Fatima, Daughter of Muhammad by South African Catholic Priest

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): This meticulous study attempts to dig deeply into the classical Islamic text, to unearth a more comprehensive picture of Fatima, the only surviving daughter of Prophet Muhammad, so deeply loved and revered most especially by her Shi’a devotees.

The only child of Muhammad to survive him, Fatima was from early times taken up by Shi’a Islam, for whose adherents she is the virgin mother, the heavenly intercessor with untold power before God’s throne, and the grieving mother of al-Husayn, the Shi’a’s most important martyr.

During her life she was impoverished and weak, neglected, marginalized, and divested of justice: but her reward in heaven comprises incalculable riches, all those in heaven will bow their heads to her, and her company will be the angels and the friends of God. Here, for the first time, her story is told.

The Prophet Muhammad died in June 10/632, his head cradled in the lap of his young wife Â’isha. In the shadows near his bed stood Fâṭima, his only surviving daughter, ousted from her father’s side at this critical moment. Fâṭima would die a few months later after a life lived ostensibly on the edges of Islam, and for centuries, although revered and honored by Muslims, she would remain a indistinct figure, barely known by those who follow the religion of her father.

But from the shadows of history and the pages of ancient Arabic texts emerges the picture of a startling and distinctive woman who, far from living on the peripheries of Islam’s beginnings, is deeply embedded in the politics, intrigue and profound religious sentiments of her time. The only child of Muhammad to survive him, a wife and mother living at the heart of her father’s world, Fâṭima was from early times taken up by Shî’a Islam, for whose adherents she is the virgin mother, the heavenly intercessor with untold power before God’s throne, and the grieving mother of al-Husayn, the Shi’a’s most important martyr. During her life she was impoverished and weak, neglected, marginalized, maltreated and divested of justice: but her reward in heaven comprises incalculable riches and jeweled habitations, and all the populace of that place will bow their heads in deference to her, and her company will be the angels and the friends of God. Here, for the first time, her story is told.

About the Author

Christopher Clohessy is a South African Catholic priest who holds a BST from the Pontifical Urbanianum University in Rome, and a PhD from the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI), also in Rome. He is at present a resident faculty member of PISAI, lecturing there in Shīʿī Islamic studies, Qurʾān and Islamic Ethics, and is visiting lecturer at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome, where he lectures in Fundamental Theology, Ecclesiology and Mariology

