Seerah

Adopted from the book : "Fatima; the Gracious" by : Abu Muhammad Ordoni"

The moment when eternal separation starts is anguishing. This is fact known to everyone who has experienced it, for it is the last opportunity for the beloved to be with his dear ones... then the inevitable, the predestined, happens. At such a moment, one is in earnest need of calmness and tranquility. Yet, many are the ones who mourn and break apart instead.

Lady Fatima Zahra (AS) was calm and patient when the women of the Muhajireen and Ansar came to visit her.

Suwaid Ibn Ghaflah said: "When Fatima was inflicted with her illness, the women of the Muhajireen an Ansar gathered around her and said:
'How are you doing, daughter of Allah's Messenger?'

Fatima praised Allah, prayed for her father and said:

'I have become, by Allah, to have feelings of resentment for your world, detesting your men; I have casted them after testing them, hated them after examining them. Thus, shameful is the defiling of honour,playing after being serious, striking the soft rocks, the slackening of spears, the foolishness of judgements and misguidance of wants.

Evil indeed are (the works) which their souls have sent forward before them (with the result) that Allah's wrath is on them, and in torment will they abide.
Certainly it (Allah's wrath) has control of their affairs, held them responsible (for deserving it), and launched its disagreement on them.

So, may the unjust ones be done away with, cursed, and damned.

Woe unto them!

How they have snatched it away from the foundations of the Message, the fundamentals of prophethood and guidance, the place of descent for the Devoted Spirit, and he who is clever in the affairs of this world and the hereafter? (She means that they usurped Ali's right.)

Surely; (their action) is clear loss. Why were they hostile to Abu Al-Hassan?

They took vengeance, by Allah from, for his unbiased sword),

his clearlessness about his death (i.e., his unprecedented courage),

his deadly assaults

his severe encounters, and

his anger for the sole sake of Allah, Exalted is His Name.

By Allah,

had they prevented each other from assuming the reigns of power, which Allah's Messenger entrusted to him, he(AB) would have held it and led them smoothly,

He would not have harmed them the size of a thread,

Nor would his followers stammer, (meaning they would they would have lived in harmony under his rule).

He surely would have delivered them to a spring pure, lush, abundant, flowing over its banks yet its sides are not muddy.

He certainly would have brought them back satisfied and advised them secretly and publicly without providing himself with any availing thing.

Nor would he favor himself with the worldly things with any gain, save that which would quench the thirst of the thirsty, and feed the hungry.

Surely the abstinent would have been distinguished from the desirous, and the truthful from the lier.

Had the people of the town believed and feared Allah, We should indeed have opened out to them ( all kinds of) blessing from Heaven and Earth; but they rejected (the truth), and We brought them to book for their misdeeds.

And the wrongdoers of this generation; the results of their deeds will soon overtake them (too) and they will never be able to frustrate (Our plan)"
Indeed.

Come to see!

As long as you live, time shall show you amazing events!

I wish I knew what proof they have for that which they have done?

On what foundation have they stood?

On what reliable grip have they held?

Upon whose progeny have they encroached and spoke against?

Evil, indeed, is the patron and evil the companion!

They have exchanged, by Allah, the daring for the tales and the capable for the impotent.

Thus, away with a people who (mistakenly) believe they are doing well (to themselves);

For surely, they are the ones who make mischief, but they realize (it) not.

Woe unto them!

Is he who guides towards truth more worthy to be followed, or the who finds not guidance (himself) unless he is guided?

What then is the matter with you?

How do you judge?

But upon my life it has already conceived (meaning that it is too late to do anything).

So wait until its fruit comes about.

Then shall ye fill your buckets with pure blood and fatal venom?

That day the dealers in falsehood will perish!

And the ones who come to follow shall know the evil which their successors have established!

Then awaken the aversion in yourselves to your word!

Prepare your hearts for calamities.

Adapt yourselves to a sharp sword;

an assault of a tyrant enemy,
an overwhelming commotion, and
atrocity from oppressors who shall leave your booty
worthless, and your crops unharvested;

Alas!

What a pity!

How will ye be treated?

But indeed it hath been obscured from your sight.

Shall we then compel you to accept it when ye are averse to it?

Suwaid Ibn Ghaflah added:

"The women informed their men what Lady Fatima Zahra (AB) had said, then a group of men went to her and said:

'O you Mistress of all women!

Had Abu Al-Hassan mentioned this to us before we made the oath, and gave the promise (to Abu Bakr), then surely we would not have exchanged him (Imam Ali AS) for anyone else!!!'

Fatima said:

Leave me alone! surely there is not an excuse for you after (I have already) spoken to you; and there shall be no command after (I have seen) your shortcomings."

