r ali_the image of fatima in muslim biographical literature

8/12/2019 R Ali_The Image of Fatima in Muslim Biographical Literature

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Rukhsana Ali 9

he mages iitimahinMuslim iographical Literature

byRukhsana li

thesis submitted to acultyofGraduate Studies and Researchin partial fulfilment of reqllirementsfor the degree ~ t e r ts

Institute Islamic StudiesMcGill UniversityMontreal

September 9


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Table of Contents

AbstractRsumAcknowledgementsChapter Sacred Biography and The Case of Fajimah

1 Introduction2. Sacred Biography3 Islamic Biography4 Sectarian Tendencies: The status of Al and his progeny5. The Case of Fajimah6 Biographical Sources

6 1 Classical Sources6 2 Modern Biographies

Chapter II Biography of Fajimah1 Introduction2 The Children of u ~ m m d3 The date of Fajimah s birth4 Falimah schildhood and character5 Fapmah s marriage6 Family

6 1 Children6 2 Ahl al-bayt or ahl al-kisa7. The Prophet s death

8 Falimah s roIe in the question of succession9. The dispute over Fadak1 Fa imah s death l Conclusions

Chapter III Hagiography of Fapmah1 Introduction2 Fapmah s names3 Fapmah s pre-existence in Paradise4 The birth5 Marriage6 Other aspects ofFapmah s life

6 1 Apparel

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6 3 Divine knowledge6 4 Miracles ascribed to Falimah6 Falimah and Mary7 apmah s death8 Falimah as intercessor and saint

9 SummaryChapter IV: The Role of Fapmah in Sh ism

Bibliography

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Author:TitIe:Department:Degree:Date:

STR Cf

Rukhsana AliThe Images ofFii mah in Muslim Biographicai Literature.Institute oflslamic Studies, McGillUniversityMaster of nsSeptember 1988

In the Islamic tradition, as in otherreligious traditions, femaie saints are relatively fewand not much schoiarly attention has been given to them. F a mah, the daughter of theProphet u ~ a m m a d is one such example. It is, however, a point of interest in her case isthat in the twentieth cenlury she has captured the attention of writers of Muslim religiousliterature to such an extentthatthere now exist tle st eleven fairly recent biographies ofher in Urdu, English, Arabic and Persian. This is remarkable, given that the earliestsources of Islamic history contain only a minimal amount of information on her. Thesemodem biographies present F a mah in a manner which interweaves historical informationwith hagiographic accounts, thus reinforcing her status as a saint.

This thesis attempts to identify, from the earliest available sources, the detailsconceming Fimah as a historicai person but ultim3.tely shows that there is littie realevidence for her life and even what facts do exist are the subject of controversy. Followingthis it examines the growth of the hagiographicai tradition which created out of her a trueMuslim saint and discusses ils significance particularly for the Shi ah. Finally, theconclusion presents sorne of the possible reasons for F mah s exalted status and for theresurgence of interest in herin thecontext of the modem Islamic world.


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SU Auteur: Rnkhsana AliTitre: Les images de Hilimah dans l littrature biographique musulmane.Dpartement: Institut des Etudes Islamiques Universit MeGillDiplme: Matrise en ArtsDate: Septembre 1988

Il Ya en tradition islamique, ainsi que dans d autres traditions religieuses, peu defemmes saintes, les rares qui existent, ont par ailleurs, relativement peu retenu l attentiondes chercheurs. Falimah, fille du Prophte Mul]ammad, en est un exemple. Mais ce qui estintressant dans son cas est qu elle ait u vingtime sicle, attir l attention de plusieursauteurs de littrature musulmane. De cet intrt sont nes, plus ou moins rcemment, pasmoins de onze biographies traitant d elle, en ourdou, en anglais, en arabe. Ceci est d alltandplus remarquable que les sources premires d histoire islamique n contiennent qu unminimum d information son sujet. Les biographies modernes prsentent Falimah d unetelle manire que 1 infOimation historique est tisse de donnes hagiographiques renforantainsi son statut de sainte.Cette thse tente d identifier partir des sources premires, les dtails concernantFalimah en tant que personnage historique, mais montre finallement qu il y eut de sa vieque peu de relles traces et que les faits qui ont vraiment eu lieu sont sujets contreverse.Elle examine ensuite le dvelop ,ement de la tradition hagiographique l entourant et endiscute la signification. Enfin en conclusion, elle presente les raisons qui peuventexpliquer le statut exalt de Fapmah et la resurgence de l intrt contemporain dans uncontextemodeme.


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KNOWLEDGEMENTS

1 would like to thank my supervisor Professor Paul E. Walker for his advice andsupervision of my work. He patiently read and re-read the numerous drafts which 1gaveto him discussed with me the problems which arose during my research and helped tosolve them making my progress with my thesis a IinIe smoother.

f il had not been for sorne of my teachers who read eilher pan or the complete draftof my work and gave me their comments and suggestions when 1 most needed them itwould have been difficult for me to improve the standard of this thesis. or this 1 amespecially gratefulto Dr. James Morris of the Instilute of Ismaili Studies Paris Branchand Professor Donald Little Director of the Institute of Islarnic Studies at McGiII. Dr.Morris took time to read my entire work and Professor LinIe read and re-read my reviseddrafts pointing out my errors. Their valuable criticisms and suggestions proved mosthelpful in improving my work. Professor Charles Adams criticisms of pans of my thesishelped me become aware of sorne of the shortcomings in my work and thus to overcomethem. 1 wish to thank themall most sincerely.

The willing help and concem of the Iibrary staff of the Institute of Islamic Studiesmade my research an interesting and stimulating endeavour. 1 would particularly Iike tomention Miss Salwah Ferahian who made time again and again in her busy schedule tohelp me with translating Arabic passages relevant to my work and Steve Millier whotranslated sorne German passages for me. 1 would also li ke to thank m y friends andcolleagues Forough Jahanbaksh and Abdullah Vakily for helping me to translate Persianpassages for my thesis and Miss Malek Taj for translating my abstract into French. 1 wish10 thank ail the rest of my friends and colleagues at McGiIl for their much needed moral

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support and for bringing to my notice any material concerned with my topic which theycame across during their own research.

1 would like to extend my most sincere and heartfelt thanks and gratitude Mrs.Zayn Kassam Hann my editor and friend for her invaluable help. In spite of her WilslUdies and other commitments she helped to bring my thesis to this stage. She wasalways there whenever 1 needed her help advice and guidance encouraging me ail along.er patience interest and concern are sincerely appreciated and her friendship is deeplyvalued.

1wish to thank Professor Little once again for arranging financial asssistance for mefor the year 1987/1988 which enabled me to complete my research.

Finally 1 extend my gratitude to the Institute of Ismaili Studies London forsponsoring me and thus giving me the opportunity study here at McGill.

N The transliteration system used in this thesis for Arabie Persian and Urdu is Iheone employed by the Institute of Islamic Studies.

IV


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CHAPTER 1Sacred Biography and The Case Fiip.mah

1. IntroductionModern biographies of Fa rnah, the celebrated daughter of the Prophet Mul)arnmad,

draw upon classical Islamic sources for their inspiration. However, the scantiness dataconcerning the aclUal events in Falirnah s own life, coupled with her critical irnponance asthe daughter of Mul)arnrnad, the wife of AH, the mother the Sh i Imams J:Iasan andI:iusayn, and perhaps, as a pious person idealizing womanhood in her own right, led quiteearly in Islarnic history to the development of a hagiographical tradition surrounding her.The slUdy of Fa mah s biography is therefore cornplicated by the difficulty in deterrniningin the literature we encounter where the historie Fatimah ends and where the legendaryonebegins. Here a few rernarks on the salient features sacred biographies and Islamicbiographies will not be arniss.

2. Sacred BiographyA sacred biography is a wriuen account the life a person deemed to be holy by

the person or persons writing such accounts.1 A holy persan, or saint, could be describedas one who is perceived by the adherents of that religious tradition as having attainedspiritual perfection. This person then exemplifies the religion s highest values and thusfunctions as a model for others to follow.2 At the same time, the special holiness that isthought to inhere in such people often endows them with supernatural powers. Figuressuch as these may serve as wonderworkers, helpers, or intercessors, and as such they areconsidered as both subjects for imitation and objects of veneration.3 Their exemplariness


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and spiritual p lency must transcend their deaths and be available to those who did nolknow them in the flesh. We thus have accounlS of miracles taking place at their tombs or inconnection with their relics icons or statues.4

Given these traits of the holy personage one can appreciate the difficultiesencountered in the study of that personssacred biography. y its very nature sacredbiography is a genre which mixes myth and biography; that is a narrative which transposessupematural events into the life of one who is otherwise an ordinary human being.5 As aresult the lives of such personalities often become highly mythologized and particularly soif their sacred biographies are written long after their lifetime. such a case the historicalfacts become of secondary importance whiie the supematural elements of such narrativesassume primary significance.

