The number of the exalted daughters of the prince of existences—b., etc.—amounted, according to the consent of the whole Sunni sect, to four, namely, Zaynab, Raqyah, Omm Kalthûm, and the princess of women, Fattimah Zohrâ—salutation to them. The author, however, of the Aa’llâmu-l-warâ, and some other Shia’h U’lamâ, allege that his lordship the best of men had no daughters except Zohrâ, and that Zaynab, Raqyah, and Omm Kalthûm had only been adopted by his lordship from Khodayjah the greater. But in this respect the plain statement of the author of the Kashafu-l-ghummah tallies with the opinion of the entire Sunni sect; for when enumerating the spouses of the Commander of the Faithful A’li—b., etc.—he says: ‘Muhammad Allawsatt’s mother was Emâmah, the daughter of Abu-l-a’ass, and this Emâmah was the daughter of Zaynab, the daughter of the apostle of God—b., etc.’; and also, when mentioning the children of Khodayjah by A’tyq, the son of A’abedah Makhzûmy, and by Abu Hâlah, he names Zaynab and Raqyah and Omm Kalthûm; but the knowledge is with God, whose name be exalted and hallowed!
Zaynab was, according to the first [i.e., Sunni] tradition, born thirty years after the catastrophe of the elephant,* and when she attained the age of puberty she was married to her maternal aunt’s son Abu-l-a’ass B. Rabyi’ B. A’bdu-l-u’zza B. A’bdu-sh-shams B. A’bd Munâf; and her husband having been made prisoner in battle, Zaynab sent the necklace which Khodayjah—A. r. h.—had given her as his ransom from Mekkah to Madinah. When the eye of the apostle of God—b., etc.—alighted on that trinket, he remembered Khodayjah — A. r. h. — was much touched, sent it back again, and liberated Abu-l-a’ass, but said to him: ‘When you arrive in Mekkah you must send Zaynab to me, because Islâm and unbelief have separated you.’ Abu-l-a’ass did as he was told, but some time afterwards the love of Islâm took root in his heart, so that he went to Madinah and became a Musalmân. According to one tradition, the lord of prophecy restored to him Zaynab by the right of his previous marriage, but according to another he renewed it. Zaynab had by Abu-l-a’ass a son, A’li by name, and a daughter called Emâmah, the former dying before the age of puberty; but the latter was married to A’li Murtadza after the demise of the princess of women, according to her own last wish. The death of Zaynab took place during the lifetime of the lord of existences —b., etc.—in the eighth year of the exile [A.D. 629-30]. Her corpse was washed by Soadah, the daughter of Zama’h, by Omm Solmah, Omm Ayman, and Omm O’ttyah the Anssaryah. His lordship the best of men presented his own loin-cloth to her, which became afterwards a custom, and after she had been washed and shrouded, he held prayers over her corpse, entered the sepulchre, and buried her.
Raqyah was, according to the U’lamâ of the Sunnis, born in the thirty-third year after the catastrophe of the elephant, and when she attained the age of puberty she was married to O’tbah B. Abu Lahab; but before the marriage was consummated the Sûrah Tabbat* was revealed, whereon Abu Lahab advised his son to divorce Raqyah, which that wretch did in the presence of the best of men, adding also other insulting expressions; but his lordship raised his hands in prayer, and said: ‘O God, appoint over him a dog of Thy dogs!’ Shortly afterwards O’tbah had occasion to travel to Syria, and in the halting-place Zaraqâ, one night, a lion made an end of him by sending him to the abyss of hell. After that the prophet of the latter times gave Raqyah in marriage to the Commander of the Faithful O’thmân, and Dhu-n-nûryn emigrated with her to Abyssinia, where she had a son by him, called A’bdullah, who reached the age of two or of six years, when a cock struck his eyes with the beak and he died. Raqyah departed this life in the second year of the exile [A.D. 623-24] and according to the most correct tradition the prophet—b., etc.—had at that time not yet returned to Madinah from the expedition of Bedr.
Omm Kalthûm—A. r. h.—had first been named Aminah and was betrothed to O’tibah the son of Abu Lahab, who likewise repudiated her by his father’s command and his brother’s precedent, before consummating the marriage. After the death of Raqyah, Kalthûm was in the third year of the exile [A.D. 624-25] given in marriage to the Commander of the Faithful O’thmân—A. r. h.—and according to a certain tradition she had one child by Dhu-n-nûryn, but according to another she had many, all of whom died, however, in their infancy. Omm Kalthûm departed to the gardens of paradise in the ninth year of the exile [A.D. 630-31], and her corpse was washed by Asmâ, the daughter of O’mys; by Ssofyah, the daughter of A’bd-ul-Muttalleb; and by Omm O’ttyah the Anssaryah. The prophet—b., etc.—was present near her grave and wept. When Omm Kalthûm was lowered into her tomb, he said: ‘From it we have created you, to it we return you, and from it we shall take you out a second time.’ He further said: ‘In the name of Allah, in the path of Allah, and in the religion of the apostle of Allah.’
