ALI THE MIRACLE OF MOHAMMAD(S)BY YAQUB HASAN RIZVI THE MARRIAGE OF FATEMA (S.A.)
During the second year after the migration, Ali (A.S.) was married to Fatema (S.A.) the Prophet (S.A.W)'s only daughter. Fatema (S.A.) in her facial features and personality traits was a true copy of her father. She walked and talked like him. She was born in the year 615 A.D. five years after the declaration of Islam by the Prophet (S.A.W) and eight years eight months and twenty days before the migration of the Prophet (S.A.W) to Madina. When she opened her eyes she saw the whole world against her father and wanting to kill him. The house always wore a grim look because of the insults and humiliations meted out to her father by the Meccans. She also saw her confinement in the pass of Shobe Abi Talib with other members of her family and faced hunger and starvation. The fear of being killed loomed larged on her face as on other members of her family.
After being released from the pass she witnessed the death of her mother due to the sufferings, sickness and starvation in the pass and then the death of Abu Talib (A.S.) Ali (A.S.)'s father and the guardian of the Prophet (S.A.W) under whose shadow none dared to kill her father. After some days she also heard of the dialogues between her father and Ali (A.S.) about the plan of the Meccans to kill her father and the intention of the Prophet (S.A.W) to migrate to Madina leaving Fatema (S.A.) alone in her house on that dangerous night and Ali (A.S.) lying on the bed of the Prophet (S.A.W) with his body covered with the Prophet (S.A.W)'s green chaddor, ready to be killed by the Meccans just to save the Prophet (S.A.W) of Allah in the cause of Islam. After coming to Madina, Fatema (S.A.) opened a school in her house where she taught the ladies of Madina the tenets of Islam and all that she learned from her father. She also did the entire household work of drawing water from the well, cleaning the house, washing the clothes, grinding the mill and cooking food. Fizza the famous slave girl of the Prophet (S.A.W)s family was gifted by her father to her after the war of Khaiber that too with a condition that one day Fatema (S.A.) will do the entire household work and Fizza will relax and on another day Fizza will work and Fatema (S.A.) will relax. Fatema (S.A.) at the time of her marriage was thirteen years and five months old, and Ali (A.S.) was twenty one years and seven months old.
The Prophet (S.A.W) had received many offers for her hand from rich families of Madina and chiefs of other clans, but he rejected them all. Even Abu Bakr and Umar approached the Prophet (S.A.W) to marry her but he turned down their approaches with a sad reaction [Sawaiqe Mohreqah page 86]. But when Ali (A.S.) approached, the Prophet (S.A.W) smiled and said, "Ahlan Wa Marhaban." It is a welcome and happy proposal. He took Fatema (S.A.)'s consent and fixed the marriage in Ramzan [Tareekhe Khamees, Vol 1. page 407]. The Prophet (S.A.W) asked Ali (A.S.) if he possessed anything of this world, Ali (A.S.) replied, "O Prophet of Allah, I have only a horse, a camel a sword and a shield." The Prophet (S.A.W) said, "You need the horse and the sword to fight for the defence of truth and righteousness, and the camel you need to earn your living but you do not require the shield as Allah is your protector. Go and sell your shield."
Ali (A.S.) sold his shield and took the amount to the Prophet (S.A.W) to the Prophet (S.A.W) as the dowry and the expenses for the marriage. Some four thousand Muslims from Mecca and Madina and its surroundings gathered in the mosque. Ali (A.S.) sat in front of the Prophet (S.A.W). The Prophet (S.A.W) first gave a sermon then declared "I have been commanded by Allah to marry Fatema to Ali, and I do hereby solemnise the matrimony between Ali and Fatema on a dower of four hundred misquals." Then he asked Ali (A.S.), "Do you consent O Ali?" Ali (A.S.) replied, "Yes, I do O Prophet of Allah." The Prophet (S.A.W) then raised his hands and prayed, "O Allah bless both of them, sanctify their progeny and grant them the keys of thy beneficence, thy treasures of wisdom and thy genies, and let both of them be a source of blessings and peace to my people."
Then Ali (A.S.) prostrated and thanked Allah. After the service of thanksgiving the Prophet (S.A.W) raised his hands and prayed, "O Almighty Lord, bless them both and better their endeavors and give them noble children."
After the Nikah the Prophet (S.A.W) congratulated Ali (A.S.) and said, "O Ali lucky thou art indeed, for all the virtuous women of the world your wife is a queen." Then turning towards Fatema (S.A.) he said, "O Fatema of all the virtuous men of the world your husband is a king. May Allah keep you both pious and chaste, and bless your children. Verily I am a friend to him who befriends you both and an enemy to him who is your enemy." On the day of marriage both Ali (A.S.) and Fatema (S.A.) wore very ordinary dresses. Fatema (S.A.)'s mother had prepared a very beautiful dress for her daughter's marriage and had preserved it saying that, "this is for my daughter's marriage." It happened that a poor Muslim woman approached Fatema (S.A.) and said, "My daughter is also getting married tonight but she does not have a dress." Fatema (S.A.) took her home and gave her that dress. When the Prophet (S.A.W) seeing Fatema (S.A.) in ordinary dress asked about the wedding dress her mother had kept for her, Fatema (S.A.) said, "I gave it to a woman who wanted it for her daughter", thereby symbolizing the verse, "Goodness shall not reach you till you spend (in the way of God) what you love most" (Al-Quran).
The wedding feast was of dates and olive. The nuptial couch was a sheep skin. The ornaments and other things that the Prophet (S.A.W) gave to Fatema (S.A.) were a pair of silver armlets, two shirts, one head tiara, one leather pillow containing palm leaves, one grinding mill, one drinking cup, two large jars and one pitcher.
The Prophet (S.A.W) did not send Fatema (S.A.) the same day to Ali (A.S.)'s house. She went after the battle of Badr, more than five months after the marriage. When Ali (A.S.) approached the Prophet (S.A.W) to permit him to take Fatema (S.A.) to his house, the Prophet (S.A.W) turned it into a great occasion. He asked Umme Salma and his other wives to decorate Fatema (S.A.), when Fatema (S.A.) was ready he made her sit on the camel and asked Salman to catch the reins. The Prophet (S.A.W) himself, his uncle Hamzah, Ali (A.S.)'s brother Aqueel and other members of Bani Hashim walked behind the camel with open swords in their hands. The ladies of immigrants and Ansars walked with the camel Fatema (S.A.) was occupying, and the wives of the Prophet (S.A.W) were leading the procession reciting the hymns of valour. The procession went to Ali (A.S.)'s new house which he had taken on rent from Haisa bin Naauman. This house was at a little distance from the Prophet (S.A.W)'s house. The Prophet (S.A.W) later on annexed it and reconstructed it.
From this marriage Ali (A.S.) had two sons, Hasan (A.S.) and Hussain and two daughters Zainab and Umme Kulsoom. A third son Mohsin was killed when Umar knocked the door of her house on the day of her father's death which fell on her, when he came to take Ali (A.S.) forcibly to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr, which he refused to do earlier.
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