FATIMAH

(Arabic: Shining One) born c. 605, Mecca, Arabia [now in Saudi Arabia] died 633, Medina also spelled Fatima, also called az-Zahra' daughter of Muhammad (the founder of Islam) who in later centuries became the object of deep veneration by many Muslims, especially the Shi'ites. Muhammad had other sons and daughters, but they either died young or failed to produce a long line of descendants. Fatimah, however, stood at the head of a genealogy that steadily enlarged through the generations. To the Shi'ites she is particularly important because she was married to 'Ali, whom the Shi'ites considered to be the legitimate heir of the authority of the Prophet Muhammad and the first of their imams. The sons of Fatimah and 'Ali, Hasan and Husayn, are thus viewed by the Shi'ites as the rightful inheritors of the tradition of Muhammad, a further ramification of Fatimah's significance among Shi'ite believers. Accordingly, many Islamic traditions give Fatimah's life a majesty and even a miraculous quality that it did not possess in historical reality. Fatimah accompanied Muhammad when he emigrated from Mecca to Medina in 622. Soon after her arrival in Medina she married 'Ali, the son of one of the Prophet's uncles. Their first years were ones of material want. 'Ali was often harsh with her, and Fatimah brought her case before Muhammad himself; the Prophet took great satisfaction in being able to reconcile husband and wife. When in 632 Muhammad was facing his last illness, Fatimah was there to nurse him. In general she was devoted to her domestic duties and avoided involvement in political affairs. Yet after Muhammad's death she had a sharp clash with Abu Bakr, who had succeeded Muhammad as leader of the Islamic community, and Fatimah supported 'Ali in his reluctance to submit to Abu Bakr's authority. She came into conflict with the caliph a second time over property that she claimed Mu hammad had left her. Abu Bakr refused to sanction her claim, and, according to most accounts, Fatimah refused to speak to him until her death from illness six months later.