The princess of women, Fattimah Zohrâ—A. r. h.—was, according to the statements of all the chief U’lamâ and scholars, the most beloved of the children of the prophet of latter times, and was by her superior nobility of mind and excellent qualities distinguished above all her brothers and sisters. It is recorded in the Kashafu-l-ghummah that Ebn Khisâb has, in his chronicle of the births and deaths of the members of the family of the prince of existences, stated, with the proper authorities taken from Abu Ja’fer Muhammad B. A’li Albâqer—b., etc.—that the birth of Fattimah—A. r. h.—took place five years after the announcement of prophecy and the descent of revelation, and that she departed from this world at the age of eighteen years and seventy-five days; but according to another tradition she terminated her noble life at the age of eighteen years, one month, and fifteen days. She lived with her father in Mekkah for eight years, and she fled to Madinah with the apostle of God—b., etc.—and dwelt with him there ten years, and she was then eighteen years old. She lived with the Commander of the Faithful A’li—b., etc.—seventy-five days after the death of her father, but according to another tradition forty days. In the Tanfyh of Ebn Jauzy it is stated that the birth of Fattimah—o. w. peace—took place five years before the mission, and in the Raudzatu-l-âhbâb two traditions are recorded on this subject, the first whereof agrees with that of the Tanfyh, but the second is to the effect that this luminary of the sphere of prophecy arose from the horizon of nativity in the forty-first year after the catastrophe of the elephant. In the just-mentioned work it is also narrated that the decease of Fattimah —salutation to her—took place during the night of Tuesday, the third day of the month Ramadzân, which happened six, and according to others three, months after the death of the prophet. On account of the two traditions adopted from the Raudzatu-l-âhbâb concerning the birth of Fattimah—A. r. h.—that noble lady must have reached the age of twenty-eight or of twenty-two years; but the [true] knowledge is with Allah.
In the Kashafu-l-ghummah it is recorded, according to the precedent of those who walk in the paths of the Emâms, that the prince of the righteous—b., etc.—had said: ‘During the night of my ascension I ate one fresh date of the fruits of the trees of eternity, which was more soft than butter and more sweet than honey, and the essence of that date generated seed within my loins. When I [again] alighted on earth I approached Khodayjah —A. r. h.—and she became pregnant with Fattimah.’ The seal of prophets—b., etc.—also said: ‘O Khodayjah, the faithful spirit of Allah* has apprised me that this child will be a daughter. Call her Fattimah, because it is a pure and blessed name.’
When the time of the delivery of Khodayjah was near at hand, she sent for several of her relatives to aid her on that occasion; but as she had incurred their displeasure by marrying the prophet—b., etc.—they would not comply with her request, so that she was much distressed. Nevertheless, four women, resembling those of the tribe Bani Hâshem, suddenly made their appearance, and Khodayjah was afraid of them. One of them, however, said: ‘Fear naught, for God the Most High has sent us to you. We are your visitors. I am Sarah; this is Mariam, the daughter of E’mrân; the third is Kalthûm, the sister of Moses; and the fourth is Asiah, the wife of Pharao. They will be your companions in paradise.’ Then one of these women sat down on the right and another on the left of Khodayjah, the third in her front, and the fourth in her rear, until Fattimah was born. When this took place a light shone from that infant of laudable end, which encircled the houses of Mekkah from the east and west, so that there was no spot in any house which was not illuminated by that light:
Distich: The light of prosperity shone,
Making my heart to gladness prone.
