Hazrat Fatima- Role Model for Men and Women Both.

Hazrat Fatima-  Role Model for Men and Women Both.

Dr. Mazhar Naqvi

Hazrat Fatima has traditionally been perceived as a role model for women. Authors, Historians and poets have praised her as an ideal daughter, wife and mother. In religious congregations, speakers exhort people to follow the life and works of Bibi Fatima to strike balance between worldly life and life thereafter. She enjoys a unique position even amongst Ahlebait, being the only daughter of the Prophet Hazrat Muhammad to be chosen by Allah amongst the infallibles, and the only one linking prophet hood to Imamah, and the one who suffered terrible and unexpected injustice at the hands of immediate successors of her father. Bibi Fatima occupies this exalted position not because she was the daughter of holy prophet, wife of Allah’s Lion Hazrat Ali or mother of martyrs Hasan and Hussain but because she lived all her life for protection of her father’s mission and never for one moment lived it for herself. A serious look at the life of Bibi Fatima is enough to prove that it is wrong to consider her only as role model for women. In fact, she is role model for both men and women being a constituent element of Islam and the Muslim people as a whole, not just of women who however can learn from Bibi how to invest their time valuably and how to open themselves up for acquiring knowledge, spirituality and dynamic attitude to meet the challenges of the modern world.

Her childhood was not marked by playing or indulgence in leisurely activities. She never exercised her energies as an ordinary child but stored her strength within herself to play effectively her role in the Messenger's life when confronted with suffering and pain. She offered Prophet solace with a motherly touch in most trying circumstances. In the early days of Islam,she frequently saw her father  coming every now and then, weighed down by the pressures, burdens and harm inflicted by his opponents. She used to immediately  embrace her father,relieve him of his pain and take care of him with all kindness. One day, she saw her father in the Holy Mosque of Makka  after the ‘Kuffars’ had dumped dirt and rubbish over his back while he was praying to his Lord. Bibi Fatima promptly removed the rubbish with her small hands with tears in her eyes. Her gesture comforted the messenger.

She did not restrict herself to acqui8sition of knowledge but also tried to compile them in a book form. Bibi also worked to propagate it in the Muslim society. Also, she did not wait for people to come to her with queries and to provide the answers to them, but took the initiative to spread knowledge in society. She used to teach lessons to the women of the Migrants (muhajroon) and Supporters (ansar), who used to gather around her. In her sermons in the Mosque,  she explained

the secrets of jurisprudence and Divine laws, as well as other points to fulfill her cultural, educational and  intellectual responsibility.She used to  write down everything she heard from the Prophet  directly,or indirectly and narrated the same in turn to her husband and children. Thus, she could easily be described as  the first writer in Islam, among both men and women, and the first to write the hadith of the Messenger of Allah  in his presence.

History also reveals that Bibi  Fatima lived with her husband as best as a wife can, in affection, faithfulness, obedience and care. She lived with Hazrat Ali as any Muslim wife, did not set herself apart as the daughter of the Messenger of Allah. Rather she performed her marital responsibilities as best as a woman could do in spite of the weakness that plagued her from the start of her life, as narrated by the historians. Ali and Fatimah ) used to divide the responsibilities inside the house. The understanding was that she would grind, knead and bake and Ali  would sweep the floor, and bring water and wood . This is what every man and woman  with a mission should learn in modern times that are characterized by mounting cases of unhappy relationships despite material wealth and hefty pay packages. People should take a lesson from her life that they should not be engrossed with her their own affairs, but to make themselves available to shoulder responsibilities as mother, father, husband, brother or son. The life of Bibi Fatima is a lesson for both men and women. Men should learn not to feel ashamed of serving at home. They should remember that Maula Ali   swept the floor and brought the water and wood.He was the master of men, but saw nothing objectionable in sweeping the floor of the house, because the house was his house and the wife was his wife. He was a human being, and she was a human being, and a man, however great, is never too big to serve his children, wife, father, mother, brothers and sisters or anyone for whom he is responsible. The same lesson has to be learned by women: that work at home is not belittling - a mentality that women need to shun.( This article has been written especially for Bibi Fatima to mark Ayame Fatimiya)

.