Where is her Anonymous Grave?

For your information today is the 3rd of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Akher, the day when the noblest lady of all times, left the world, a martyr, plunging her husband, and her four young orphans – two sons and two daughters – in torrential tears. Yes, you are right, today is the anniversary of the day of departure from the mortal world of the Apple of the Eye of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), his Immaculate Daughter, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (peace upon her).

"Father! I remain bewildered and lonely; confused and lonesome. My voice is subdued. My back is broken. My life is disturbed…

Surely, after you, (God's) revelations, the place of Gabriel's descent and Michael's station have vanished. Father! Motives have changed and gates have been shut in my face."

"Father! I will forever be sorrowful until we are reunited… Father! We became after you among the oppressed. Father! People shun us after you, after we were glorified by your presence… Father! How gloomy are your meeting places (without your presence)! How pained I am for you, until I soon join you! How bereaved is Abu'l-Hasan (Imam Ali), the father of your two (grand)sons Hasan and Husain; your beloved one; he whom you brought up as a youth, and made your brother as a man; the most beloved of your companions to you; Abu'l-Hasan, who was the first to migrate and help you."

What you read were passages of part of a moving elegy of a bereaved lady for her departed father. As is clear from the wordings and the phrases, the one being mourned is not an ordinary person, but the Almighty's Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind. It is also obvious that the one weeping for Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and complaining to him about the calamities that befell his Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household after his passing away, is his only surviving child. She is none other than Hazrat Fatemat-az-Zahra (peace upon her), who because of her profound care and concern for her widowed father, following the death of her mother, Umm al-Momineen, the Mother of all true believers, Hazrat Khadija (peace upon her, over a dozen years ago – after over 25 years of marital bliss with the Prophet – had earned the epithet of Umm Abiha, which means the Mother of her own Father. On God's command, the Prophet used to show his only surviving child the greatest respect, even standing to his feet on her arrival, and had often said in plain and simple Arabic without mincing words:

"Fatema is a part of me; whoever hurts her has hurt me; and whoever hurts me has indeed displeased God."

Islamic history is at times a painful reading, because of the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be Muslims, while disbelief had blackened their hearts. No sooner had the Prophet's eyes closed forever, the persecution of his nearest and dearest ones started, in violation of God's commandment to Muslims that their love and affection for the Prophet's progeny is a token of their faith in Islam and a form gratitude to the efforts of the Prophet, as is evident by ayah 23 of Surah Shurah. The Lady, whom God calls Kowsar or the Blessed Spring of Perpetual Abundance in the holy Qur'an, was oppressed by a group of companions of her father, because of their greed for the political power of the Islamic state that neither God had given them nor the Prophet had entrusted to them. No wonder, we find Fatema (peace upon her) complaining at the graveside of her father, after her patrimony of Fadak had been seized, after the political rights of her husband had been usurped, after the blazing door of her house had been flung in her face (pinning her to the wall), after her ribs had been broken, after the miscarriage she suffered as a result (with the stillborn Mohsin becoming the first martyr of the Ahl al-Bayt), and after the dragging of her husband with a rope around his neck under threat of death for forced swearing of allegiance to the self-styled caliph.

Fatema (peace upon her) was not lamenting her sufferings, or that of her husband and her children, although she knew through God-given knowledge that the deviationist trend which had started at Saqifa Bani Sa'da while the Prophet was being laid to rest by his divinely-decreed vicegerent, Imam Ali (AS), would one day see the rise of the charlatan Yazid to the caliphate and the tragedy of Karbala, where her household, headed by her son, Imam Husain (AS) would be slaughtered mercilessly by those masquerading as Muslims. She was actually grief-stricken for the catastrophe befalling Islam, as had been the case with the messages of the past Prophets, such as Moses and Jesus, whose monotheistic teachings were distorted by deviationists into Judaism and Christianity. As the spotlessly pure Pride of the Virgin Mary whose veiled presence at the field of Mubahela (as is evident by ayah 61 of Surah Aal-e Imran of the holy Qur'an) had convinced the Christians of Najran of the truth of Islam, Fatema (peace) took the decisive decision of unmasking hypocrisy forever. In her last will, she instructed her aggrieved husband with the words:

"Cousin! I ask you not to let anyone who did injustice to me to witness my funeral, for they certainly are enemies of mine, and the enemy of Allah's Messenger. Also don't give them the chance to pray over me, nor to any of their followers. Bury me at night when eyes are at rest and sight is put to sleep."