Table of Contents

Preface (ix)
System of Transliteration (xi)
Abbreviations (xiii)
List of Abbreviations (xxiii)
Introduction (1)
1. The Primary Shîʿî and Sunnî Arabic Sources (10)
2. The Secondary Shîʿî and Sunnî Arabic Sources (15)
3. Two Problematic Texts (15)
4. A Note on the Use of the Sources (16)
Chapter One. Fâṭima in her Context. Historical and Biographical Notes (21)
2.1. The Quandary of Dating and Sources (21)
2.2. Dating Fâṭima by the Night Journey (28)
2.3. The Years in Medina (32)
2.4. The Shîʿî View (33)
2.5. An Outline of Fâṭima’s Life (36)
2.6. The Marriage with ʿAlî b. Abî Ṭâlib (40)
2.7. Relations with Her Father (57)
2.8. Mistress of the Women (62)
2.9. The Saqîfa Event (74)
2.10. Fadak (75)
2.11. The Death of Fâṭima (82)
Chapter Two. Part One: The Supernatural Qualities in the Annunciation and Birth of Fâṭima in Shîʿî Tradition, Teaching and Piety (87)
2.1. The Conception and Birth of Fâṭima in Shîʿî Muslim Tradition (87)
2.1.1. The Pre-Existence of Fâṭima (89)
2.2. The Conception and Birth of Fâṭima (98)
2.2.1. The Heavenly Fruit (99)
2.2.2. Fâṭima Speaks From the Womb (102)
2.2.3. Midwives from Heaven (104)
2.2.4. The Parturition of Fâṭima (106)
2.3. The Naming of Fâṭima (107)
2.3.1. Fâṭima (109)
2.3.2. al-Zahrâʾ (114)
2.3.3. Other Titles Given to Fâṭima (117)
2.4. The Miraculous Food (120)
Chapter Two. Part Two: Fâṭima the Virgin: Traditions, Teaching and Piety Surrounding the Conception and Birth of Al-Ḥusayn (123)
2.1. Virginity in Pagan and Classical Traditions (123)
2.2. Fâṭima as Virgin and Mother (128)
2.3. The Narratives of al-Ḥusayn’s Conception and Birth (137)
2.3.1. The Pre-Existence of al-Ḥusayn (138)
2.3.2. The Period of Gestation (138)
2.3.3. Protection in the Womb From Iblîs (140)
2.3.4. Annunciation of his Birth and Forewarnings of his Death (141)
2.3.5. The Legend of Fuṭrus (148)
2.3.6. Angelic Activity Surrounding his Birth (149)
Chapter Three. Part One: The Motif of Grief and Suffering in the Life of Fâṭima Among the ‘People of the House’ (157)
3.1. On the Grief of the Shîʿa (157)
3.1.1. The Weeping of the Prophets (162)
3.1.2. The Weeping of the Angels and the Ğinn (163)
3.1.3. The Weeping of the Heavens and the Earth (166)
3.1.4. The Weeping of All Created Things (168)
3.2. The Sorrow of Fâṭima (170)
Chapter Three. Part Two: The Intercessory Prerogatives of Fâṭima (183)
3.1. The Possibility of Intercession in Islam (183)
3.2. Fâṭima’s Triumphal Entry into Paradise (192)
3.3. The Riders of Paradise (195)
3.4. Supplementary Themes (195)
3.5. Intercession as the Dower of Fâṭima (198)
3.6. Fâṭima’s Negative Intercession (200)
3.6.1. The Bloodied Shirt (200)
3.6.2. The Bleeding al-Ḥusayn (201)
3.6.3. The Headless Corpse (201)
3.7. Fâṭima’s Passive Intercession (202)
3.7.1. The Prophets and Holy Ones (202)
3.7.2. Iblîs (203)
3.7.3. Yûsuf (204)
3.7.4. The Resolution of God (204)
3.8. Fâṭima’s Active and Positive Intercession (206)
3.8.1. Her Progeny and Those who Love Them (206)
3.8.2. Non-Shîʿa who Love her Progeny (209)
3.8.3. A Number of Women (210)
3.8.4. The Narratives of Popular Piety (211)
Chapter Four. Part One: Notes on the Catholic Theology of Mary (217)
4.1. The Immaculate Conception of Mary in Catholic Tradition (217)
4.2. The Conception and Birth of Mary in Catholic Tradition (223)
4.2.1. The Miraculous Food (224)
4.3. Notes on the Theology of Mary as Ever-Virgin (225)
4.4. The Narratives of Jesus’ Annunciation, Conception and Birth (237)
4.5. Notes on the Catholic Tradition of Our Lady of Sorrows (239)
4.6. Mary’s Intercessory Prerogatives (242)
4.6.1. Mary’s Reception into Paradise (242)
4.6.2. Mary’s Intercession (244)
Chapter Four. Part Two: The Possibility of Parallels Between Mary and Fâṭima (247)
Conclusion (279)
Appendix A: The Names of Fâṭima (293)
1. al-Ḫaṣîbîin hisal-Hidâya al-Kubrâ (293)
2. Ibn Shaḥrâshûb in his Manâqib âl Abî Ṭâlib (294)
3. al-Baḥrânî in his ʿAwâlim al-ʿulûm wa al-maʿârif al-aḥwâl min al-âyât wa-l-aḫbâr wal-aqwâl (297)
Appendix B: The Protest of Fâṭima (309)
Bibliography (325)
Index (337)