Another characteristic of Lady Fatima is her generosity and giving. The stories of her granting her wedding gown to a needy person on the night of her wedding and giving food to those who needed it for three consecutive nights (remaining hungry for those nights) when she and her family might have been the ones in need of it most (because they were fasting those three days and didn’t have any other food in the house to break their fasts with) are famous. The latter has been mentioned in surah Dahr (Insan) of the Qur’an.

Her worship is so vast, that it covers every second of her life; her behavior, her speaking, her looking, her efforts, even her breathing throughout the day and night were all worship.[1] Every night, after putting her children to sleep and running all of the remaining chores in the house, she would stand to prayer, to the extent that her blessed feet would become swollen.[2] 

One of the things that the Shia is proud of is the Sahifa or book of Fatima (A.S). Shias believe that this book has been given to Lady Fatima (A.S) through divine inspiration. [4]

The modesty and covering of Lady Fatima (A.S): Many different beautiful instances of Lady Fatimah’s (A.S) doings and sayings regarding hijab and covering have been reported that women need to follow. One day, the Prophet (PBUH) asked those present in the mosque: “What is the best way of living for women?”‌ Lady Fatima (A.S), answered through Salman (who had gone to Lady Fatima’s (A.S) house for an answer that he didn’t know): “It is best for women not to see non-mahram men and for non-mahram men not to see them either.”‌[5]

In the end, we will point to the most important trait that she must be followed in, which is the defending of imamate and wilayah. That is because she is the one who exhibited the best defense against imamate and wilayah after the death of the Prophet (PBUH). [6] She was well acquainted with the people of her time and knew that they didn’t deserve her guidance and also didn’t bear the courage to rise along with her against the situation that had come up after the Prophet’s (PBUH) death, yet she wanted to defame misguidance and unveil the truth for future generations. As she herself said: “I know that you are all pitiful and caught in the claws of despicableness. Not helping has taken over your whole existence and the cloud of unfaithfulness has shadowed over your hearts, what can I do? For I am burning inside and cannot hold my tongue from complaining.”‌[7]

Notes:

[1] Ihqaqul-Haqq, vol. 4, pg. 481.

[2] Biharul-Anwar, vol. 42, pg. 117.

[3] Ibid, vol. 43, pg. 12, hadith 6.

[4] From the will of Imam Khomeini, Sahifeye Nour, vol. 21, pg. 171. We are proud to have supplications from our imams that have also been named “the ascending Qur’an”‌ (signifying that they have no difference with “the descending Qur’an”‌ other than the fact that one is ascending to Allah (swt) from his best servants and the other is descending from Allah (swt)). We are proud to have the supplication of Munajat Sha’baniyyah of the Imams, the Dua’a Arafat of Imam Hussein (A.S), the Sahifah Sajjadiyyah of Imam Sadjad (A.S) and the Mus-haf of Fatima or the Sahifah of Fatima which was revealed unto her through divine inspiration.

[5] Wasa’elul-Shia, vol. 14, pp. 43 and 172; Biharul-Anwar, vol. 43, pg. 54.

[6] Ayatullah Misbah Yazdi, Jami az Zolale Kowsayr, pg. 145.

[7] Kashful-Ghummah, vol. 1, pg. 491; Al-Ihtijaj, pg. 102; Dala’ilul-Imamah, pg. 37.

[8] Ayatullah Misbah Yazdi, Jami az Zolale Kowsayr, pg. 149.