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SAYYIDA
FATIMAH AL-ZAHRA (A.S.)
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THE MIRACLE OF HER GENEROSITY
Jabir bin
‘Abdullah al-Ansari, a prominent companion of the Holy Prophet (saww)
has reported that:
[
One
day, we were with the Holy Prophet (saww) after ‘Asr (after noon) prayer
when an old immigrant man came by who was wearing worn out clothes and
was barely able to walk because of his old-age and weakness. The Holy
Prophet (saww) inquired to him about his welfare and the old man said,
“O Prophet of Allah! I am starving, so feed me; I am naked, so cloth
me; and I am poor, so help me!”
The Holy
Prophet (saww) said, “Surely I have nothing
to give you, yet, he, who guides to goodness is equal to one who
performs it. So go to the house of one (she) who loves Allah and His
messenger, and Allah and His messenger love her. The one who prefers
Allah over herself; I mean Fatimah (a.s.)”.
Fatimah (a.s.)’s
house was near to that of the Holy Prophet (saww). He (saww) asked Bilal
to lead the old man to her house. As soon as they reached her house, the
old man cried out loudly, “Peace be upon you O people of the house,
where the angles frequent their visits; where Roohul-Ameen (Jibrael)
descends bringing what the Lord of the worlds reveals”. Fatimah
(a.s.) responded to his greetings and asked who he was, to which, the
old man replied, “I am an old Arab man. I have emigrated to your
father from a distant land. O Daughter of Muhammad! I am hungry and in
need of clothing – so console me and may Allah bless you”.
This
incident occurred at a time when the Holy Prophet (saww), Imam Ali
(a.s.) and Sayyida Fatimah (a.s.) had not eaten anything for three days.
Fatimah (a.s.) gave the old man a ram skin which was used as bed by her
two children, al-Hasan (a.s.) and al-Husayn (a.s.). However, the old man
said, “O Daughter of Muhammad! I complain to you of hunger and you
give me a ram’s skin? How can I eat this?” Fatimah (a.s.) took out
her necklace which Fatimah binti Hamza bin ‘Abdulmuttalib had given to
her, handed it over to the old man saying,
“Sell this and Allah will grant you with a solution to your problem”.
The old man took the necklace, brought and showed it to the
Holy Prophet (saww). The Holy Prophet (saww) said,
“Indeed Allah will grant you a solution, for
Fatimah, the Mistress of all the women has given to you this necklace”.
‘Ammar
bin Yassir, who was present, said, “O Messenger of Allah! Do you
allow me to buy this necklace?” The Holy Prophet (saww) said,
“Buy it ‘Ammar, surely if all men and women
participate in its purchase, Allah will protect them from Hellfire”.
‘Ammar asked the old man for its price and he replied, “A
meal of bread and meat, a Yemeni shirt to cover myself and a dinar to
return to my family”. ‘Ammar gave him 20 dinar and 200 dirham, a
Yemeni shirt, wheat bread and meat, and a horse to take him to his home.
The Holy Prophet (saww) asked the old man if he was satisfied with all
that and he replied in affirmation. “So
reward Fatimah for her kindness”, said the Holy Prophet (saww).
The old man prayed, “O Allah! Give Fatimah that which no eye has seen
and no ear has heard”.
‘Ammar
perfumed the necklace with musk and sent it to the Holy Prophet (saww)
with a slave whom he had purchased with the booty he received from
Khyber, saying, “Give this necklace to the Messenger of Allah and
tell him that I gift you to him too”. When the slave delivered the
necklace and the message, the Holy Prophet (saww) said to him,
“Take this necklace to Fatimah and I gift you
to her”. When the slave came to Fatimah (a.s.), she took her
necklace back and set the slave free. When the slave was set free, he
laughed loudly. Fatimah (a.s.) asked for the purpose of laughing and he
said, “I laughed when I thought of the abundance of goodness in this
necklace. It fed a hungry man; it clothed a naked man; satisfied a poor
man; freed a slave; and came back to its original owner”.] (Chauda
Sitaare)
We humbly extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to Imam al-Hujjah
(A.J.) and to all the followers of Ahlul-Bayt (a.s.) on the occasion of
the Martyrdom of Sayyida Fatima (a.s.)
Mulla
Mujaheedali Sheriff
mulla@almahdi.org.uk |