Consequently the problems faced by the students of such a genre are manifold.Besides the difficulty of separating historical facts from hagiographical additions andmythical elements the student must remain constantly aware of the sensitivities of thevenerators of the sacred person. For them these additions and elements are after all thetrue facts of history an integral part of the life of their venerated personage.6 opointout the dubiulIsness of miracles or the lack of reliable evidence signifies lack of faith orsympathy on the part of the entic and is to misunderstand the purpose ofreligious history.The claim that the biographer of a holy figure has not set out to write as a historian can hetaken as an attack on the saint s integrity. Moreover the holy personages are perceived tobe too powerful to allow themselves to be compromised by indiscreet panegyrists.7

As far as holy figures from remote historical periods are concemed the faclS of theirlives have usually come down via oral traditions over sorne centuries before being compiledin written form. A collection of oral traditions does not customarily importance to


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3chronology, which is basic, of course, to history. While sorne indications may be madeaboUlthe birth and death of the person, biographies relying on oral traditions generally relyonly on the vaguest chronological notices to provide narrative transitions from one event tothe nexl.8 Such transitional devices as nce , after this , it is reported that , and the like,abound in these biographies: 9 The important thing for them is to recount the variousevents in the subjects lives, their actions and words, by selecting or emphasizing thosewhich in fact glorify and make them special. Stones and events which surround their livesareembellished so as to enhance these traits without affecting the personality or characterofthe saints. Their characters are perfect; they cannot and do not change. Such biographiesare popular with the faithful, for they serve to reinforce their faith both in the largertraditionand in the particular sacred personage as a model and intercessor.

Further, if the figures are significant holy personalities, the myths and legendssurrounding their lives will almost cenainly grow over the centuries and be enlarged by thedifferent cultures and customs which come into the fold of the religion in question.Biographies or merely particular special events in a saint s life are frequently retold inboth prose and verse. Thus when we study sacred biographies of holy figures, we mayexpect to find a variety of variant stories, and as a resull, the historical data on which theyare founded may also vary. Facts are likely to be interpreted by biographers according totheir own viewpoints.

However, in spite of the inconsistencies of a sacred biography, it is precisely throughthe numerous legends which crystalized around a nucleus of factual material that thecharisma of a r ereligious person, such as n imah can be better recognised.


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3. lslamic Biographylt is important to di scuss here Islamic biography since it is from this brancll of

literature that various biographies of R :imah stem. Biographies have played a criticallyimportant part in the development of Islamic historiography. The reason for this is that thebiography of the Prophet u ~ m m d is what Franz Rosenthal caUs the quarry fromwhich materials for the construction of the mighty edifice of Islam were derived. llFurthermore, for many early Muslim scholars biographies were history. AI SakhITwi (d.903/1497), one of the most eminent of later Arab biographers, says in his work, l lin

History as a technical term means the communication of time,whereby the circumstances are accurately registered of the binh oftransmitters and imi ms and of their death, health, intelligence,bodily state, journeys, pilgrimages, powers of memory, accuracy,and reputatioll for trustworthiness or otherwise... u sidimy to thisis the record of contingent events and important occurrences re1atingto the rise of religious obligations, caliphs, viziers, raids, baules andso on.12

In any case, one of the earliest forms of recording history in Islamic literature is thebiographicaldictionary. Thesedictionaries, theearliest extantbeing u ~ m m d ibn Sa d s(d. 230/844-5) Kitab al-tabaqiit al-kabir (Book of Classes),13 apart fromrecording the lives of political and military figures, strive to show that the history of theIslamic community is the history of its people, of individual men and women who mayhave contributed to the spread of Islam and to the formulation and transmission of itsspecifieculture.14 These dictionaries give detailed accounts of the religious and intel1ectuallife of the rimes. Indeed these biographical works incidentally supply almost all thematerials for the reconstrnction of the stalUs ofwomen in early Muslim communities.15

The oider biographies were composed almost solely from adlth 16 (oral traditions)literalUre, and it is from such material that the various histories of Islam and its spread were


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later writlen. The earliest histories resemble a mere presentation of f. adth with eachnarrative preceded by a chain of oral transmitters isnad . Then follow other recensions inthe same form containing variant readings and the different, sometimes contradictory,versions of the same repon.17 The earliest biographical history based chiefly on theseI}adths is the Sirat rasl Allah of u ~ a m m a d ibn Is )aq (d. 5In68 8 This workwas writlen almost one hundred years after the death of the Prophet but unfonunately hasnot survived in its original form. Ali we have of i t is the abbreviated, annotated andsometimes altered text in the works of the Egyptian compiler bdal-Malik ibnHisham (d.218/833).19 The first connected historical chronicle is the Furu ) al-Buldan (hencefonhcited as Fut )) of ~ m a d ibn Ya )ya al-Baladhuri (d. 279/892).20

It may be asked why it was that the biography of u ~ m m d and the earliestcollections of the I}adth were writlen and compiled more than a century after theProphet's death.21 One of the reasons given by Margoliouth for this lapse of time is thatwith the Arabs the natural seatof a book is the memory: it may or may not be cornmittedto writing. 22 He further cites the Spanish scholar Ibn bdal-Barr (d. 436/1070) ashaving quoted cenain Prophetic I}adths forbidding the writing down of anything exceptthe Qur>an although he, bdal-Barr, presents other I}adth which commend writing.23

Consequently the biographerof early Islamic figures as weil as the student oflslarnicbiography is faced with a number of problems. Besides the long passage of time beforethe compilation of early Islamic biographies, another problem which casts a shadow ofdoubt over the authenticity of the events that occurred is the discontinuity of the narrative.According to Jean Sauvaget, this discontinuity results the juxtaposition of shonanecdotes with no link between them other than the central character or event and with no

. attempt at chronological order. 24 Massignon describes the early biographies as nothingelse but detached and fragrnentary anecdotes. 25 The studies conducted by Goldziher,26


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6Schacht27 and others on the reliability of the Jadth as a historical source, is too weilknown to be reviewed here. The consequence of this problem, however, is that it is almostimpossible for biographers to resist the temptation of filling in the gaps and thusimposing their own feelings and biases on the narrative.

This leads us to a third problem: the political and religious leanings of the authors.For example, the Umayyads28 ordered that Ali, the Prophet s son-in-Iaw, be cursed in themosques, so that people were afraid even to name their sons Ali, or I;Iasan and I;Iusayn,his sons.29 Thus Jadths from this period may reflect this Umayyad bias. The two mainsects of Islam, the Sunnis and the Shi is, do not necessarily accept the same Jadths asauthentic. Sorne of the Jadiths accepted by the former are rejected by the latter and viceversa. Differing opinions are also held with regard to various historical personages, thePr ophe t s closest Companions for example, and the members of his family. Thisdifference of outlook has inevitably been reflected in the historical and biographical worksof scholars of either school.

4 Sectarian Tendencies: The status of A li and h is pr oge nyA major point of difference among Islamic authors is the status accorded by various

schools to Ali. For most Shicis he had been designated by God to succeed the ProphetMul 1arnmad In this capacity he is the frrst Imam for the Shi is, their spiritual guide, whoshould not have been deposed or even selected or elected by mere mortals. Furthermore,only Ali may designate the next Imam from amongst his children. The Sunnis, however,do not consider him to have been chosen, eitherby God or by the Prophet, for this specialShi i status of Imam. According to the Sunns he i s merely the fourth of the khul fi r rifshidn the rightly-guided caliphs) who ruled the Muslim communityas temporal heads


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7in the period following the Propl1et's death. Even though they might allot a special place to'Ali in their hearts, their respect is vastly below that given him and his family byShcs.

The Sunns also deeply venerate the Prophet's family especially the descendants of'Ali and Fa imah, and the children of their son I:Iusayn in particular,30 This is not becauseof their connection to c l but rather because of their relation to the Prophet thrcughFa mah, by virtue of which they are said to possess a special barakah (blessing),31 Forthe Sh'rs, on the other hand, the concept of ahl al bayt (people of the Prophet's house) andah] al kisii (people of his mantle), which will be discussed in detail in a later chapter, takeon paramount significance with respect to their ideology regarding the position of 'Ali asimiim.

Thus the students of Islarnic biography must be aware that this literature reflects thealtitude of ils authors. Scraps of conversations, bits of information about religious andpolitical events have probably been edited for coherencc, interest and above all relevance tolaterperceptions anddemands.

The Case of Fp.mahLet us now turn to an examination of the case of Flilimah and pinpoint additional

factors relevant to our study.

As a study of the sacred biography of a woman, this thesis confronts still anotherobstacle. The studyof religions has unconsciously operated with a male-centeredmodel ofhumanity. Until recently scholars have studied the world from the male point of view, andwomen have often been seenonly as they appear to men. This has often meant thatwomendo not appear as human beings at all, but as objects, symbols, appendages to someone


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8else s enterprise, as problematic others to be assigned a neat place. 32 AlthoughChristians, Jews Hindus Muslims and Buddhists have all elevatedwomen as

goddesses, virgins mothers symbols of purity, mercy and lovethey have also denounced and degraded them as whores witchesseducers, symbols of treachery malice and lust.33

It is the latter imagewhich has often been reinforced rather than the fonner. The traditionalmorning prayer of every Jewish man is: Blessed art Thou Lord our God King of theuniverse who has not made me a heathen who has not made me a woman, followed by 1thank Thee God for having made me the Jew that am. 34 Early Jewish traditionregarded women as evil 35 and sons were considered more of a blessing than daughters:Happy is he whose children are sons and woe to him whose children are daughters. 36Women were not allowed to participate in communal prayers read the Torah37 or saygrace at meals, these functions being the prerogative of the men in the family.38 It is saidthat although the Buddha acknowledged the capabilities of women to become nuns(arhants), he is said to have predicted that if they were admitted to the monastic order, thereligious law or the true Buddhist teaching dhanna would last only five hundred yearsinstead a thousand.39 Hinduism although the Veda the earliest scriptural corpus ofthe Hindus 40 is ascribed to a poetess named Visvavara, and Sarasvati the wife of Brahmawho has been credited with the invention of Sanskrit is the goddess of speech and isaddressed as the mother of Veda 41 women are kept from studying the Veda. thisthey are equated with the Sudras the lowest caste of the Hindus.42 This is ironic becausealmost until the beginning of the Christian era Hindu women were active members inreligious ceremonies.43 fact no sacrifice could be perfonned without the presence of awoman; the gods were said not to accept a sacrifice offered by a bachelor, and a husbandhad to cali upon his wife to accompany him in the symbolic ascent to heaven during theworship.44 The presence of a wife was necessary for the presence of gods in the h o m e ~


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9In Christian literature, the writings o Paul reveal that women were treated much the sameas in the Jewish tradition,46 although the later writings o Paul and those o Luke changedthings for the better to a certain degree.