In the above-named work it is also recorded that the Lord and Bestower of all gifts sent ten Hûris from the uppermost paradise into the apartment of the pure Khodayjah, each of whom brought a basin and a pitcher full of water from the Kawthar.* Then the woman sitting in front of Khodayjah took hold of Fattimah and washed her with that water from paradise, and afterwards she brought forth white and extremely fragrant swaddling clothes in which she wrapped the infant; then she drew a similar cloth over the child’s head by way of a coif, and said: ‘Take her, Khodayjah. Give way to no apprehensions, for blessing is in her and in her progeny.’ Then the other women congratulated Khodayjah and departed, whilst she embraced Fattimah with great joy and happiness. When the lord of prophecy—b., etc.—entered, he took the darling child into his arms, called her Fattimah, and surnamed her Omm Muhammad, but her sobriquets are numerous, such as, the blessed, the pure, the innocent, the pleasing, the pleased, the orthodox, the Vestal,* and Zohrâ.*
It is related by the true Emâm Ja’fer Ssâdiq—b., etc.— that his holy and prophetic lordship asked Fattimah one day whether she knew why she was called by that name, and A’li the Commander of the Faithful having thereon also asked for the reason, his lordship replied: ‘Because she delivered her soul from fire.’ It is related that Hayder Karâr* —b., etc.—said: ‘Verily the prophet was asked what Betûl meant, and he replied: “It is a woman who never sees redness; namely, she never menstruates, because menstruation is hateful in the daughters of prophets.”’ It is recorded that the Emâm Muhammad Allâqer—b., etc.—having been asked why the princess of women had been surnamed Zohrâ, he replied: ‘Because God had magnified her, and when she arose she illuminated the heavens and the earth with her light, and the eyes of the angels were dazzled, so that they prostrated themselves, worshipping God, and saying: “O our God and Lord, what is this light?” Whereon God vouchsafed to them the following revelation: “This is a light of My light; I cause it to dwell in My heaven; I created it from My greatness; I produced it from my forehead, and from a prophet more excellent than all the other prophets. From that light I shall produce Emâms who will promulge My commands, and propagate My truth, and I shall cause them to be Khalifahs on My earth;” and here the revelation ceased.’
As has been narrated above, the lord of dominion [i.e., Ali] married in the second year of the exile [A.D. 623] the princess of women, who was on that occasion, according to the tradition of the Emâms of the family [of Muhammad], nine, but according to another statement fourteen, years old. Some even assert that she was twenty years of age.
It is related in the Ssohâh-akhbâr that when A’ayshah —A. r. h.—was asked what person the prophet of genii and men loved most, she replied: ‘Fattimah.’ They said: ‘Of men?’ She replied: ‘Her husband.’ It is likewise related of Ssiddyqah—A. r. h.—that she said: ‘I never saw any person resembling the apostle of God more than Fattimah in her countenance, in elegance of speech, in dignity, and in all her motions. Whenever Fattimah paid a visit to the best of men he rose, kissed her, and made her sit down in his own place. Whenever his lordship the refuge of prophecy came to her house, Fattimah acted in the same manner. It is also an authentic fact that the prophet—b., etc.— said: ‘Fattimah is a part of me; whoever injures her injures me, and whoever angers her angers me.’ According to some traditions, he also said: ‘Allah gets angry when Fattimah gets angry.’
It is related of Thaubân, the freed man of the prophet of the last times, that he said: ‘When the best of men started on a journey, the last person of whom he took leave was Fattimah Zohrâ, and when he returned the first person whom he met was Betûl.’ In the Kashafu-l-ghummah there is a tradition of Abu Ayâb that the prophet—u. w. b. —said: ‘On the day of the resurrection a herald will exclaim from within the throne [of God]: “O ye assembled people, bend down your heads and shut your eyes, that Fattimah may pass to the bridge Sserâtt,* and with her seventy thousand Hûris having large eyes will walk as attendants.”’ It is related of Abu Sa’yd Khadhry— A. r. h.—that he said: ‘The prophet—b., etc.—declared that Fattimah will be the best of women in paradise, except Mariam, the daughter of E’mrân.’ In the book on the pupil of the eye [i.e., on Fattimah] it is narrated in detail that when the blessed verse ‘And to relatives their dues’ was revealed, the lord of beings—b., etc.—presented to Fattimah Zohrâ the landed property of Fadak, which afterwards Ssiddyq Akbar added to all the other possessions left [by the prophet after his death], but would not surrender to her. When the Commander of the Faithful A’li, and Zohrâ—A. r. t.—spoke to him on the subject, he replied: ‘I heard the apostle of God—b., etc.—say: “We prophets do not appoint heirs.”’ In the Kashafu-l-ghummah it is related of the Emâm Muhammad Albâqer—p. b. o. h.— that after the decease of the prophet the Commander of the Faithful A’li said to the princess of women: ‘Go to the successor of the apostle of God and ask for your inheritance.’ She did so, but Abu Bakr replied: ‘A prophet has no heirs.’ She retorted, saying: ‘Did not Solomon inherit the property of David?’ He repeated: ‘A prophet has no heirs.’ She continued: ‘Has not God—whose name be blessed and exalted—said: “God recommends to you your children”?’ In short, several voluminous books embody whatever passed on this subject between the Commander of the Faithful A’li and the Commander of the Faithful Abu Bakr and the Commander of the Faithful O’thmân; but Abu Bakr again restored Fadak to the members of the [prophet’s] family. He gave, however, to Betûl Zohrâ nothing else of what the prince of beings had left, and this appears to be very strange to everyone.*
It is related in many respectable historical works that when Fattimah—b., etc.—was struck by the calamity of losing her father the best of men, she wept and lamented so much from morning till evening that she distressed the inhabitants of Madinah, who sent her the following message: ‘O daughter of the prophet of God, if you weep during the day, take rest in the night, that we may also have peace; and if you weep in the night, be silent during the day, and we shall likewise obtain repose.’
