This chapter deals with Fatimah az-Zahra' (the Radiant), the daughter of the Messenger of Allah. It treats her birth, span of life and the time of her death, as well as some of her excellences and characteristics. It consists of three sections.
Her Birth, Names And Epithets
The most predominant view in the traditions transmitted by our traditionists is that Fatimah az-Zahra' was born in Mecca, on the twentieth of Jumada 'l-Akhirah, in the fifth year of the Prophet's apostolic career. It is also asserted that when the Prophet died, Fatimah was eighteen years and seven months old.
It is reported on the authority of Jabir ibn Yazid that (the fifth Imam) al-Baqir was asked: "How long did Fatimah live after the Messenger of Allah?" He answered: "Four months; she died at the age of twenty-three." This view is close to that reported by the traditionists of the (Sunni) majority. They have asserted that she was born in the forty-first year of the Messenger of Allah's life. This means that she was born one year after the Prophet was sent by Allah as a messenger. The scholar Abu Said al-Hafiz relates in his book Sharafu'n-Nabiyythat all the children of the Messenger of Allah were born before Islam except Fatimah and Ibrahim, who were born in Islam.
It is reported that the sixth Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq said:
"Fatimah has nine names with Allah. They are: Fatimah, as-Siddiqah (the Righteous), al-Mubarakah (the Blessed), at-Tahirah (the Pure), az-Zakiyyah (the Unblemished), arRadiyah (the one content with Allah's pleasure), al-Mardiyyah (the one pleasing to Allah), al-Muhaddathah (the one spoken to by angels) and az-Zahirah (the Luminous). In the Musnad(collection of transmitted hadiths) of the eighth Imam ar-Rid5, it is reported that the Prophet declared: "I named my daughter Fatimah (the Weaned One) because Allah weaned her and those who love her from the Fire." The Prophet also called her al-Batul (pure virgin), and said to `A'ishah: "O Humayra' (a redish white, a well-known epithet of `A'ishah), Fatimah is not like the women of human kind, nor does she suffer the illness you (women) suffer! " This is explained in another prophetic tradition which asserts that she never menstruated. It is likewise reported by Sunni traditionists on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, who heard Umm Salim, the wife of Abu Talhah al-Ansari, say: "Fatimah never experienced the blood of menstruation or parturition, for she was created from the waters of Paradise." This is because when the Messenger of Allah was transported to heaven, he entered Paradise, where he ate of its fruits and drank its water.
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