Moreover, in societies where women are not regarded as the equals o men andwhich stress the woman s role as daughter, wife andmother, it seems strange, at fust sight,that women could be thought o as saints or holy persons. Indeed, there have been fewrecognised holy women or saints in the Islarnic tradition. Those who come easily to mindare RabI a o Basra, the mystic; Sayyidah Zaynab, the granddaughter o the Prophet, and ishah, the Prophet s youngest wife. But even among these few RabI a is not weilknown. In spite o the great influence she had on Islarnic mysticism, not much has beenwritten about her, either in her own tradition or by modern scholars o religious studies.Nor did Fatmah arouse much interest among early Muslim scholars. She is mentioned invarious early biographies because she was the daughter o the Prophet and the wife o AlIibn AbI Tlilib. Later, with the growing veneration for AlI as the frrst ShI Imamand forhis sons and successors I:Iasan and I:Iusayn, FiIlimah began to gain much more status andprestige. Yet she was hardly, ever, recognized or studied as a person in her own right.

Consequently, there is a dearth ofhistorical material specifically on her and it is verydifficult to write about her in isolation from the dominant male figures in herlife. The factthat Fatmah was the only child o the Prophet to survive him does not seem in itselfimportant enough for the early scholars o adth literattrre, history and biography to havewritten in any great detail about heror to relate traditions on her authority. Apart from afew details, the earlier biographical and adith sources contain little information about her,and that, too, is confused and conflicting. Even among later Traditionists, she is rarelycited. For example in Ibn I:Ianbal s compilation, her musnad (lit: suppon; authority)occupies only one page as against the two hundred and fifty pages devoted to ishah, the


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10Prophet s favourite wife.48 Yet H\rnah is the only one o the Prophet s children now toenjoy wide renown, and she has become the object o great veneration by all Muslims.particularly the Sh s, for the reasons already exeplained. Even for the Sunns she isconsidered to be an inspired person and an extremely devout and pious woman. Thiscould be because she was closest to her father, lived the longest o his offspring, and gavehim numerous descendants who spread throughout the Muslimworld. 49 Il may also bedue to a reflection o her husband s and sons greatness on her.

Be that as it may, with the rise o the Sh school, Falimah became more and more aspecial person, and biographies o her written in Arabic and Persian became morenumerous. In these, her binh and life are increasingly embellished with anecdotes omiracles; her preordained purity and her vinues are brought to light. She becomes theintercessor for genuinely repentant believers and she can be appealed to by people introuble and SOITOW. She is the perfect daughter, wife and mother _ a perfect and completewoman and finally she is depicted as the highest ideal to which a woman should aspire.In otherwords, she becomes a saint.

6. Biographical Sources6.1. Classical Seurces

These comprise mainly Jadith collections,50 biographical dictionaries andchronicles, sorne o which have already been mentioned. Compiled quite sorne time afterthe Prophet s death, the Jadth collections tend to reflect the Sh or Sunn tendencies otheir compilers. Accordingly, controversial Jadiths have been omitted by sorne compilersand Qadith common to all are sometimes given a distinctive twist. For example, a Jadithin the collection o the Sh Tirmidh (d. 279/892-3 repons that the Prophet had said thatFapmah was the mistress o aIl the women o Paradise, except for Mary the daughter oImran;51 this Jadith in the collection o the Sunn Bukharl (d. 256/870 repons only that


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she is the mi stress of the women of her time in this world. 52 There are very few i} ithsabout Fapmah, and these too are confined to a few scattered events in her life.

The earliest biographies and chronicles o f u ~ m m d are chiefly concerned with hisactivities as a prophet and his campaigns, and tell very little ofhis personallife and family.Conseque ltly in such works as Ibn s ~ a q s Sirat rasl Allah and Waqidi's Kitib l-maghiizi53 d. 207/822), we find Fatimah mentioned only briefly as one of the Prophet'schildren. It is only in the later histories that Fatimah is given slightly more attention. In theworks of Ibn Sa'd d. 230/852), Taban d. 309/925), Ya'qb d. 284/897) andBaladhun54 more events involving Fii imah are related. But like the compilers of p dithmost of the chroniclers and biographers show their Sh' or Sunn bias n their presentationof events. For example, the Sunn historian Baladhuri, in the Futl,1 describes the disputeover Fadak, a piece of property to which Fiitimah had laid a claim, (to be discussed atlength in Chapter Two) in a manner which shows Ab Bakr in the right and Fatimah asgiving way to his decision. III contrast Ya'qb, a Sh' historian, clearly believes thatAb Bakr did Fatimah an injustice in depriving ber of the land which was rightfully hers.56Taban's Tlirkh al-rusul w l mulk is a universal history. The work, regarded asrelatively free of bias, relates only a little more about Fiitimah than Ibn s ~ a q s work.Besides her birth, Tabanmentions the faet that shemarried 'Alafter the Battle ofBadr, andgives the dates of the birth of their two sons,l;Iasan and l;Iusayn.57

Since modern biographies of Fatimah contain supernatural and hagiographicalelements which are not found in the classieal sources, these elements were presumablyintroduced later in time. Lammens in his article Fatima in the Eneyclopaedia of Islam1 st edition) (henceforth cited as EJl), assumes that veneration for Fatima cannot beearlier than the tragedy ofKarbala (61/680). 58 Over time scholarship (pre-erninently Sh'scholarship) exalted Fiitimah ~ u r t h r and 'made' her a divine personage. Vaglieri, n her


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anicle in the second edition of Encyclopaedia of Islam (henceforth referred to as EI2)refers to three Shi i sources; Uyn al-mu jizat of I:Iusayn bin Abd al-Wahhab (beganwriting about 448/1056-7), Dala il al-imiima of Rustam al-Taban (lived in the 4th/lOthcentury) and Ibn Shiihrashb s (d. 588/1192) Manaqib aI Ab Talib, for legends aboutFapmah. These works, she writes, have devoted sorne chapters to the daughter of theProphet. The dates of these writers further substantiate the point that legends andsupematural elements came to be pa n ofFapmah s biography much later.59

6.1. Modern BiographiesAttempts to survey ail the modern biographies of Fapmah by Muslims revealed the

fact that of the e1even biographies located five were written in Urdu two of which aretranslations from Arabic, three are in Arabic, of which two have been translated intoPersian, one is in Persian and comprises a public lecture which has aIso been translated intoEnglish, and two were written in English.

It is interesting to note that even though ail these biographies have relied upon muchthe same earlier sources, that is, the l dth collections, older biographicaI dictionaries andthe chronicles, their final analyses are quite dissimilar. The problem of Fapmahsage at hermarriage provides an example. As will be discussed at length in the following chapter,there are writers who say that she was quite young, while others claim she was older thanthe customary age of an Arab girl at her marriage. Within each group we can find differentexplanations of the respective views.

These biographies of Fapmah range from attempts at a factual presentation of herlife to hagiography and mythologization in accordance with her saintly status. The leasttendentious biography is al-Zahra> written by Ab ~ fm t written 1947, translated


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3

1962), a Lebanese Shi scholar.6 He is basically concerned with correcting the bias anderrors of Henri Lammens severely critical book atimaet le s filles de Mul}.ammad(1912).61 Ab presents the facts of Falrnah s life collected from various earliersources and in the process exposes what he considers fallacies and weaknesses inLammens work. Allhough he is not always convincing in the latter, he is largelysuccessful n compiling biographical details apparentlywithout legend orrnyth.

Rais A )mad Ja fri has followed the same line in Urdu as Ab has done inArabie, that is, to y to answer the criticisrn of Western writers. In fact, his workFtimah bint Mul}.ammad (1958) is, as he explains in the preface, a translation of Ab a ~ r s book, but he has supplemented it with dates and other d.:tails.62 He has also addedvarious dths concerning Fa imah and her sons from the collections of Ab Muslim andBukhfu. Allhough Ja fn is chiefly concerned with Lammen s work, he criticizes otherWestern writers as weil, such as Reinhart Dozy (d. 1883), Theodor NOideke (d. 1930) andAloys Sprenger (d. 1893).63 His book shows sorne Shi leanings.

Rashid alKhayrl shows neither Sunni nor Sh i leanings. In Al-Zahra: (1943),64he is concerned exclusively with presenting Falmah s biography and not with refuting thecriticisms of others.

By contrast, although concerned with history, the essay on F mah in the IslamicShi ite Encyclopaedia (henceforth referred to as ISE) by I;Iassan ul-Ameene

(1973)65, shows very obviously the Sh i leanings of the writer by his attempt to disproveor play down any incident which would detract from Falmah as the only daughter of theProphet (as he believes her to be), and the Ideal Muslim woman.