Imam Ali (AS) carried out the wishes of his beloved wife, and in the dead of night on the 3rd Jamadi al-Akher (95 days after the Prophet's passing away), he laid her to eternal rest at an unmarked and still unknown spot in Medina, so that the shadow of those that had hurt her, hurt the Prophet and displeased God Almighty, would never fall upon her grave, nor would any future blasphemers, such as the Wahhabis of our times, would be able to desecrate it. It would not be out of context to refer here to an incident that has been widely quoted by even our Sunni brethren. When on the morning after her secret burial, the coup leaders of the new regime in Medina tried to create a tumult by threatening to dig up the whole place on the pretension of offering funeral prayer if they find the grave of Fatema (peace upon her), the proverbial patience of Imam Ali (AS) almost snapped. He grabbed the ringleader by his clothes, shook him and threw him to the ground, saying:

"Son of the Sawada! I have abandoned my right (of caliphate) to prevent people from forsaking their faith, but as regards Fatema's grave, by Him in whose hand is my soul, if you and your followers attempt to do anything to it, I will irrigate the ground with your blood!"

Today, the usurpers of Fatema's patrimony, the Orchard of Fadak, and the usurpers of the political authority of her husband and children are no more. Even the scandalous institution of caliphate of the tyrants that they had established has long vanished, but the scars remain on the body politic of the Ummah, because of the grave sin they had committed in creating disunity and splintering Muslims into sects. In such circumstances, the platform of unity is only the path blazed out by the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet, that is, the progeny of Hazrat Fatema (peace upon her). It is Divine Providence that the grave of the Prophet's daughter is hidden from our view, and will only be known in the end times, when her descendant, the Prophet's 12th Infallible Successor, Imam Mahdi (AS), will reappear to cleanse the world of all vestiges of oppression and corruption by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. In the meantime, the legacy of Hazrat Zahra (peace upon her), lives on, transcending the barriers of historical eras and of geographical places, as it inspires the faithful, especially all those women aspiring for virtue, to hold aloft the purity of character and rights of humanity, for which she lived and offered her life.

Now we present you an interesting piece of poetry composed on the martyrdom of Hazrat Fatema Zahra (peace upon her) by Iran's contemporary English language poet, Dr. Hasan Najafi:

Fancy brings a group to sight
Carrying a coffin in the mid of night.
Whose coffin is this?
It is Zahra’s, the Prophets only daughter,
She willed to be buried in the night’s cover,
Ah! Alas! How soon changed the course!
They awaited the Prophet to die and with him his force.
Till yesterday they were in the guise of Islam;
Today they retreated to the back in nimble calm.
With rowdies came the people of Saqifa,
To set fire the House of Fatema,
The House where Angels descended
Now flames from it to the sky ascended.
”?So what?”? Said one of them
Who in this job was at the helm?
When he was told Zahra was behind;
But he had gone deaf and blind.
Enraged only revenge to find,
He battered down the door by force
And Zahra got pressed to the wall at the same force.
She miscarried and in pain said:
O Fizza my maid; rush to my aid.
She never recovered from the injury
Nor was she relieved of the fury.
Thus martyrdom such entailed.
Shows who TRUE and who in Faith FAILED,
Her years were still in bloom
Not ripe to doom.
Who is the poet? All to see will long
When I rise from grave humming your song
Your intercession with God all of us long.