It is related of the Emâm Ja’fer—p. b. o. h.—that he said: ‘There were five weepers in the world: Firstly, Adam, who cried so much after his expulsion from paradise that two rivers [of tears] were flowing on his face. Secondly, Jacob, who wept so much on account of his separation from Joseph—s. t. h.—that he became blind. Thirdly, Joseph, who deplored in prison his separation from Jacob to such a degree that all the captives were distressed. Fourthly, Fattimah—p. t. h.—who wept so much after the death of the prophet—b., etc.—that the inhabitants of Madinah sent her the following message: “O darling of the lord of existences, you have indeed distressed us by your fervent lamentations.” Then Betûl Zohrâ betook herself at last to the cemetery of the martyrs, and wept there. Fifthly, the fourth Emâm, who was constantly shedding tears on account of the calamity of Kerball??a, so that his attendants could never place any food before him without its being moistened by the water of his eyes.’ It is related of Muhammad Albâqer the Emâm of exalted memory that he said: ‘After the decease of his holy and prophetic lordship, no one ever saw Fattimah laugh till her very dying day.’ It is related that Zohrâ—s. t. h.—called in her last malady for Solmy the freed woman of the lord Mussttafa, and said: ‘Bring me some water for ablution.’ Solmy narrates: ‘After she had washed herself so beautifully as I had never before seen anyone doing it so well, she asked for clean garments and donned them. Then she ordered me to spread out her couch, whereon she reclined, turned with her right side to the Qiblah, and, placing her right hand beneath her face, she said: “Solmy, I shall this moment depart from the abode of perishableness to the mansions of eternity, and I have washed myself that no one may undress me.” When she had uttered these words, her spirit took flight to the upper regions.’ Shortly afterwards A’li the Commander of the Faithful—b., etc.—entered, and, witnessing the scene, poured forth tears from the clouds of his eyes. This event is, according to the Raudzatu-l-âhbâb, described in the same manner by Muhammad B. Sa’d and the amanuensis in his Ttabaqât; but if it be true, it must be considered as one of the peculiarities of Fattimah—A.r.h.—because it is against the commandments of the doctors of the law [to omit the ablution of a corpse].
In the Kashafu-l-ghummah it is related that Betûl Zohrâ— s. t. h.—when she was near her death, called Asmâ the daughter of O’mys, and said: ‘Asmâ, one day Jebrâil— s. t. h.—paid a visit to my father when he was sick, and brought him some camphor of paradise for his Hanûtt.* My father divided it into three parts. Keeping one for himself and giving the other two to me, he said: “Preserve the one share for yourself, and the other for A’li Murtadza.” Asmâ, that camphor, which weighs forty mithqâls, I have laid by in a certain place. The twenty mithqâls which belong to me you are to put near my head; but give the other twenty to the lord A’li Murtadza.’ When Asmâ had done this, Fattimah—s. t. h.—said: ‘Go out and leave me alone. Call out my name after a short time: if I answer, it is all well and good; but if I remain silent, be aware that I have departed to my noble father.’ Asmâ obeyed, and shortly afterwards called out: ‘O daughter of Muhammad the elect!’ but received no answer. She therefore again entered the apartment, and, removing the veil from the countenance of the princess of women, she perceived that her soul had departed from the abode of grief to the palace of joy. Then she prostrated herself, approached, and kissed her, saying: ‘O Betûl, when you arrive in the paradise of your father, convey to him my greeting and petition.’ On that occasion the lord and Emâm Hasan entered with the Emâm Husayn—b., etc.— and asked: ‘Asmâ, is our mother asleep?’ Asmâ replied: ‘Your mother is not asleep, but has departed to the proximity of the mercy of the Lord of lords.’ Hereon both commenced to weep and to lament, and proceeded to the mosque of the Arabian prophet for the purpose of informing A’li Murtadza—b., etc.—of the event. When they had reached the vicinity of that blessed locality their voices of lamentation became very loud, so that some of the companions who were sitting there with A’li exclaimed: ‘What makes you cry, O [grand] sons of the prophet of God? Allah forfend that you should weep!’ Then they related what had taken place, and the lion of attack—b., etc.—was so overpowered by grief that he fell prostrate on his face, and uttered the following words: ‘O daughter of the prophet of God, after his lordship’s death you were my consolation; but who will calm the pain of endless separation and of infinite exile when you are no more?’ Then he pronounced the following two distichs:
Each meeting of two friends has an end,
Every grief is slight, except separation;
If I have lost Fattimah after Ahmad,
It is a sign that no friend remains.
