al-Zahra.. We shall be cleansed by her Wilaya The more one consumed within himself and worked out his intellect to the maximum in the search for the fundamental nature of the Woman of the Worlds (peace and blessings be upon, al-Zahra), the more confused one becomes. Among all of the chosen ones by Allah, the Almighty; the mother of her father, al-Zahra (peace be upon her), as described by her own father the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), is presented as a personality that is difficult to understand, beyond anyone’s awareness, broader than anyone’s view and beyond human rationale. No matter what experts did or tried to do in the research and investigation and no matter what efforts they produced in order to paint a general character of al-Zahra (Blessings of Allah be upon her) or attempted to give a comprehensive picture of the dimensions of her nature, the only recognised outcome for such effort will be the inability of the human mind to achieve a clear understanding of Fatima (peace be upon her).This is the only scientific result that can be delivered from the confusion to be honest! This is because whatever research accomplished regarding the Batool (peace be upon her) over time and there are dozens of responses and revisions that resulted in a supply of inquests with plenty of information about her (peace be upon her), you will finally discover that you did not scoop from the sea of her greatness but less than the amount of a drop! When the researcher validates his information about al-Zahra (peace be upon her) and realises that the results were still incomplete, as there is more and greater than what he had imagined to exist, the only recognition would be that there is a deficit of the human mind to contemplate who she is. There is meanwhile an accompanied feeling regarding al-Zahra (peace be upon her) that is overwhelmed by awe and humility. When one is asked to express a view of whom she is (peace be upon her), one cannot find the right vocabulary. All words suddenly seem too short indeed. If one was asked to put forward a statement of the greatness of the aspects of her personality, then one would be dominated by confusion due to the fact that providing the correct and logical explanations about her (peace be upon her) is a task that is impossible. Yes, she is Fatima the daughter of Mohammed!! Peace and Blessing on them all. It is Difficult to even say that she is like humans, because her quintessence is unlike ours, her attributes and characteristics are unlike ours. Here is the Declaration of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Fatima is a fairy but in human form! She is therefore not entirely of the human race, but shown by Allah the Almighty with this human picture, because her essence is of another nature. Although there is another expression of the highest degree that she (Blessings of Allah be upon her) was the light that preceded the creation by thousands of years! If you want another evidence, then pay attention to what the Prophet peace be upon him and his family said to Aisha when he said to her: Oh, Humayra’a! Fatima is unlike the women of mankind”. Manaqib ibnShahr ashoob vol 3, p. 110). This explains, perhaps, that she (peace and blessings be upon her) when she gave birth to Imam al-Hassan (peace be upon him), the midwife Assmaa bint Umays said: “I did not see her blood! She said: O Messenger of Allah. I have neither seen her in menstrual blood nor post maternal blood”? The prophet peace be upon him and his family replied that she was pure and purified! (Sahifat Al-Imam Reza AS, p. 289). What was even odder was that she gave birth to Imams al-Hassan and al-Hussein (peace be upon them) of her left thigh! While these qualities of her physical self, which are different from all other human beings, are confined to their effects on herself (peace be upon her); she possessed other effects and qualities that affected the world around her with striking impact. For example: The radiation effects of light that were produced during her prayers that released radiation/ rays, which was so tremendous out of her blessed face to the extent that such effects were imprinted on the walls, mattresses, clothes and even on people’s complexions! The walls of Medina used to become whitened at the start of dawn of every day, and then turned golden at noon, including the colours of people’s clothes that turned golden, then the walls of Medina blushed at sunset, all that in a phenomenon of oddity that shocked the people of the city, and when the people searched for the cause, they found out it was the Noor / light of Fatima Zahras face (peace be upon her)! In Ilal al-Sharai, Vol 1, p. 180, our Imam Saddiq (prayers of Allah be upon him) was asked : O son of the Messenger of God: “why al-Zahra was Zahra? And he replied: because she bloomed in light for The Commander of the Faithful (i.e. Imam Ali) peace be upon