7. The death of he who had Graced the
world with his innocent presence
It was the tenth year of the immigration of the Messenger of God to Medina. After his return for the from his last Pilgrimage [Hajj], and after having said his farewell to all the Muslims who had accompanied him to Ghadir, with the Archangel Gabriel's announcement, he came to know that he had an important mission to accomplish. In fact, the future of the Muslims, depended solely upon their reunion with Ali, as the sole Imam of the Muslims, and upon their pledge to him as their lord.
The Prophet was spending his last days on earth in Medina ... Upon discovering the motive of her father's wish to talk, Fatemeh began to cry like a river, and her noble and beloved father, in a hushed voice, confided in her that she would soon be the first person to join him in the Hereafter. Suddenly, a beautiful and sweet smile appeared on Fatemeh's gracious face, and that was the reason why the few people who were present there at that time, never understood nor discovered the real reason for Fatemeh's sudden crying and smiling.
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But then, the days to come, proved exactly what meant Fatemeh's crying and smiling ...
The sad time to bid farewell had finally come ...
The Messenger of God demanded some paper and something to write; But then came out those undignified and spiteful sentences from the mouth of one those unfaithful enemies who hated the Prophet:" He is raving! We shouldn't be listening to what he has to say ..."
So then, the Prophet told everyone to leave him alone, and said his last wishes to Ali, Fatemeh Hassan and Hosseyn, and revealed some of the things that would happen in the future. He also revealed the sad truth about the fact that nobody would offer the Leadership to Ali, and that his rightful place would be taken by force by other people.
He then said to Ali, in the most gracious manner: "The best thing for you to do is to wait ..."
Ali said most respectfully:" You have ordered me to wait, I will do as you wish, and ignore what is my rightful due ..."
Suddenly, there came many sad cries ... For the news of the Prophet's death and his Ascension to Heavens, soon reached the people of Medina. The conspirators and the enemies of the Prophet, soon found out that it was the best possible time to begin their hateful conspiracy.
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8. The event that took place in saghifeh
The Ansars, after the death of our Prophet, decided to organize a meeting in a place called " Saghifeh Bani Saedeh " to choose and name their caliph. But the immigrants [ Abubakr, Omar and Abu Obeydeh Jarrah were their leaders ] soon knew of this meeting, and they came to talk and negotiate with the Ansars.
The immigrants wanted desperately to rob the Leadership from the Ansars, and to come to power themselves. So, to persuade the other party, they talked about many things with them.
Finally, they decided to choose Abubakr, as the rightful calife. In the midst of it all, there came an old man who, seeing that he had no choice but to reunite with Abubakr, told him:" It's like the day of Adam ..." [that is : as Satan was forced to adore Adam, he suddenly refused to do; and the same was being repeated there and then, and by doing this, all the human race was surely to be forced out of Heaven once more ...]
Now, outside Saghifeh, Ali was busy with the Prophet's funeral. Suddenly Salmane Farsi came and told him about the reunion of some of the
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immigrants with the Ansars, and the leadership of Abubakr.
Ali, after having all the preparations that was needed for that holy funeral, stopped to perform his prayer in front of the sanctified body of our Prophet. Many people came to show their dutiful respect to the Messenger of God for the last time, and to perform the prayer of the dead before his sanctified body and to bid him farewell ...
Afterwards, Ali did not linger with the mourners who had gathered there to show their loyalty to him.
But unfortunately, the majority of Muslims had given their oath to Abubakr.
Afterwards, when they saw Fatemeh, they used to say most peevishly: "we would rather have given our oath to your dignified husband than to Aboubakr ... but Abubakr was the first to ask for our allegiance ..."
And Fatemeh would reply: "What you mean is that my husband should have left the sanctified body of my respectful and noble father as it was lain on the floor, untouched, and that he should have come rapidly to you, to ask for your allegiance ...?! You mean to tell me that he should have left my beloved father, without the benefit of preparing him a dignified funeral?! You mean to tell me that he should have thought about his leadership, and begin a dispute for this earthly matter, instead of mourning my father?! All right ... May God remember your actions, and take measure for your deeds!"
After a while, the responsible man for that conspiracy decided to make Ali swear allegiance to
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them, so as to empower their fragile yet strong new position.
