FATIMA'S GLORIFICATION
OF ALLAH
It is
reported in Bihar that Ali (A) said to a man from Bani Sae'ed:
"Should I speak to you about Fatima and
Myself?
She was my spouse who was the most beloved
to the Prophet. Once, she carried water using a waterskin until it
scarred her chest, she ground (grain) using a hand mill until blisters
appeared on her hands, she swept the floor until her clothes became
dusty and lit the fire under the cooking pot until her clothes became
mud colored from the smoke.
Fatima was inflicted by great pain as a
result of this, so I said to her:
`Why don't you ask your father for a
servant to relieve you from these jobs?'
When Fatima (A) went to the Prophet
she found that he had company; and was too shy to talk to him, so she
left the house. But the Prophet (S) knew that she had come for
something."
Imam Ali (A) continued:
"The next morning, the Prophet came to the
house while we were still under our quilt and said:
'Assalamu Alaikum!'
Yet
because we were ashamed (of being under the quilt), we preferred to
remain silent.
The
Prophet once again said:
'Assalamu Alaikum!'
Once
again we remained silent. Then for the third time the Prophet said 'Assalamu
Alaikum'. Now we feared that he would depart, for it was the
prophet's habit to say Assalamu alaikum three times and then wait for
permission to enter or leave.
So I
said:
`Wa Alaik As-Salam, Messenger of Allah!
Come in.'
He (S)
sat near our heads and said: 'Fatima, what was your need when you
came to Muhammad yesterday?'
Imam Ali
added: "I was afraid that she (Fatima) would not tell him, so I
pulled my head from under the cover and said:
"I will inform you, Messenger of Allah!
Surely she carried water using a water
skin until her chest was scarred, she ground (grain) using a hand mill
until blisters appeared on her hands, she swept the floor until her
clothes became dusty and lit the fire under the cooling pot until her
clothes were mud colored from the smoke. So 1 said to he:
`Why don't ask your father for a servant
to relieve you form these jobs?'"
The
Prophet (S) upon hearing this, said:
`Shall I teach you something that is
better for you than a servant and a world with everything in it? After
every prayer say: Allahu Akbar thirty four (34) times, Alhamdulillah
thirty three (33) times and Subhan Allah thirty three (33) times then
conclude that with la illaha ila Allah. Surely this is better for you
than that which you wanted and the world and its belongings.'
Thus, Fatima adhered to this glorification
after every prayer; and it came to be known as `Tasbih Fatima.'
'Abu Haroun, surely we command our
children to adhere to `Tasbih Fatima' the same way we command them to
perform prayers. So perform the tasbih, for whoever adheres to it shall
never be miserable.'"
In
reference to Fatima's beads, it was reported in Makarim al-Akhlaq that
it was made of woven wool threads which had knots by the number of
Takbir (Allahu Akbar), until when Hamza Ibn Abdal Muttalib (A) was
martyred, she made them from the mud of his grave.
Since
the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (A), people have been using the mud
surrounding his tomb for making beads for the great blessings, which lie
in it.
Imam
Sadiq (A) said: "Beads should be made with blue thread and thirty
four (34) beads, which was the way Fatima's beads were made after
Hamza's martyrdom."
There
are various narrations, which were reported about "Tasbih Fatima's"
importance and order. Yet, the most famous order on which our
jurisprudents agree is to start with Allahu Akbar, then Subhan Allah,
and end with Al-Hamdulillah.
When we
review the aforementioned narrations, it becomes clear that Lady Fatima
Zahra (A) performed her housework by herself, despite her honor and
nobility, and that Ali (A) helped her to do the housework.
It has
been reported in Bihar that Imam Ali (A) said:
"Once, the Messenger of Allah came to us
while Fatima was sitting near the pot and I was cleaning some lentils;
when the Prophet saw us he said:
'Abu Al-Hassan!'
I said:
'At your service! O Messenger of Allah!'
He then
said: `Listen to me, for I say not save that which is the word of
Lord: There is not a man who helps his wife in her housework, save that
with very hair on his body a whole year of worship-during which he
fasted the days and kept up the nights in prayer is counted for him....'
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