The End
Source: IRIB World Service

For your information today is the 3rd of the Islamic month of Jamadi al-Akher, the day when the noblest lady of all times, left the world, a martyr, plunging her husband, and her four young orphans – two sons and two daughters – in torrential tears. Yes, you are right, today is the anniversary of the day of departure from the mortal world of the Apple of the Eye of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), his Immaculate Daughter, Hazrat Fatema Zahra (peace upon her). "Father! I remain bewildered and lonely; confused and lonesome. My voice is subdued. My back is broken. My life is disturbed… Surely, after you, (God's) revelations, the place of Gabriel's descent and Michael's station have vanished. Father! Motives have changed and gates have been shut in my face." "Father! I will forever be sorrowful until we are reunited… Father! We became after you among the oppressed. Father! People shun us after you, after we were glorified by your presence… Father! How gloomy are your meeting places (without your presence)! How pained I am for you, until I soon join you! How bereaved is Abu'l-Hasan (Imam Ali), the father of your two (grand)sons Hasan and Husain; your beloved one; he whom you brought up as a youth, and made your brother as a man; the most beloved of your companions to you; Abu'l-Hasan, who was the first to migrate and help you." What you read were passages of part of a moving elegy of a bereaved lady for her departed father. As is clear from the wordings and the phrases, the one being mourned is not an ordinary person, but the Almighty's Last and Greatest Messenger to mankind. It is also obvious that the one weeping for Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and complaining to him about the calamities that befell his Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household after his passing away, is his only surviving child. She is none other than Hazrat Fatemat-az-Zahra (peace upon her), who because of her profound care and concern for her widowed father, following the death of her mother, Umm al-Momineen, the Mother of all true believers, Hazrat Khadija (peace upon her, over a dozen years ago – after over 25 years of marital bliss with the Prophet – had earned the epithet of Umm Abiha, which means the Mother of her own Father. On God's command, the Prophet used to show his only surviving child the greatest respect, even standing to his feet on her arrival, and had often said in plain and simple Arabic without mincing words: "Fatema is a part of me; whoever hurts her has hurt me; and whoever hurts me has indeed displeased God." Islamic history is at times a painful reading, because of the hypocrisy of those who claimed to be Muslims, while disbelief had blackened their hearts. No sooner had the Prophet's eyes closed forever, the persecution of his nearest and dearest ones started, in violation of God's commandment to Muslims that their love and affection for the Prophet's progeny is a token of their faith in Islam and a form gratitude to the efforts of the Prophet, as is evident by ayah 23 of Surah Shurah. The Lady, whom God calls Kowsar or the Blessed Spring of Perpetual Abundance in the holy Qur'an, was oppressed by a group of companions of her father, because of their greed for the political power of the Islamic state that neither God had given them nor the Prophet had entrusted to them. No wonder, we find Fatema (peace upon her) complaining at the graveside of her father, after her patrimony of Fadak had been seized, after the political rights of her husband had been usurped, after the blazing door of her house had been flung in her face (pinning her to the wall), after her ribs had been broken, after the miscarriage she suffered as a result (with the stillborn Mohsin becoming the first martyr of the Ahl al-Bayt), and after the dragging of her husband with a rope around his neck under threat of death for forced swearing of allegiance to the self-styled caliph. Fatema (peace upon her) was not lamenting her sufferings, or that of her husband and her children, although she knew through God-given knowledge that the deviationist trend which had started at Saqifa Bani Sa'da while the Prophet was being laid to rest by his divinely-decreed vicegerent, Imam Ali (AS), would one day see the rise of the charlatan Yazid to the caliphate and the tragedy of Karbala, where her household, headed by her son, Imam Husain (AS) would be slaughtered mercilessly by those masquerading as Muslims. She was actually grief-stricken for the catastrophe befalling Islam, as had been the case with the messages of the past Prophets, such as Moses and