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f Works similar 10 Ameene s are Fatimah: The Lady of the Light (1939)66 andBiography of Lady of Light: Fatema Daughter of Prophet Muhammad(1974),67 (henceforth Biography), written by u ~ m m d Salmin and an anonymousaUlhor respectively. The latter book was published by the Peermahomed Trust. Salminreadily acknowledges his Shi ism and his Sh beliefs are clearly evident throughout hisbook. Both books abound in anecdotes dealing with miraculous incidents from the timeFapmah was conceived and during her lifetime and after, even la the effect of her presencefeh today by the descendants of thase families who were devoted to her during her lifetime.These miracles and legends are presented as matters of fact, without any questioning oftheircredibilityor authenticityon eitherhistorical or logical grounds.

u ~ m m d al-Oin s Srat-i Ftimah (1936)68 and Fauq Bilgirmi s al-Zahr :~ w l janb Ftimah Zahr (1924)69 also mix legend with facts. The formerdescribes a few miracles at the end in shon poems, while the latter mentions thoseconnected with imponant events in Fapmah s life, e.g. her conception, birth and pre-existence.

Amn al-Tabars s biography, originally written in Arabic, has been rranslated intoPersian under the tide Zindagni Chahrdeh Macsm (1970).70 It is a Sh i workdrawing on classical sources, and contains a moderate amount of hagiographicallitemtureaboutFpmah.

liShaIi at s book Fatima i s Fatima (1981),71 is a written English translationof a public lecture, and is accordingly quite rhetorical. Shari at presents the lifeofFpmahto provide an incentive and example for Iranian women, and tries to show that although shewas the perfect daughter, wife and mother. she was also aware of what was happeningoutside her home. She was therefore politically and socially conscious, and knew her


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rights and when to demand them. Shari aH does not resort to using miraculous stories, butusing various factual incidents of her Iife, portrays Falimah as he wants the people to secher. ln Shari aH s view Falimah was a strong woman who coud endure suffering butcould also assert herselfwhen neccssary.

ln contrast, the more hagiographie books mentioned earlier use the life of Falimah asn exemplar of the ideal Muslim woman but do not emphasize her politieal awareness. Themessage eonveyed by these books, including Shari ati s, is th tth lifestyle and teachingsofFa imah should be followed by il Muslims in general and womcn in particular.

These various approaches to the life of one and the same person have made myreseareh interesting and challenging. To clarify the central issues in the specific case ofFalimah, it is most useful to try to disengage the objective historical person from thebarrage of myth and legend. Thereafter the development and function of the hagiographicaltradition can be elucidated and explained. Finally, the contrast in meaning and significancebetween the historical and hagiographical figures can be analysed, and the central questionof why Fatimah was chosen for particular veneration answered.


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16NOTES TO CHAPTER l

1. William LaReur, Biography, in Encyc10pedia of Religion, vol. II (New York:Macmillan PublishingCompany, 1987), 220.2 Robert Cohen, Sainthood, in Encyc10pedia of Religion, vol. XIII, J3. Ibid.4. Frederick H. Hatch, Hagiology, in Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. X (Chicago:WilliamBentonPublishers, 1970), 1111.5. LaFleur, 220.6 Jan Knappen, Introduction, in Is1amic Legends: Histories of Heroes, Saintsand Prophets of Islam (Leiden: E. J Brill Ltd., 1985), J7 Hippolyte Delehaye, The Legends of The Saints, trans. V.W. Crawford (NotreDame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1961), ix8. Patricia Cox, Biography in Late Antiquity: A Quest for the Holy Man (LosAngeles: University ofCaIiforniaPress, 1983), 55.9 Ibid., 55-56.10. Annemarie Schimmel, And Muhammad is His Messenger (Chapel Hill: TheUniversity of North Carolina Press, 1985),9.11. Franz Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography 2nd ed., (Leiden: E JBrill Ltd., 1968), 10112. Hamilton A R Gibb, Islamic Biographical Literature in Historians of theMiddle East , ed. Bernard Lewis and P M Holt (London: Oxford University Press,1962),55.13. MUQammad ibn Sa d, Kitab al-tabaqiit al-kabir (Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1905). (Baththe original text in Arabic and the Urdu translation of the book have been consulted for thisthesis. In the subsequent footnotes the Arabic or Urdu versions used will be indicated byA or in parenthesis following the volume number).Urdu translation by Abd Allah al- Amiidi, Tabaqiit al-kabir (Hyderabad Deccan: Daral-Taba Jiimi Usmiiniyya, 1944).14. Gibb, 54.15. Ibid., 58. 6 l adth is a narrative aImost aIways shon containing or thought to contain astatement or an action of the Prophet; his h b i t ~ his likes and dislikes, his


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recommendations and prohibitions. It often contains historical facts. For the ShI i suchtraditions of their Imams also forms pan of the / adth literature. The word / adth is usedbath in the singular and collective1y. There are six standard / adth compilations used byMuslims today. See EI2, lfadth. vol. III (Leiden: E. J Bri11 1965).23-28.17 Jean Sauvaget, Introduction to the History of the Muslim East: ABibliographical Guide, trans. Near Eastern Centre, University of California, (Berkeley:University of California Press. 1965), 2618 Ab Abd Allah ibn u ~ a m m a d ibn I s ~ a q Sirat ras l Allah, trans. AlfredGuillaume, Life of Mul;lammad. (London: Oxford University Press, 1955).19 Guillaume. Introduction, in Life of Mul,1ammad, xvii.20 ~ m a d bin Y a ~ y i i al-Balii:dhur, Fut J al-buldan, trans. P. K Hitti, The Originsof the Islamic State, (New York: Columbia University, 1916).21 Annemarie Schimmel in nd Muhammad is is Messenger, 27, states that themost trustwonhy / adth were put together in the third century of the Islamic era and themiddle of the ninth century of the Christian era. See also EI2 lfadth vol. III, 23-28.22 David S Margoliouth, Lectures on Arabic Historians (Calcutta: CalcuttaUniversity Press. 1930), 323 Ibid 42-43.24. Sauvaget. 27.25. Louis Massignon, Salman k and the Spiritual Beginnings of IranianIslam. trans. by Jamshedji Maneckji Unvala (Bombay: TheTranslator. 1955).2.26 See Ignaz Goldziher s Muslim Studies, vol. II. ed. S M Stern, trans. C R Barberand S. M. Stern (London: Allen and Unwin, 1971).27 See Joseph Schacht s The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence (Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1950).28 The Umayyad Dynasty 40/661-128-29n50 mled theMuslim world after the death ofAil ibn Abi TaIib. the founh khalfah dAO/661 .29 Margoliouth, 8630. Schimmel. 21.31.1bid.32. Nancy A Falk and Rita M Gross. eds., Introduction, in Unspoken Worlds:Women s Religious Lives in Non-Western Cultures (San Francisco: Harper andRow. 1970). xiii.

17


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18

33. Denise Carmody, Women and World Religions (Nashville: Abingdon, 1979),17.34. Anne Freemantle, Woman s Way to God (New York: St. Martin s Press, 1977),xiii; Carmody, Judaism, in Women World Religions, 00. Arvind Sharma(Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987),206; Judith Baskin, The Separationof Women in Rabbinic Judaism, in Women, Religion and Social Change, 00.Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Ellison Banks Find1y (Albany: State University of NewYork Press, 1985), 6.35. Carmody, Judaism, 193.36. Ibid., 198.37. Baskin, 8-9; Carmody, Judaism, 194-195. The frrst century sage, Rabbi Eliezer, isquotOO as having said ... May the words of Torah be bumOO rather than he given towomen, Baskin, 11; Carmody, Judaism, 197.38. Carmody, Judaism , 202.39. Freemantle, xii; Nancy Schuster Barnes, Buddhism, in Women in WorldReligions, 107; Janice D. WilIis, Nuns and Benefactresses: The Role of Women in theDevelopment of Buddhism, in Women, Religion and Social Change, 62.40. Katherine Young, Hinduism, in Women in World Religions, 60.41. Freemantle, xi.42. Ibid.; Young, 66; A.S. Altekar, The Position of Women in Hindu Civilizationfrom Prehistoric Times to the Present y (Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass, 1938), 10.43. Young, 66; Ellison Banks Findly, Glirg at the King s Court: Women and PhilosophieInnovation in Ancient India in Women, Religion and Social Change, 38-40.44. Findly, 38.45. Young, 62.46. Constance F. Parvey, The Theology and Leadership of Women in the NewTestament, in Religion and Sexism: Images of Woman in the Jewish andChristian Traditions, 00. Rosemary R. Ruether (New York: Simon and Schuster,1974),123-128.47. Ibid.48. Henri Larnmens, Fatima in EJl, vol. II (Leyden: E. 1. Brill, 1927), 85.49. Veccia Vaglieri, Fatima in EI2, vol. II (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965),841.


