is part of me; whoever displeases her has displeased me and whoever displeases me has [in fact] displeased Allah the Glorious).”

Peace upon you O Noblest Ever Lady

Peace upon you whose inheritance was denied

Peace upon you whose ribs were broken

Peace upon you the rights of whose husband were usurped

Peace upon you whose children suffered martyrdom.

AS/ME