Jesus, whose monotheistic teachings were distorted by deviationists into Judaism and Christianity. As the spotlessly pure Pride of the Virgin Mary whose veiled presence at the field of Mubahela (as is evident by ayah 61 of Surah Aal-e Imran of the holy Qur'an) had convinced the Christians of Najran of the truth of Islam, Fatema (peace) took the decisive decision of unmasking hypocrisy forever. In her last will, she instructed her aggrieved husband with the words: "Cousin! I ask you not to let anyone who did injustice to me to witness my funeral, for they certainly are enemies of mine, and the enemy of Allah's Messenger. Also don't give them the chance to pray over me, nor to any of their followers. Bury me at night when eyes are at rest and sight is put to sleep." Imam Ali (AS) carried out the wishes of his beloved wife, and in the dead of night on the 3rd Jamadi al-Akher (95 days after the Prophet's passing away), he laid her to eternal rest at an unmarked and still unknown spot in Medina, so that the shadow of those that had hurt her, hurt the Prophet and displeased God Almighty, would never fall upon her grave, nor would any future blasphemers, such as the Wahhabis of our times, would be able to desecrate it. It would not be out of context to refer here to an incident that has been widely quoted by even our Sunni brethren. When on the morning after her secret burial, the coup leaders of the new regime in Medina tried to create a tumult by threatening to dig up the whole place on the pretension of offering funeral prayer if they find the grave of Fatema (peace upon her), the proverbial patience of Imam Ali (AS) almost snapped. He grabbed the ringleader by his clothes, shook him and threw him to the ground, saying: "Son of the Sawada! I have abandoned my right (of caliphate) to prevent people from forsaking their faith, but as regards Fatema's grave, by Him in whose hand is my soul, if you and your followers attempt to do anything to it, I will irrigate the ground with your blood!" Today, the usurpers of Fatema's patrimony, the Orchard of Fadak, and the usurpers of the political authority of her husband and children are no more. Even the scandalous institution of caliphate of the tyrants that they had established has long vanished, but the scars remain on the body politic of the Ummah, because of the grave sin they had committed in creating disunity and splintering Muslims into sects. In such circumstances, the platform of unity is only the path blazed out by the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt of the Prophet, that is, the progeny of Hazrat Fatema (peace upon her). It is Divine Providence that the grave of the Prophet's daughter is hidden from our view, and will only be known in the end times, when her descendant, the Prophet's 12th Infallible Successor, Imam Mahdi (AS), will reappear to cleanse the world of all vestiges of oppression and corruption by establishing the global government of peace, prosperity and justice. In the meantime, the legacy of Hazrat Zahra (peace upon her), lives on, transcending the barriers of historical eras and of geographical places, as it inspires the faithful, especially all those women aspiring for virtue, to hold aloft the purity of character and rights of humanity, for which she lived and offered her life. Now we present you an interesting piece of poetry composed on the martyrdom of Hazrat Fatema Zahra (peace upon her) by Iran's contemporary English language poet, Dr. Hasan Najafi: Fancy brings a group to sight Carrying a coffin in the mid of night. Whose coffin is this? It is Zahra’s, the Prophets only daughter, She willed to be buried in the night’s cover, Ah! Alas! How soon changed the course! They awaited the Prophet to die and with him his force. Till yesterday they were in the guise of Islam; Today they retreated to the back in nimble calm. With rowdies came the people of Saqifa, To set fire the House of Fatema, The House where Angels descended Now flames from it to the sky ascended. ”?So what?”? Said one of them Who in this job was at the helm? When he was told Zahra was behind; But he had gone deaf and blind. Enraged only revenge to find, He battered down the door by force And Zahra got pressed to the wall at the same force. She miscarried and in pain said: O Fizza my maid; rush to my aid. She never recovered from the injury Nor was she relieved of the fury. Thus martyrdom such entailed. Shows who TRUE and who in Faith FAILED, Her years were still in bloom Not ripe to doom. Who is the poet? All to see will long When I rise from grave humming your song Your intercession with God all of us long. The End Source: IRIB World Service