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50. See footnote 16.51. a The El , vol. IV:2, 796, gives various dates for Tirmidh s death. Besides the onequoted above, the otherdates suggestOO are 275/888-9, and 270/883-4.b Ab Isa u ~ a m m a d ibn Sahl a1 Tirrnidhi, ~ ~ i 1 ] . al-Tirmidhi M i ~ r : a1-Matba ah alAmirah, 1857), vol. II, 320.52. Ab Abd Allah u ~ a m m a d bin Isma il a1-Bukhan, ~ ~ 1 ] . al-Bukhari, 00. M.LudolfKrehl (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1862), vol. IV, 181-182.53. Ab Abd Allah u ~ a m m a d ibn Umar al-Wliqidi, Kitiib al-maghazi, translatOOinto German by J. Welhausen, Muhammad in Medina (Berlin: Druck und Verlag vonG. Rei . :r, 1882).54. The works of these scholars are:a Ibn Sa d, Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir.b u ~ a m m a d ibn Janr a1-Taban, T:rikh al-rusul wa mulk, translatOO into Urduby Sayyid u ~ m m d Ibrahim, T:rikh -i Taban (Karachi: Nafis Acaderny, 1967).c ~ m a d bin Abi Ya qb ibn Ja far a1-Ya qbi, Tiirikh al-Yacqb, vol. l, translatOOinto Persian by Dr. u ~ a m m a d Ibrahim Ati, rarkh-i Ya qbi (Tehran: BangahTaIjumah waNashar Kitab, 1967).d) Baladhun, Kitb al-ansiib al-ashrf vol. l, editOO by Dr. u ~ a r n r n a d l;Iarnd Allah.

M i ~ r : Dar a1-Ma aref, 1959) (henceforth Ansiib) and Futh al-buldn.55. Baladhur, Futh, 52.56. Ya qbi, 512, 527.57. Taban, voU, 62,153,252.58. Henri Lammens, Fiiprna in Ell, vol. II, 87.59. It has not been possible for the authorof this thesis to examine these works due to theirinaccessibility, and futhermore, these works calI for a detailOO and in-depth analysis whichis beyond the scopeof this investigation.60. Umar Ab N a ~ r al-Zahrii , translated into Urdu by M.A.Pnipati, al-Zahra(Lahore: MenLibrary, 1962).61. Henri Lammens, Fatima et les filles de Muhammad (Rome: Sumptibus PontificiiInstituti Biblicii,1912). This work is the onlymonograph on Fapmah in a Europeanlanguage. See Jane MacAuliffe s article Fatima bintMuhammad in Encyclopedia ofReligion. Henri Lammens was a Jesuit priest known for his anti-Muslim attitude and hisstrict criticism of traditional sources. For further information on this seeK.S. Salibi sarticle Islam and Syra in the Writings of Henri Larnmens, in Historians of theMiddle East, 330 ff. AIthough Lammens usOO classical sources for his abovementionOO work, his prejudicOO approach to the historical sources, especiallyp dth

19


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; .,

20resulted in a biased biography of Fliimah and her sisters. His article on Fliimah in theEI1also reflects his underlying attitude and conclusions.The earliest challenge to this work was in French, a number of articles written byLouis Massignon. Chief among these are La Mubahala de Medine et l hyperdulie deFatima (1943), and La Notion du voeu et la devotion musulmane Fatima (1956).(These were later reprinted the Opera Minora (Beirut: Dar al- Maaref, 1963)). Thesemay be considered the earliest Western scholarly work to bring out the special facji i(vinues) ofFliimah.62. Ras Al)mad Ja fr, Fiiimah bint Mul;1ammad (Lahore: Kitiib M ~ n z i l , 1958), 19-20.63. Works ofthese orientalists are:a Reinhart Dozy, Histoire du Musulmane d Espagne (Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1861).b) Noldeke, asLeben Muhammad (Hanover: Carl Rumpler, 1863).c) Sprenger, as Leben un d die Lehre des Mohammad (Berlin: Nicolai scheVerlangsbuchhandlung, 1861-1865).64. Rlishid al-Khayr, al-Zahrii (Dehli: Ismat Book Depot, 1943).65. I;lassan ul-Ameene, Fatima az-Zahrii in Islamic Shi ite Encyclopaedia, vol. IV(BeifUt: Slim Press, 1973),97-111.66. Muhammad Ali SaImin, Fatima: the Lady of the Light (Bombay: The Author,1939).67. Peermahomed Trust, Biography of Lady of Light : Fatema. aughter ofProphet Muhammad (Karachi: Peermahomed Trust, 1974).68. Malik Mul)ammad al-Din, Sirat-i Flipmah (Rawalpindi: Sufi Printing andPublishing Company, 1936).69. Fauq Bilgiriim, al-Zahrii: : aI;1wiil i janiib Fiipmah Zahrii (Dehli: Maqbl Press,1924).70. Amin al-Islam Tabars, l llim al-wara bi alamal-hudii, translated into Persian byAziz Allah Atiirct, Zindagiin-i chahiirdeh m a ~ m (Tehran: Kitiib FumshIslamiyya, 1966).71. Ali Shar at, Fii; imah Fiitimah ast, trans. Laleh Bakhtiar, Fatima is Fatima(Tehran: ShariatiFoundation, 1981).


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H PTER Biography Fitimah

1. IntroductionThis chapter is an analysis of reports which deal with the purely historical facts of

Fi imah s life and the modem biographical tradition which purports to be derived fromthem. From the differences these accounts reveal we obtain a basic idea fust of theleanings and approaches of various writers whether Muslim or non-Muslim and secondof the obviously serious problems ail researchers have in trying to locate the historicalperson that was Fi imah.

To gather historical data on F: imah one should refer to documents which are asclose to the actual events as possible -- in this case those classical Islamic sources outlinedin the previous chapter. An immediate problem here is that there are many controversiesand conflicts in these very histories and biographies about even the most basic of facts.The sources available moreover are often biased in one way or the other and as a directconsequence many contradictory claims come to light. On the other hand suchcontroversies are frequently an integral part ofhistoricalliterature particularly early Islamicliterature. Therefore even though it is incumbent upon the writer of a biography to gatherail possible evidence often as in the case of Fi imah adequate and complete evidence issimply not available.

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Although the standard infonnation about Fa imahslife is confusing and conflictingin both the classical and the modem sources, a historical presentation of her Iife followshere, such as it can be given.

2. he children of Mul)ammadSome of the only facts about which there is little conflict is that the Prophet

Mul)ammad was [lfSt married at the age of twenty-five and that his wife Khadijah was awidow (one source rejects even this fact) of sorne forly years old. No other event,particularly connectedwith his family life, remains undisputed by oneor anotherwriter.

Most of the biographers agree that Khadijah bore Mul)ammad six children, two ofwhom (the [lfst and the last bom) were boys who died in their infancy.2 The children wereQasim, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthm, a ~ m a h and 'Abd AlIah.3 The classicalaccounts are divided on whether Fa imah, and hence 'Abd Allah, who was younger than

a ~ m a h were bom after the Prophet received revelation or nol.4 Ali the other childrenfrom Qasim to Umm Kulthm were bom before this.5 However there are some reportswhich state that Khadijah and u ~ a m m a d had from six to nine children.6 Besides the twosons named above, some sources also mention al-Tiihir and aI-Tayyib. Ibn I s ~ a q andTabari, for example, are among those who hold this view, although Taban does mention'Abd AlIah's name.? The majorityof the authors, however, reject this opinion and explainthat aI-Tahir and aI Tayyib were other names for 'AbdAllah, and were not two other sons.

Sorne authors, such as l;Iassan ul-Ameene, assert that the Prophet had only threechildre by Khadijah, two boys and one girl, Fa mah. They quote various sources to provetheir point Ameene claims that the three older girls, Zaynab, Ruqayyah, and UmmKulthm, were Khadijah's children from her previous marriage. Quoting from the iti


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al-tabaqit of Ibn Sa'd, the Kitib al-isti'ib of Ibn Abd al-Barr, and Tabarl's worNihiyah al-'arab and Usd al-ghibah, Ameene argues that if these three older girlswere, as c aimed, the Prophet's own, then they would have been too young to be married,bear children, be divorced and remarried. For example, with regard to Ruqayyah he asks,... knowing that her fust husband 'Utbah divorced her when she was seven years old -[that is if she was born after Mu )ammad's marriage with Khadijah] -- how old was shewhen she (fust) got married? 8 He gives the same argument for Umm Kulthm, statingthat according to this hypothesis, she was six years old when divorced. In these argumentsI;Iassan ul-Ameene does not refer to any specifie sources regarding their age at the time oftheir marriage and divorce to substantiate his point9

The Shi' author of the Biography is not as logical in proving his case, although heholds a similar view. He c aims that Khadijah had been a spinster before she married theProphet and that the three girls were her sister's daughters. As her sister was a widow,Khadjah and the Prophet adopted the girls to give them a home. The biographer'sargument is that since ail three girls are claimed tohavebeen born in the ten yearsprecedingthe first revelation, it is not possible for themtohave attained puberty before the beginningsof Islam. Besides this argument, which is his only logical and historical c aim, he resorts toothers based on personal belief or those that are not well-supported at aIl. For example, heestablisheshis point that Khadijah had never been married before by stating that the PersianShi'i scholarAlllimah Mu arnmad Mazandini has quoted the Shi' writers A mad Belazarland Abl Qisim Kufi, who in turn have quoted other writers who share this opinion,lOSignificantly none of the other works 1have consultedmentions this facto Theargument ofdirecl relevance 10 Fiilimah is his c aim that if Zaynab, Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthm hadbeen the Prophet's own daughters, he would not have presented the farm of Fadak toFilimah and given nothing to his other daughters. This point may be considered validwereil not disproved by chronological considerations. Fadak was given to the Prophet after the

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Batde of Khaybar (7/628).11 Ruqayyah had already died, shortly after the Batlle of Badr(2/624).12 Zaynab, the eldest daughter, was in Makkah with her husband, and UmmKulthum was married to Uthman bin AfTan who could adequately support a wife. Itwas his youngest daughter and her husband Ali who were at the time in financial straitsserious enough to warrantthis gift.l

Another point which the same biographer puts forward in regard to Fa imah and hersisters can be easily set aside. He claims that the Prophet was more particular aboutchoosing a husband for Flitimah than for any of his other daughters. Firstly, we do nothave significant details about the marriages of the eider daughters, and secondly, allthreegirls were married to people of great repute and respect at the lime. The eldest, Zaynab,was married to her cousin Abu a l - A ~ and Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum were alsomarried to their cousins, sons of Abu Lahab;15 after their divorces on accepting Islam,Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthum were each married in succession to Uthman bin Affan, oneof the closest Companions of the Prophet himself. Therefore one cannot sayon thesegrounds that these three were not his own children. Yet another point this aUlhor makes toprove that Fatimah was the Prophet s only daughter is that her marriage was arranged byGod and on her wedding day angels came down to earth and showered the couple withprecious gems.16 This type of argument, however, is clearly too mythical to serve asevidence.