But Ali, by pretending that he was fully concentrated on collecting all the sourates of the Holy Qur'an replied:" I have sworn solemnly that until I have not collected all the sourates of the Holy Qur'an, and until I have not set them right, not to go out of my home and not to put my cloak [ Aba ] on my shoulders ... " so he refused firmly to swear allegiance to them. Unfortunately, the enemies had made a plan in case Ali would refuse to join them.
Someone by the name of Ghanfaz and his cruel gang, came in front of Ali's house to take him by force to mosque, so that he would swear allegiance to the new caliph.
But they were faced with Fatemeh's refusal to open the door. With a sign from Omar Ibn'l Khatab , the hateful servants of these men, with the leadership of Ghanfaz, made a fire and burnt the entrance door of Ali and Fatemeh's house. Then they kicked the burnt out door aside ... But what of it?
The door opened all right, but by having been shut open, the peg of the door encountered with Fatemeh's fragile bossom and hurt deeply the beautiful flower of the household of Mohammad ...
Suddenly the enemy entered the house. One hand on the sword, the other hand on the whip ...
Fatemeh on seeing this, cried out loud:" 0 Father!
O Messenger of God!" The enemy took out his sword, and with the width of his weapon, pushed her hard towards the wall, so much so that the ribs of this sweet, beloved lady, broke, and it resulted in a
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miscarriage ... The stillborn would have been a boy named Mohassa, even though it wasn't born yet ...
Fatemeheye Zahra hurt so much that she fell hardly on the ground, and began sobbing and crying out to her maid: "0 Fezzeh! Help me ... I swear to God that I have a miscarriage ..."
They then put a cord on Hazrate Ali's neck, to take him by force to the Mosque. Fatemeh pushed herself up, so that she could take the hem of Ali's clothes, and make him stay. But the hellish and hateful Ghanfaz, on seeing this, slashed Fâtemeh's arm with his whip so violently that her arm swelled at once ...
On the way to the mosque, a jewish man, upon seeing Hazrate Ali, greeted him most respectfully, and suddenly began to say the proper sentences [ The Shahadateyn ] so as to become a Muslim.
Somebody asked him curiously: "What made you believe the truth about Islam?"
He answered promptly :" It was the innocence I perceived in Hazrate Ali's being ..."
They took Hazrate Ali to the mosque and told him: "If you don't swear your allegiance to the new caliph, we will behead you surely!"
Hazrate Ali replied to them :" If you do this, not only have you undoubtedly murdered a servant of God, but also the brother of our Prophet ..."
Fatemeh, after receiving such a terrible blow from her enemy, had fallen hardly on the groond and lost consciousness for a while. But after some time, she opened her eyes and said : " Fezzeh! Where is my lord, Ali? "
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Her servant answered her sadly:" 0 milady! They took him to the mosque!"
Fatemeh took the hands of her two little sons Hassan and Hosseyn, and there she entered the mosque and began making a little speech, there and then.
She said:" Leave my cousin and husband alone! Otherwise I will discover my hair, to show my utter desperation and grief in this very place ... I have put the very cloth that the Prophet used to wear, on my head, and then I will go to the grave of my Father and will complain against you all! "
The fiery words of Fatemeh, with the refusal of Hazrate Ali to swear his allegiance, and the arrival of the faithful friends of the Messenger of God in that moment, made the enemies retreat, and they were forced to let Hazrate Ali go his way ... By what is written officially, this event took place exactly six days after the death of the Prophet ...
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9. The property called Fadak
Only a few days after the burial of the holy Prophet, the enemies took Fadak by force. Fadak which had been the property that was in possession of Fatemeh while the Messenger of God was still alive. But soon after the Prophet's decease, they suddenly took Fadak from the daughter of the Messenger of God, by Abubakr's order, and they also let out all the persons who used to work there ...
Unfortunately, despite all the things that Fatemeh or Hazrate Ali or even the witnesses of this event told and testified, everything remained unheeded and unheard by the enemies, and they ignored the testimony of the illustrious daughter of our noble and gracious Prophet ...
So one day, Fatemeh and a group of immigrant [Ansar] ladies decided to go to the mosque. Inside the mosque, there was a curtain which divided the space in two parts, so that men were not permitted to look upon the part where the ladies were seated. Fatemeh approached that curtain to talk and make the men, hear what she had to say.