When we review Lady Fatima's (AB) speech, it becomes clear to us that she blamed the people for accepting Abu Bakr's and Umar's leadership over Imam Ali (AB). She also foretold of many calamities which would take place as a result of this misdeed. Fatima's predictions were true; Umar seized power after Abu Bakr appointed him as his successor to Caliphate. After Umar, Uthman was appointed leader; this started the era of explicit oppression against the Muslims. Imam Ali (AB) in his sermon of shiqshiqyyah pointed out the course of Caliphate and how it was transferred from one person to another until finally he was appointed leader virtually by force. He (AB) then explained how the same ones who paid allegiance to him turned against hi rule which triggered unrest between the Muslims that had everlasting adverse effects. Imam Ali (AB) also added his view on Caliphate and this world, in several eloquent words in this sermon, He (AB) said:

"By Allah, the son of Abu Quhafa (Abu Bakr) dressed himself with it (the caliphate) and he certainly knew that my position in relation to it was the same as the position of the axis in relation to the handmill. The flood water flows down from me and the bird cannot fly unto me. I put a curtain against the Caliphate and kept myself detached from it. Then I began to think whether I should assault or endure calmly the blinding darkness of tribulations wherein the elders are feeled and the young grow old and the true believer acts under strain till he meets Allah (on his death). I found that endurance thereon was wiser. So I adopted patience although there was pricking in the eye and suffocation of my inheritance till the first one went his way but handed over the caliphate to Ibn Khattab after himself."

Then he quoted Aisha's verse:

"My days now are passed on the camel's back (in difficult), while there were days (of ease) when I enjoyed the company of Jabir's brother Hayyan.'

It is strange that during his lifetime he wished to get rid of the Caliphate but he straightened its way for the other his death. No doubt these two shared its udders strictly among themselves. This one put the caliphate in a tough enclosure where the utterance was the excuses therefore. One in contact with it, was like the rider of an unruly camel! If he pulled up its rein the very nostril would be slit, but if he let it loos he would be thrown. Consequently, by Allah, people got involved in recklessness, I remained patient despite the length of period and stiffness of trial, till when he went his way (by death), he put the matter (Caliphate) in a group and regarded me to be one of them. But good Heavens! What had I to do with the first of them that I was to not considered akin to these ones. But I remained low when they were low and flew high. One of them turned against me because of his hatred and the other got inclined the other way to his in law relationship and this thing and that thing.,till the third man of these people stoop up with heaving breasts between his dung and fodder. With him, his cousins also stoop up swallowing up Allah's wealth like a camel devouring the foliage of spring, till his rope broke down, his actions finished him and his gluttony brought him down prostrate. At that moment, the crowd of people frightened me. It advanced towards me from every side like the mane of hyena so much so that Hassan and Hussain were getting crushed and both the ends of my shoulder garment were torn. I took up the reins of government, one party broke away and another turned disobedient while the rest began acting wrongfully as if they had not heard the word of Allah saying:

'That abode in the hereafter, We assign it for those who intend not to exalt themselves in the earth, nor (to make) mischief (therein); and the end is (best) for the pious ones.' (28:83)

Yet, by Allah, they had heard it and understood it, but the world appeared glittering in their eyes and its embellishments seduced them. Behold, by Him who split the grain (to grow) and created living beings, if people had not come to me and supports had not exhausted the argument and if there had been no pledge of Allah with the learned to the effect that they should not acquiesce the gluttony of the oppressor and the hunger of the oppressed, I would have cast the rope of Caliphate on its own shoulders and would have given the last one the same treatment as the first. Then you would have seen that in my view this world of yours is no better than the sneezing of a goat."

(It is said that when Amir Al-Mo'mineen reached here in his sermon,, a man of Iraq stood up and handed him a writing. Amir Al-Mo'mineen (A.S.) began looking at it, when Ibn Abbas (Allah may be pleased with both of them) said, "O Amir Al-Mo'mineen, I wish you resumed your Sermon from where you broke it."

Thereupon he replied, "O Ibn Abbas, it was like the foam of a camel which gushed out but subsided." Ibn Abbas says that he never grieved over any utterance as he did over this one; because Amir Al-Mo'mineen (A.S.) could not finish it as he wished to.) (Commenting on this sermon, Allama Razi says:

"The words in this sermon 'Like the rider of a camel,' mean to convey that when a camel rider is stiff in drawing up the rein, then in this scuffle the nostril gets bruised; but if he lets it loose in spite of the camel's unruliness, it would throw him somewhere and would get out of control. 'Ashnaq-an-Naqah' is used when the rider holds up the rein and raises the camel's head upwards. In the same sense the word 'Shannaq-an-Naqah' is used. Ibn Sekkit has mentioned this in 'Islah-Al-Mantiq,' this is because he has used this word in harmony with 'Aslasa-laha' and harmony could be retained only by using both in the same form. Thus, Amir Al-Mo'mineen (A.S.) has used 'Ashnaqa laha' as though in place of 'In Rafaa laha Raasaha,' (i.e., 'if he stops it by holding up the reins.'")