3. he date of Fiitimah s birthThe dates assigned to Flitimah s birth are 5 variable that is impossible to ascertain a

year. s mentioned above (on page 21 in note 4), there is no argeementon the exact date ofher birth in the classical sources. Ibn Isl iiq and Ibn Sa d merely menlion that she was bombefore the fust revelation. Baliidhur i states she was bom at the lime the Ka bah wasrebuilt17 Ya qubi and Mas udi both hold she was bom after the fll St revelation, Mas udi

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specifying that she was born eight years before the hijrah Taban states that sile was bornbefore the rise of Islam. It should be noted here that the two classical writers who disputethe general classical view that Flimah was born after the inception of Islam are consideredto have Sh ite sympathies.l 8

Among modern scholars, Veccia Vaglieri states that mos early Arabie sourcesmaintain that FaPmah was born in the year the Ka bah was rebuilt, and this is calculated as605 A.D.19 Many of her biographers discuss other possible dates but conclude that 605A.D. seems the most likely. Bilgirami, Ab and Rashid al-Khayri are among thosewho hold this view. Henri Lammens implies that Fapmah was born between 598 and610 A.D.21 Ab a ~ r whose book is a refutation of Larnrnens work, explains that theFrench writer daims Fpmah was born before Islam in order to advance her age at the timeof her marriage, which was quite old by Arab standards.22 He furtller states that Larnrnensattributes this delay to Fapmah s unpleasant nature and lack of beauty.3

Although Fauq Bilgiram acknowledges that many sources date Fatimah s binh tofive years before the Prophet s mission, i.e. 605 A.D., he himself does not hold this sameview.24 He is not alone in his speculations. There are other biographers who reject thisdate. Ja fr citing Taban as his source) and Majid Ali Khan say that the Prophet s daughterwas born after the fust revelation was sent to MuJ:1amrnad.25 Although they agree on thispoint, they nevertheless differ as to the exact year ofher birth. Shaykh al-Tsi, as quoted inthe IS says that FaPmah was born in the second year of the Prophet s mission, whereasthe same work quotes al-I;Iakim and Ibn Abd al-Barr in support of the fust year ofprophecy, 611 A.D., as the correct date.26 Cthers of the same opinion are MalikMuJ:1ammad al-Dn, and Khargosh.27 Tabarsi notes that many Sunni writers hold thisview. According to al-Kulayni, the earliest compiler Shi Qadith and Ibn Shiihrashb,the birth of the Prophet s youngest daughter took place five years after Prophethood was

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~ { ;

receivOO by Mu )ammad.28 Ibn al-Kashab's Kashf al-ghummah, quoting al-Baqir, theSh' Imam, (d.1l4rt36), agrees with the year 615 A.D., that is five years after the firstrevelation. Bilgiram, using a Qadth of the Sh' Imam Zayn al-'Abidn, (d.94 or 95 1 12-713) also picks 615 A.D. as the correct year of Fa imah's binh, and Tabars writes thatmost wel1k:nown Sh' Qadths agree on this date.29

Larnrnens speculates that perhaps the reason for dating her birth approximately at thetime of the flISt reve1ation is the Sh'j belief that she marriOO young, to vie with 'A'ishah'sbeing married at the age of nine. He states that the estimates of her age (at death) varybetween lwenty-three and thirty-five years, depending upon the date citOO for her binh.He adds that an earlier date is ascribOO to her binh in orde t d the objection arisingfrom the advanced years of her mother.30 Bearing in mind fha critique is basOOprimarily on the classical sources, l is interesting to note tha most modern Sh 'biographers wri ers do not subscribe to this view. Ab a ~ r Salmin, and Ja'fri do nothesitate toplace the date of F imah sbinh before the first revelation, in contrastto the viewsupportOO by the ISE.

What emerges from our discussion of these various dates is that Fa imah could havebeen born in any rime between 604 A.D. and 615 A.D. It should be notOO that such a largedegree of variation is not found for the birth of any prominent figure in early Islamichistory . the flISt four kha1fahs for example. Does this perhaps suggest how liuleprominenceFii imahhadin the earliest historical tradition?

4. Fiip mah s childhood and characterAs she grew up, F imah presumably 100 a quiet life; at least there is no evidence t

the contrary, and the modern biographel's agree on this. However for them, her rnildness

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was not because she was insensitive to her surroundings or because she lacked the courageto do anything -- a view which has been aired by Lammens. Rather, the modernbiographers strive to show otherwise, as will be discussed a little later. AIl the biographerswrite of her great love and devotion for her father and his cause. In spite of her young ageshe is said to have understood the gravity of his mission and his need for moral supportfrom his family. After her mother s death, Fiipmah took over her rnother s role of being atower of strength and encouragement to her father. Touched by the tender care and concernshe bestowed on him, the Prophet is said to have given her the nicknarne of umm bihiimother of her father).31

As mentioned above, modern biographers cite a few incidents of her childhood andyoUlh which show her as young and sensitive but also brave. Once the Prophet waspraying in the mosque when sorne of his enemies threw the entrails of a camel on him.This incident was reported to Fiilimah, who immediately ran to herfather, cleared away themess and cursed the culprits.32 Sorne years later, during the Batlle ofUl;lUd 3/625), wherethe Prophet was wounded, a rurnour spread that he had been kiIled. When Fiitimahhastened to the battlefield, she found the rurnour was false, The Prophet had only beenwounded, and she, with An ibn Ab Tii1ib s help, tended his wounds.33 An examinationof sorne the classical sources proves quite interesting. For exarnple, Ibn Isl;1iiq does notmention this latter incident at all, save to report that after battle both the father and thehusband asked Fiipmah to clean their swords. Ibn Sa d and Baliidhur mention thatFiipmah wiped the blood from the Prophet s face with water brought by AU. Taban doesnot mention Fiitimah at all, saying only that An brought some water with which theProphet proceeded to cleanse his wounds. Neither Ya qbi nor Mas di mentions thisincident. Both Tinnidh and Bukhm say that An brought the water and Fiitimah washedher father s wounds.34

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-

Thus, we can see that the classical sources are not agreed upon Fa imah s presence lthe battlefield. Taban in fact mentions that the Prophet s wounds were very slight. Thisreveals a marked difference from the manner in which modern sources have dealt with theincident, for they atlempt to show not only the seriousness o the wounds but to use theincident as revealing Fli mah s devotion to her father, a brave woman who did not shyaway from the sight o blood, or for that matter, entrails, when her father s welfare was atstake. In another incident, during the Battle o the Trench Khandaq (5/627), the Muslimarmy was besieged and went for days without food due to famine in the area. Themoment Fa mah obtained food at home, she brought il to her father at the battlefront. Thisaccount is described in only two o the modern biographies; none o the classicaJ sourcesmentions Fapmah in relation to this battIe.35

These stories show her deep love and concern for her father. Except for theseincidents, Fapmah is always present in the background, whenever needed, looking after herfather s daily needs. Such love between father and daughter is held up as exemplary. Hislove and respect for her is portrayed as being as great as hers for him. A ishah is reponedto have said and this tradition is quoted in all biographies that whenever Fa imah cameto visit him after hermarriage, the Prophet would rise from his seal, go to his daughter, kissher hand or her forehead, and make her sil in his own seat. Lammens is the onlybiographer who disagrees with this picture o a gentIe, loving, sweet-natured daughter. Onthe contrary, he fmds Fa mah Ua woman devoid o attraction, o mediocre intelligence,completely insignificant,little esteemed by her father, iIl-treated by her husband, anaemic,often iIl, prone to tears......7 It is only in Lammens work that such severely critical viewsabout Fapmah are found. What makes his views interesting is the obvious fact that althoughthe primary sources available to him and to the other writers are the same, he seems to havean extraordinarily harsh interpretation o the sources. Although none o the sourcesexamined for this thesis portrays Fapmah with such a nature, it is possible that Lammens


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may have interpreted harshly incidents such as the one which earned AH his nickname,Abu Turiib, of which Ibn s ~ a q and Taban give more than one version. This incident isdiscussed in more detaillater in the chapter.

