FATIMA

The beloved daughter of the Prophet from Khadijah, Fatimah was born in Mecca five years before the beginning of the Prophet's mission. She was so loved by the Prophet that he called her "a part of me." In 2/624 she married 'Ali ibn Abi Talib from whom she bore three sons, Hasan, Husayn and Muhsin (who died stillborn), and two daughters, Zaynab and Urnm Kulthum. She was at the Prophet's bedside at the moment of his death and fought for her husband's succession to the caliphate. She died six months after her father in the year II/633 and is buried in the Baq'i cemetery in Medina. It is said that when she was born the whole sky became illuminated; therefore she is called al-Zahra', the "Radiant." She is the mother of the Shi'ite Imams and is considered the most holy of Muslim women.