him in the day three times. “When people were in their beds early morning, the whiteness produced by al-Zahra (peace be upon her) entered their homes and painted the inner walls. People asked the Prophet about that, and were amazed to see that such effects take place when al-Zahara (peace be upon her) was in her place of prayers and light is shining around her face (peace be upon her), and when it is noon time, al-Zahra A(peace be upon her) produced yellow like radiance that affected the inside walls of people’s homes, it even affected their faces and clothes, people asked the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) about that, he took them to his daughter’s house and showed them the golden illuminations out of her blessed face. In addition, the same effects took place during sunset when she produced red light that entered people’s homes and affected their walls and faces and clothes, and the people of Medina witnessed that light coming out of al-Zahra (peace be upon her) due to her prayers. Imam Saddiq (peace be upon him) then said that such light is passed to the Imams (peace be upon them) one after the other until judgement day”. This Wilaya al Takweenyah for al-Zahra (peace be upon her) was so unique that it was unprecedented. In addition, what makes it even more so is the fact that such radiances and illuminations were produced when she was at her home inside, that means that the light penetrated the walls from inside her chamber to the outside environment. This is such a powerful source of light that beats even the power of the sun because the sun cannot come through your wall. That means that the Wilaya al Takweenya and its effects for al-Zahra (peace be upon her) is beyond imagination and as such knowing who Fatima(peace be upon her) is becomes a very unfeasible act. In Akhbar Akhbar al-Awal Wa Athar al-Duwal by Ahmed bin Yusif al-Dimashqi p. 87, there is another piece of evidence for this Noor/ Light, the extraordinary light of al-Zahra (peace be upon her), that came from the arch enemy of Imam Ali (peace be upon her): Aisha said: “We used to stitch up our clothes, make our sewing up and mend our clothes at night time making use of the light out of Fatima”. The fundamental nature of our lady al-Zahra (peace be upon her) is distinct indeed. No matter how one wanted to rationalise it, the more he became astonished. Indeed how anyone’s limited intellectual powers could suffice to comprehend such chosen illuminating halo that all the creation travel around it. Indeed words are short coming in understanding her status and describing her position. Let us look into another side of her miraculous status: All the Ziarat that address the infallible imams (peace be upon them) usually start with greeting and blessings for example: Peace be upon you, O inheritor of Adam, the chosen one of Allah (i.e. Ziyarat Warith for Imam Hussain peace be upon him), or Peace be on You, O the trustee of Allah on His earth and His Proof over His servants (i.e. Ziyarat Ameenullah for Imam Ali peace be upon him). You would hardly find a Ziarat that does not start with the typical phrases of Salam, salutations and offering peace and blessings, usually also phrases like: I bear witness that you established prayers, gave Zakat, bid the good and forbade evil. May Allah curse who killed you. or O Allah, curse the first oppressor who committed injustice to the right of Muhammad and his Progeny Such statements are to be found in most if not all the Ziarat texts. The texts do come in a unified tune if you like, they do have also similar structure and content that puts you in the atmosphere of an actual visitation of any member of Ahlu al-Bayet peace be upon them. You will remember the virtues, declare your Bara’a from their enemies, seek nearness to Allah al Mighty and Ahlu al-Bayet peace be upon them and so on. Our imams peace be upon them structured those texts in a symmetrical and proportional way in order to help us recharge ourselves with the values, standards, ideals and morals of Ahlu al-Bayet peace be upon them all. But when it comes to al-Zahra (peace be upon her), her Ziara comes in a totally different structure. The composition of her Ziarat is amazing. It has a surprising and extraordinary rhythm that makes her ziarat stand out against other Ziarat to imams of Ahlu al-Bayet (peace be upon them all). When you read the Ziarat, you will encounter spiritual oceans of proportional rhythms that take you away travelling to the world of the unseen and all that in a Ziarat that is relatively short in size, yet profound in meaning. There are huge secrets in that Ziara. I trust that even if you spent a lifetime attempting to unveil the meanings of the words in this Ziarat, you will simply fail no matter who you are and no matter how high you score in an IQ test. The Ziara of al-Zahara (peace be upon her) had been narrated to us by our Imam Mohammed al-Jawad (peace be upon him), you can find it in Mafteeh al-Jinan Oh You who was put to test! Allah who created you had put you to test before he created you; so found you, as expected, in your examination, patient. We declare that we are your followers (friends), aware of the, truth, and are bound to all that which came with your father (blessings of Allah be on him and on, his descendants) and his successor. So, we expect, if we rightly make known your truthfulness, nothing but our duty, and for our testimony of them, to receive from you good tidings for ourselves, because our sincere friendship with you purifies us! Can anyone explain those words? Can anyone claim that he can decode the inner meanings of these words? The first observation in this Ziarat is the fact that it does not start with Salam, it does not start with the usual phrase of greetings found in other Ziarat. But it starts with: Oh You who was put to test! If a Ziarat starts with Peace be upon you, O inheritor of Adam, the chosen one of Allah. Peace be upon you, O inheritor of Nuh, the Prophet of Allah. Peace be upon you, O inheritor of Ibrahim, the friend of Allah Then it helps you attain a degree of inner comfort, it offers you a balancing touch. However, when you read the Ziarat of al-Zahra (peace be upon her), you do not have that level of assurance, instead you feel unsettled because it starts with: “Oh You who was put to test”! Then you may become curious as to what test was this? How tough was that test? And by then, you would start to be uneasy from within. You get confused as to why such phrase “Oh You who was put to test”! came first and without any introduction! And once you continue reading to finish the first sentence, you would even be more perplexed. If you think that al-Zahra (peace be upon her) had gone through severe trials and tribulations during her short lifetime and that was why it started with the opening “Oh You who was put to test”! Then you would soon dismiss such foregone conclusion when you read: “Allah who created you had put you to test before he created you”! Where can your imagination travel to in order to find an answer for such a situation? How did or could Allah al Mighty put al-Zahra (peace be upon her) to a test before he created her? In what world did this test take place? What was this test? Where? When? What was the nature of that test that Allah AL Mighty let her endure before he created her? Was the test that our lady went through on the hands of the Saqeefa gang not the only test she had to pass? Were there any other tests that she passed before she was created? Are there any other tests that she has to pass in the future? But isn’t this world meant to be the only place for testing? So why did our lady AS go through a special test before this world? Then you reach another amazing station in this Ziarat, the words in the Ziara state that Allah Al Mighty found her uncomplaining and patient to the test before he created her! At that point you may feel helpless in trying to unravel the secrets of the Ziara. Then you read: “we allege/ claim that we are your supporters”! So what is that? Do we only claim? According to the dictates of Arabic language, if you claim something, then you need to substantiate it, otherwise it remains only as a claim. The truth of the matter is that we only claim to be loyal supports of al-Zahra (peace be upon her), but in order for us to prove it, then that is something else especially for people like us polluted with sins. This Ziara is indeed different, it shakes the corners of conscience, it ignites feelings and it pushes you to reflect and set the account right with your inner most self. Then you get a glimmer of hope after you continue reading the Ziara: We declare that we are your followers (friends), aware of the, truth, and are bound to all that which came with your father (blessings of Allah be on him and on, his descendants) and his successor. So, we expect, if we rightly make known your truthfulness, nothing but our duty, and for our testimony of them, to receive from you good tidings for ourselves, because our sincere friendship with you purifies us! SubhanAllah! Now you come to understand that it is no one but al-Zahra (peace be upon her) who will let you join her father and husband, she is the one responsible for that with the condition that we believe in her. Then the final words of the Ziara also put you back in confusion: “that we shall be cleansed by your Wilaya” or our sincere friendship with you purifies us!! How could that be? However, the door is wide open for such good news that assures us of clearing out and eradicating our polluted inner selves! In Al-Khasais Al-Fatimyah page 1, Allah Al Mighty calls: “I am the Fatir, and she is Fatima, and with her light, all things have emerged from the Fatiha to the Khatima, i.e. beginning to end!
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:07:52 +0000