5. Fatimah s marnageThe migration of the Muslims hijrah from Makkah to Madinah is often considered

the greatest event in the history oflslam. Ittook place between the years 622 A.D. and 624A.D., although there is greater agreement on the earlier date. The persecution of theMuslims by the non-Muslims in Makkah had by this time become unbearable, and so theProphet asked the Muslims to migrate to Madinah or Yathrib as il was then known). Hehad been assured a welcome for the Muslims there. Af ter most of the Muslims had leftMakkah, the Prophet received a revelation ordering him to depart and he did 5 in thecompany of Abu Bakr. Soon after he sent for his daughters Umm Kulthum, Filimah andhis wife Sawdah. It was shortly after the migration that the Prophet married A ishah -- thenine-year old daughter of Abu Bakr -- and also soon after Fa\imah was married to Ali, theProphet s paternal first cousin.

Before Filimah was married to AH, her father had apparently received and rejectedproposais for her hand from both Abu Bakr and Umar. These two then persuaded AH toask for Fatimah s hand, which he after much hesilation. On this ail the classicalsources agree with the exception of Ibn s ~ a q T ab an and Mas udi. Ibn s ~ a q makes nomention of the marriage at all, while Taban and Mas Udi do not mention the suits of AbuBakr and Umar,38 Most of the modern biographies agree with Ya qubi, BaiadhuI , andIbn S a d, although Vaglieri, Lammens, l;Iassan ul-Ameene and the author of theBiography, like Taban and Mas udi, do not discuss any proposais other than Ali s,39


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li sofferwas accepted, and the marriage took place. Shi'i legends make the refusaiof the suits of Ab Bakr and 'Umar into something especially meaningful. They say thatthe Prophet rejected the frrst two proposais because God had destined the marriage between'Al and Fi imah.40 But a less tendentious explanation can also be given for the Prophet'saction. Marriage within the family was an imponant part of the Arab tradition. Thus it isquite nattrral that the Prophet would prefer his cousin rather than his friends for hisdaughter. Besides, his older daughters too had been married within their own clan, that ofQuraysh. Why should the situation be different for Fi imah?

Although the proposed dates of the marriage vary from five months to three yearsafter arrival in Madinah, that is, from 622 A.D. to 3 A.H./625, the year most widelyaccepted is 2/624.41 The modem scholars who differ from the generally accepted date areKhayri and the author of Biography, who state that Fi imah was married in 3 A.H. Butthe latter and I;Iassan ul-Ameene also suggest that the marriage could have taken place in 1,2, or 3 A.H. Larnmens does not give his own view but observes that in the sources themarriage is not placed before Badr (that is, 2 A.H.), and sorne place it after (i.e.3/625). 42

What is more a matterof dispute, in view of the conflicting theories mentioned above,is Fipmah's age at the time. The famous Shi'ijurist Majlisi (d.lllO/17()()), maintains thatshe was married in the year 1A.H., when she was only nine years 01d.43 liShari'aH, onthe other hand, though agreeing with the majority on 2 A.H. as the year of her marriage,does not fix an age; he says she was either nine or nineteen years old.44 The only classicalsource which gives Fapmah's age at the time of her marriage is Ibn Sa'd. He says that shewas eighteen years old at the time.45 According to the ISE, Ab al-Faraj al-Isfahani (d.c.a. 347 /969) in Kitiib al-aghlinI, and Ibn I;Iajar (d. 852/1449) in a l I ~ i i b a alsocalculale her age 10 be eighleen years al the lime of her marriage. Ab and Ras

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(

.

Al:tmad Ja fri in their respective biographies hold the same view.46 Although I;Iassan ul-Ameene, the author of the ISE, gives these opinions from various earlier biographers, hehimself is uncertain. If one holds, he says, that Fa mah was married at eighteen or later,her age at her death would also increase, and that is not widely accepted by Muslims. Sothe only reason for historians to choose eighteen years or olderas the correct age at the timeof her marriage would be that there was a confusion between her age at her marriage andher age at death, and the latter was taken as the former.47 Muhammad Salmin, an Indianbiographer, writes that Fapmah was married at fifteen years of age, as do Ibn Abd al-Barrin aI-Isti iib, referred to in the ISE.48 Vaglieri, on the other hand, states merely thatFa imah sage was somewhere between fifteen and twenty-one years.49

Lammens agrees wilh those biographers who say she was older than the general ageof Arab girls at marriage, and is cited by Ab as stating that Fatrnah married latebecause of her unpleasing personality and looks.50 In his article on Fapmah, Lammensstates that the attempt to advance Fa mah sdate of birth is

...inspired by the statement in the n that Aisha was married atthe age of nine, and hence) is an atlempt to give Fapma the sameadvantage. In more than one respect Fapma is the Sh counterpartof the very prominent figure of A isha.

Be that as il may, it is remarkable to note that although the modem biographies understudy are chiefly Sh te, and with the exception of the Biography, they do not espousethe view of a youthful in Arab terms) marriage. Rather they defend her age by saying thatthe Prophet loved her too much to have her part from him and thus he did not arrange hermarriageearlier.52 In fact Ja fri goes on to say that this was the reason the Prophet rejectedAb Bakr s and Umar s suits and accepted Al s. As Al s wife, his daughter wouldremain close to him.53 This indicates their tacit agreement with Lammens on her age atmarriage, even if not for the same reasons. Martin Lings, in his recent biography of the

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. . .. .../ ;

Prophet, c1aimed to be based on the earliest sources, states that Fa mah was twenty yearsold when she married.54 But this age is not suggested even by Ibn Sa d, the only one ofLing s classical sources that specifies an age.

After accepting the proposaI, the Prophet is said to have inquired whether Ali couldmeet the burden of the wedding arrangements. When Ali replied that he possessednothing but a horse (sorne say a camel), a sword, and a coat ofmail, the Prophet asked himto sell the last and bring him the money. With the money, the Prophet asked Umm Salamahto purchase the necessary things for the couple s new home.55 u ~ a m m a d himselfsought out his daughter to inform her about Ali s proposai, desiring to know her ownopinion. Himah remained silent and this was taken as consent (as had been the case withher older sisters),56 and the wedding took place. Lammens, relying on Ansiib ofBal1dhuri, first states that Faimah accepted the proposai because she felt she was too old toget many more offers, and then contradicts himself by saying that she screamed a refusaland cried, asking her father how she could be expected to marry such a poor man. Rerfather consoled her by saying Ali was the best among men and the best spouse for her.57Both Ab and Ja fri consider this account to be very unlikely and c1aim thatthe onlyMuslim source which mentions these details is Baladhuri.58

The only c1assical writer besides Bal1dhuri who gives any details about the marraigeis Ibn Sa d and he notes only that Himah met the news of Ali s proposai with silence.Ibn Sa d also observes that according to the custom of the Prophet s house, silence wastaken as consent.59 Curlously, Lammens chose to overlook Ibn Sa d s rendition of theevent, preferring instead Baladhuri, who was funher away from the event than Ibn Sa d.

Khayrl, Ja fri and Bilgirimrepon that Faimah cried when she paned from her fatherafter the wedding ceremonies, which is natural for any girl to do, particularly if she was as

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close to htr father as Fapmah is said to have been. Bilgirarn writes that after her marriage,Fapmah once complained to her father of the taunts of other women regarding herhusband s poverty. In both the cases the Prophet is said to have consoled her by pointingout the superior qualities o AII.60 Khayr rejects the authenticity of this narrative becausehe that it was beyond Fapmah s exalted nature to complain about such a perty matter.Further he adds that Fapmah was aIready accustomed to a life of poverty with her father.6

After the marriage ceremony the bride was taken in a procession to the groom shou se. There the Prophet sprinkled the couple with water which he had prayed over orgargled with according to different sources and invoked blessings upon them.62 ThusFatimah began her new Iife.

As far as financial matters were concerned, her early married life was no better thanher single life; it was, anything, worse. AIl the sources, including Larnmens, agree thatthe couple had a hard, poverty-stricken life. The earliest sources referred to by Vaglieristate that the couple s bed was

.. , the fleece of an untanned sheepskin, which contained camelfodder during the day; for a covering, they used an old piece ofstriped Yemeni cIoth, which was not large enough to cover both feetand head. The piIIow was leather stuffed with l palm fibres .63

For her trousseau Fapmah had received a goatskin boule, a sieve, dus ter, a cup and ahandmiII.64 Husband and wife had to Vlork very hard to make ends meet. Often AI andFapmah went without food for IWo or three days consecutively, and when there was sornefood, it was barely enough. Yet the couple were aIways ready to feed a guest or a hungrybeggar with whatever Iittle they had.6 is reported that Fapmah would do aIl thehousehold chores herself.66 Once, when the Muslims had received a numbero slaves as


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; n

boOly the couple, at 'Ali's insistence requested the Prophet for a slave to help with thework at home. The Prophet refused saying that there were many Muslims who were morein need the money which would he got by the sale the slaves, than they aservant.67

Later the same day, the Prophet taught 'Ali and Fapmah a few phrases to recite inorder to gain strength and peace. The phrases were: liihu akbar (Gad is great), ~ u i i n liih (Gad he praised), and al Qamdu li liih (ail praise is due to Gad). Though thesources are not unanimous, most agree that the phrases were to he recited hefore going tobed and that each one should be repeated thirty-three times with the exception liihuakbar which was to be recited thiny-four times.68 These phrases are recited by Sh'seven today.