Fatemeh cried out loud, so much so that the whole mosque began to tremble by the deep sorrow that
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was surging out, from the bottom of Fatemeh's heart ... Many people began to cry by listening to her discourse; she began first by praising the Lord Almighty.
Everybody was listening intently to what she was going to say. And then she began to utter those unforgettable sentences which have remained to this day, as the most memorable and the most tragic discourse ever made by a Muslim woman ...
At the end of her discourse, she began to talk in a way that made everybody think that she was confiding to the glorious soul of her beloved father, and was telling him of all the things that had happened to her and her family, since his departure from this world, and what wrongs she had suffered, and what disrespect she had been forced to face, and what pains and agonies she had endured in silence ...
After this, she came back home. Ali was waiting for her. Fatemeh on seeing his beloved husband, made some complaints about the ungracious behavior of those who has come to power, and told him about her longing to see her father again. She also talked about her concern about Ali's leadership, and the fact that the people hadn't supported them in any ways ...
Hazrate Ali replied. to her :" 0 daughter of the best man in the universe! 0, thou who art the best reminiscence and reminder of the last Prophet on Earth! Don't be sad ... Don't complain, because thy sufferings will not go away ... Be certain that all thy enemies owe thee lots of things ... I don't remain in the house because of laziness or some weakness of character. But because I have done everything that was possible for me to do.
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If thou wishest for a better life, thy sustenance has remained untouched and is at thy disposal, and fortunately thou dost not need thy enemies' help! Leave them be, and wait until the time when God shall take care of each one of them."
Fatemeh said:" All right ... I will say no more ... I will leave them. May God take care of them in His proper time. I will entrust myself into God's Will."
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10. The House of doom
Fatemeh used to cry a lot because of her longing for her father ... She cried night and day. She was restless and full of sorrow. Finally, some foolish and unthoughtful persons came to see Ali, And began to complain about Fatemeh's crying. They told him that either Fatemeh should mourn her father by nightfall, and remain silent by morning, or mourn by morning, and remain silent by nightfall.
They said that they couldn't bear her mornings any longer, and that Ali should find a way to keep her quiet. On hearing this, Fatemeh got used to take the little hands of her two sons, and go at the end of the "Baghi " graveyard, under a thorny shrub, to be able to mourn properly her beloved father and cry at her will. Her wailing were so strong and pitiful, that every caravan that passed from Medina, on hearing these sobbing and wailings, paused for a few minutes to think about this strange, unending sorrow ...
Finally by nightfall, the enemies uprooted the said shrub, so that Fatemeh could not even go there anymore. But Ali, put a sort of a tent there by the name of " The House of doom "[Beytol Ahzan] for the sake of the Prophet's daughter, so as to show their enemies, their untamable independence, and their
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infinite freedom of mind, which were the characteristics of the Household of Hazrate Ali Ibn Abi 'Taleb and his wife Fatemeh.
Fatemeh because of her daily mourning and sufferings which she had received from their enemies was becoming weak and weaker every day. At last she became ill ...
Ali became the only person who took care of her during her illness. Another person was a woman by the name of Asma Bent Omeyss. At last, the news of her illness reached the ears of the citizens of Medina.
A multitude of Muslim women came to see her, and to help her recuperate her lost health. But their number was so great, that they couldn't enter her house; so, many of them remained in the outside. The house of Fatemeh was so simple and poor, and her personality was so sweet and humble, so great in her magnitude and glory, that everybody grew silent and nobody could utter a word in her presence ...
Finally, Fatemeh in answer to a lady, began to talk and say very important things to all of them. While she was talking, she admitted that:" My state of mind is such, that I verily love no more the earthly world, and I despise your men ... I tried to examine and test their mentality and their readiness to come to my aid, but the sad result was that I grew very unsatisfied and very upset by their reaction ... so, I left them be with their way of behavior and thinking."
The reaction of Fatemeh's complaint on her illbed, produced a spiritual awakening on Ansari women; so much so that the enemies of Ali were forced to go and negotiate with him, to silence this rebellion. They
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found a way : could they come and pay a visit to Fatemeh? ...