Then the king and refuge of dominion [i.e., Ali] hastened to the apartment of Ttâherah,* and ordered Asmâ to wash and to shroud the princess of the women of both worlds, and interred her body in the Baqyi’ cemetery. The author of the Kashafu-l-ghummah says: ‘Ebn Babuyah—A. h. m. o. h.—reports the matter as follows, and I consider him to be correct: She was buried in her own house, but when the [graves of the] Ommyades increased in the mosque her body was [likewise] interred in the same, and in what I have reported I have only stated what is known and generally believed by the people, by historians and biographers, that, as stated above, she had been interred in the Baqyi’ cemetery.’
It is related in the Raudzatu-l-âhbâb that according to one tradition A’li Murtadza, and according to another A’bbâs—A. r. t.—prayed over the corpse of Fattimah. The next day the two Sheikhs—A. r. t.—and all the companions of the best of men, reproached Hayder [the Lion, i.e., A’li] the Commander of the Faithful, saying: ‘Why have you not informed us, that, by being present at the honour of the prayers over Fattimah, we might ourselves have been honoured?’ But the king of dominion answered: ‘I have acted thus by her own injunction.’
In the Raudzatu-sh-shahdâ [mausoleum of martyrs] it is recorded that according to the tradition of the Ahlu-l-beyt [members of the family] the death of Fattimah, the daughter of the prince of existences, took place on Tuesday, the third day of the blessed month Ramadzân, in the eleventh year of the exile [A.D. 632], and that she was buried in the Raudzat-maqadasat [sacred mausoleum].
The author of the present work states that some who wrote down the traditions concerning the members of the family assert that Zohrâ died seventy-five days after the prince of mortals; others, however, say forty days. The Kashafu-l-ghummah has a tradition from the Dhariat-Ttâharat, the author of which is Dullâby, that Zohrâ lived three months after the decease of the Mussttafa—b., etc.— and the number of days given by the Emâm Muhammad Albâqer is ninety-five. None of these traditions, however, imply that this great calamity had taken place on the third day of the blessed month Ramadzan, because in reality the death of the daughter of the prince of existences took place at the end of the month Ssafar, or in the beginning of Rabi’ anterior in the same year; the [true] knowledge, however, is with God, who is to be adored.
In the Tanfyh of Ebn Jauzy it is recorded that Fattimah Zohrâ—s. t. h.—had four children, namely, the Emâms Hasan and Husayn, Zaynab, and Omm Kalthûm. Zaynab was married to A’bdullah, the son of Ja’fer Ttayyâr— A. r. t.—and gave birth to two sons, O’beydullah and A’wun. Fârûq the greater [i.e., the Khalifah O’mar] espoused Omm Kalthûm during his own reign, and begat with her a son, Zayd by name. After the demise of O’mar the Commander of the Faithful—A. r. h.—A’wun, the son of Ja’fer, married her, and after he had also died Muhammad, another son of Ja’fer, married her, and had a daughter by her. When Muhammad had likewise departed to the eternal world, A’bdullah, yet another son of Ja’fer, married Omm Kalthûm and she died in his house.
According to a tradition of Ebn Esahâq and Lyth B. Sa’d, Fattimah—s. t. h.—had two other children, namely, Hasan and Raqyah, both of whom died in infancy. It is recorded in the Raudzatu-l-âhbâb that neither Zaynab nor Omm Kalthûm left any offspring at all, and that therefore the descendants of the seal of prophets are all the progeny of the Emâms Hasan and Husayn—salutation to our prophet and to both of them, as well as to all the pure Emâms our guides, the Khalifahs and directors; abundant and consecutive salutations to them till the day of the resurrection.