According to the Qadths used by Vaglieri the finances 'Ali and Fapmah, andmany other Muslims as well, improved greatly after the occupation Khaybar (about7/628 .69

The married life Fapmah and 'Ali has been variously described as idyllic, withnever a difference opinion between them;70 as heing like any other marriage, with itsups and downs;7 and even as a most unhappy one.72 While Vaglieri states that 'Alitreated Fapmah with too much harshness and that she often complained to her father,73Lammens makes Fapmah the responsible party. It was her constant recriminations whichdrove 'Ali to maltreat his invalid wife. 74 Most the classical sources reveal that therewere differences between the couple and that 'Ali, to keep from quarrelling with his wife,sometimes left the house. These sources give varied accounts this. One such accountgiven by Ibn ISQaq relates that when such differences arase between them, 'Ali would goout the house and put sorne dust on his head to help him control his temper. This action


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earned him the nickname Ab Turab (father of dust) from the Prophet.75 The manner inwhich Ibn Is ;Jaq recounts the origin of the nickname Ab Turiib raises sorne doubt as towhether hehimself believes that i i ~ m h was its root cause. He gives as the primary originof the name a narrative which Ali and one of his companions, at tlle time of theexpedition of al- Ushayrah. wentto sleep under a date palm while watching sorne farmersat work. The Prophet came aIong and, brushing the dust off his clothes, woke Ali by thisname, and went on to foretell the manner of his death. And then, aImost with tongue incheek, Ibn Is ;Jaq mentions that sorne say that Ali earned this nickname on a ~ a h saccount, but immediately distances himself by saying But God knows the truth of thematter. 76 Ibn Sa d, Taban and A ;Jmad bin I;IanbaI aIso attribute the nickname to theexpedition. But Taban. Bukhiri and Ab Muslim cite still another tradition. Once whenthe Prophet asked i ~ m h of li swhereabouts, she told him that they had had anargument and Ali had left the house in anger for the mosque. The Prophet found Alisleeping in the mosque with dust on his clothes and woke him up by the name Ab Turibas he mbbed the dust off him.77 Significantly, sorne of the modern biographers suppressthe role ofFatimah in this matter and mention only that Ali received the nickname when hefell asleep in the mosque and was awakened by the Prophet. The reluctance of themodemwriters tomention the quarrel with a ~ m a h speaks for itself.

Larnmens goes on to say that the trying and unhappy conditions at home drove Alitwice to decide to take a second wife. He chose daughters of Hishiim bin Mughirah and ofAb Lahab (this according to Lammens. others say Ab Jahl), one of the severest enemiesof Islam.78 Although sorne deny that such an incident ever occurred and insist that it wasjust a rumour spread by those who wanted to create a distance between Ali and theProphet, there are others who do accept it as authentic. The latter explain that Ali haddecided on such a step for no other reason than to improve relations between the Muslimsand non-Muslims of MakkaI1 79 Whatever the reasons given for li sdecision, it is

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commonly recounted that R imah reponed itto her father. Thosewho say thatthe incidentwas a concoction of the evil-minded, repon that cAli denied the truth of the rumour, tellingthe Prophet he would never marry in R imah s lifetime.8 On the other hand, biographerswho believe that cAli did intend to take Ab Jahl s daughter as a second wife, say that theProphet refused cAli permission to marry, declaring that the daughter of od sProphetcould notlive under the sarne roof wilh the daughter of God s enemy.81 On hearing ofcAli s plans to take Mughirah s daughter (a Muslim) for his wife, the Prophet said thatR imah was a pa n of him and whoever hu n her, hu n him, and that if cAli really wanted tomarry another woman, he must divorce Fii imah first. cAli then promised notto take a wifeduringFii imah s lifetime.8

The earliest classical sources to relate these accounts are Baliidhuri and the adithcollections.83 However, none of these tries to justify cAlfs decisions, as the modemwriters do, perhaps because polygamy was a common ;>ractice in the early Islarnic period,and il would have been quite acceptable for cAli to have taken a second or third wife. Sincethe Prophet did not aIlow cAli to marry while still wedded to his daughter, the laterbiographers mayhave fell the need tojustifycAli s actions.

Louis Massignon considers this choice given to cAli as one of the k h ~ i i j ~ (specialprivileges) given to Fii imah by the Prophet According to Massignon, the Prophet madefor her an ideal marriage, the kind he had had with R mah s mother, his fust wife,Khadijah.84 While this may explain the Prophet s motives, we do not know from theclassical sources whetheror notthis was an ideal marriage for both; we only know that cAlidid state his wishes to take another wife on perhaps more than one occasion.

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6.1. ChildrenAccording 10 the majority of the biographies, Fa imah and Ali had five children.85

The eldest, J:Iasan was bom in 3/625; J:Iusayn was bom in the following year in 4/626;Zaynab in 5/627; Um m Kulthm in 9/631; and the youngest ofthem, a son called Mui)sin,was still-bom in 11/633.86 The eldest IWo were given their names by the Prophet, whonamed them J:Iasan and J:Iusayn respectively after rejecting their father s choice ofJ:Iarb atboth times. 87 The Prophet took great pride and pleasure in his grandsons, who were forhim like the sons he never had. Many of the Prophet s biographies abound in stories andincidents which show his great love for the Iittle boys.88

The two girls, Zaynab and Um m Kulthm, were married to W brothers. Zaynab shusband was Abd Allh bin Ja far Tayr, while Um m Kulthm married Mui)ammad binJa far Tayr 89 although sorne modern scholars such as Nabia Abbott and Watt say shewas wed to Umar bin Afran, the second kha fah . : 0 Bilgirmi also discusses this view,but does not support it.91

6.2. The concept hl l b yt r ahl al-IdsiiAs mentioned earlier, for the Shi is, Ali, Fpmah, and their W children J:Iasan and

J:Iusayn have special status. They are identified by the Shi is as the Prophet s ah al-baytor ah al-kisii (people of the mande). There are IWo main versions in the modernbiographies explaining how they came to be accorded this status.

In the fust version,92 in 9/631 a Christian delegation came to meet the Prophet.During their debate about prophethood, things came to such a pass that the W partiesdecided to meet the next day for a mubiihala (mutual cursing), accompanied by theirrespective supporters. The next day the Prophet brought with him only Ftimah, Ali,

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I;Iasan and I;Iusayn. Taking them under his mantle he said that they were his ahl al bayt.Following this incident the four came to be known as the ahl al kisii .

The second version is presented by both Bilgiriimi and Tabarsi on the basis of atradition from Umm Salamah. She relates that one day when the Prophet was resting in herhouse, Fi imah, Ali, I;Iasan and I;Iusayn came to visit him. Seeing their grandfather lyingdown, the two boys asked they could lie down with him under his mantle. The Prophetgranted them permission. Soon Fa imah and A li too asked to he allowed to join theProphet. With the four under his mantle, the Prophet prayed to God to keep impuritiesaway from these, his ahl al bayt. He then received a revelation accepting his prayer.93Umm Salamah asked if she too were not a member of his house and wished ta he prayedfor also. The Prophet answered that she was on the right path but could not be countedamong them.94 A slight variation in this account is found in the TafsIr aI-Qur an ofTirmidhi, which states that while Falimah and her family were with the Prophet at UmmSalamah s house the above verse was revealed and in response to it the Prophet hadcovered the four with his mantle and declared that these were his ahl al bayt.

Looking at the classical sources, we find that aithough Ibn ISQaq deals with the eventof the mubiihala in great detail, he does not mention AH, Fiilimah, or their two sons. Twoother sources which describe this event, Ya qbi and Mufid, relate the fust version and domention the family. Both these works are sympathetic to the Shi ah.96 However Mas di,also a sympathizer, does not mention this event at ail.

7. Th e Prophet s deathThree years after the conquest of Makkah by the Muslims, in the tenth year after his

tt migration to Madinah 63 A.D.), the Prophet, along with a large numher of his followers, :


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perforrned his last lajj (holy pilgrimage). After his return to Madnah, the Prophet becameill. His health deteriorated day by day until on 28th Safar (according to the Sh s) or 12thRab al-Awwal (according to the Sunns) he breathed his last. During these last daysbefore his death he resided in ishah shouse, where Falimah stood constant vigil at hisbedside. The following incident from his last days is related by both Sh s and Sunns, asreported by A ishah. One day, while Falimah was sitting at his bedside, the Prophetwhispered something to her and she began to cry. Then he whispered to her again and shebegan to smile. Latcr, when ishah asked the cause of her tears and smile in such quicksuccession, FITlimah rcfused to reveal the secret. After the death of her father, however, shespoke of it. She said that the firs time he had whispered in her ear, the Prophet had toldher of his imminent death. This had made her weep. Seeing her cry, he had whisperedagain, this lime consoling her by telling her that she would be the flfst one to meet him inParadise. This had made her smile. This further example of the special relationship said toexist between father and daughter is related by several classical and modern authors.9

8. F al im ah s r ol e in the question of successionThe period following her father s death was the most active for Falimah. She was no

longer the quiet, submissive young girl always in the background. She was now a spiritedwoman, confident about the demands shemade.

From this time onwards, the Muslim community was divided into two main groups:those who sided with the first kh l h Ab Bakr, and those who supported the c1aim ofAli to the leadership of the community. Sh books relate that after the last pilgrimage, theProphet at the pond of Khumm had proclaimed li and his descendants as hissuccessors.9 Though the Sunns accept the general account of the incid

r ali_the image of fatima in muslim biographical literature

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