But not only their visit to Fatemeh, did not improve the situation, but it also worsened their case, and made them more hateful and mean and petty in front of the others ...
Unfortunately, the health of Fatemeh went away slowly and each passing day, she grew worse ... Finally, in the last day of her very short life, in midday, she went to a deep sleep. In her dream, she saw her beloved father who told her that on that very same night, she would come to meet him at last ...
Fatemeh, woke up and decided to prepare herself for her deathbed; she washed her body, put on a neat dress and then lied down to the direction of the Qibla. She then put her fragile, innocent and pure hands on her bosom.
After that, Fatemeh told Ali about her beatific vision, and gave him her last directions, and made her testament.
She said: "In the Name of God, The Most Merciful, The Most Compassionate! This is the testament of Fatemeh, the Prophet's daughter. I attest that there is no God, but He, and Mohammad is His last Messenger. Heaven and Hell exist truly, and the Resurrection will be accomplished, and nobody should doubt this undeniable truth. For God will truly resurrect all who have slept in their grave ... 0 Ali! I am Fatemeh, daughter of Mohammad.
God has made me your wife, so that not only in this world, but also in the Hereafter, I will be your faithful
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companion, and be always at your side my noble husband ...
You were more dignified and worthier than all, to become my husband.
0 Ali! After my death ... and after some time has elapsed. make a prayer for my sake, and then put me on earth, so that nobody learns of this news, and nobody finds out the whereabouts of my grave! I entrusted thee to God, and till the Resurrection Day, I tell thee my farewell and my good wishes : to thee and to my beloved children ...!"
After that, only a few seconds had passed, when Fatemeh looked at the corner of the room in which she was lying down, and said joyfully:" I salute thee, 0 Gabriel! I salute thee, 0 Messenger of God!"
And then, her eyes were shut, and her soul flew up lightly to Heaven ...
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11. Mourning for Zahra
In the middle of the night, the cry of a hopeless sorrow flew of this house. And then some more ...
The women from the Ghorayche tribe, especially those from the Bani Hashem tribe, came out of their house, and with hair flowing on their shoulders to show the depth of their sorrow, they began marching to Fatemeh's house, to make their condolences to Hazrate Ali, and to Fatemeh's little children, now orphans ...
The men of Medina came by large groups to show their respect to Ali, and to mourn with him. Ali was seated in a corner, and Hassan and Hosseyn and Zevnab and Ommo Kolssoum were crying unendingly ...
The people, on seeing this scene began to cry. Because of what Fatemeh had demanded from Ali, he announced to his friend Abuzar:" Tell these people that the funeral has been postponed ..."
Finally, nightfall came. Ali, with the help of Asma, washed the fragile, slim and pure body of Fatemeh, and covered her with a shrine. When he wanted to close the shroud, he called out his children to come and see their beloved mother for the last time, and to bid farewell to her ...
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Some say that she was only eighteen, and some say that she was twenty eight years old when she died.
Hassan and Hosseyn, ran hopelessly and sorrowfully to touch once again the dead body of their young mother ... Gone so soon. They wanted to remain at her side and fee] her presence near them. Minutes passed by, with only the sound of a tragic crying in the room, they talked lovingly and desperately to their mother, and verily, their sorrow was so deep that none can ever describe it.
They said: "0 Beloved Mother of Hassan! 0 Beloved Mother of Hosseyn! We shall feel your absence more deeply by each passing day, and also the absence of our our beloved Grandfather, Mohammad Mostafa [ Peace be upon Him! ]. When you reach the realm in which he lives now, please send our love to Him ...! Tell him that we are left all alone in this whole world ...!"
And then, Fatemeh's body was taken outside, and with the help of Hassan and Hosseyn, Ammar, Yasser, Meghdad, Zobeyr, Abouzar, Salman, and some of the Bani Hashem tribe, they left town to take Fatemeh's body to the graveyard.
Ali, most painfully and desperately, laid down his beloved and innocent wife on the ground, and with indescribable sorrow, bid her farwell ...
After finishing what was expected of him, he threw with utter desperation and love, some dust on his wife's grave, and then looked sadly at the Prophet's grave.
He then approached his grave and began a long confidence with him, which lasted a long time ...
