Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi
Every time we delve into the life and greatness of our Lady Fatimah al-Zahraʾ (a), the research still finds ample room for investigation and inquiry in the world of allusions and symbols that condense treasures of secrets. For her fleeting life was like a light that illuminated the heavens of the worlds in a few years, then receded from people's sight and was veiled from their senses; yet it left on the horizon of knowledge allusions and flashes of lightning, which are like doors: whenever you open a door, it looks out with you upon worlds of narration, with an elaboration whose breadth has no limit and a prolixity whose details have no limit, in setting forth her divine greatness, which none of the other creatures of Allah, Majestic is His Majesty, can approach.
Thus did Allah the Exalted deposit secrets in our Lady Fatimah al-Zahraʾ (a), and He condensed long life-stories into her short life, so that she became like one of great age who lived through all the ages and interacted with all generations. The researcher must therefore keep turning over the symbols and allusions and keep posing questions in search of answers, exactly as one applies the tool of interpretation (taʾwīl) to the verses of the Glorious Book of Allah. Thus there open up from the allusions, just as there open up from the verses, inner depths sunk deep down and a horizon of vast breadth; and all that gushes forth from them is wondrous in its right guidance, upright in its signification, and possesses guardianship (qawāma) in its authority (wilāyah), because she (a) is the counterpart (ʿidl) of the Qurʾan, the mother of the Imams and the firm foundation (muḥkam) of their station.
In these passing lines we attempt to unveil a secret book about Fatimah (a)—a book unlike the books in people's hands. It has no pages bound between two covers of hardened leather; no scratch of an author's pen was heard in its writing; and the letters of its words did not appear in dark ink. Rather, it is a scripture among the scriptures of heaven, and a scroll of the same kind as the scrolls of the prophets; its letters are written with the light of the intellect, its topics are arranged by the radiance of understanding, it has been inscribed on the pages of pure hearts, and it is held between the two covers of alertness in knowledge and firmness in submission.
In order to uncover the reality of that secret book, we must set out from the guidance of a noble narration that contains an allusion from which, upon reflection on it, dazzling truths and precious pearls emerge.
The text we will present for analysis is what has been narrated in several reliable books, among them al-Kafi, from Yunus ibn Zabyan, and al-Tahdhib, from al-Mufaddal; they narrated it from Abu ʿAbd Allah (a), who said:
(Had Allah not created the Commander of the Faithful (a), there would have been no match (kufw) for Fatimah (a) on the face of the earth, Adam and whoever is below him).
Preliminary Analysis
The narration “Had it not been for the creation of ʿAli, there would have been no match for Fatimah” has been placed by the scholars in several places, and thus it yields its signification and bestows its fruits in the chapters in which it has been cited, according to its position in them.
1 – Some have cited it in the Book of Marriage, in the chapter on parity (kafāʾa), to demonstrate the parity of husband and wife, as Shaykh al-Taʾifa al-Tusi arranged it in the book al-Tahdhib.
2 – And some have cited it in the Book of Virtues, in the chapter on the superiority of Fatimah and the Imams over the prophets and the rest of creation, as al-Hurr al-ʿAmili classified it in his book al-Fusul al-Muhimma.
However, what the scholars have derived may be part of what the signification contains, and the text may yield deeper significations if one who contemplates it does so away from contexts that may frame its meaning, for he will then set out from the text so that it explains reality to him, instead of reality influencing the text.
Parity, according to the data of language, is likeness and equality: so-and-so is the match of so-and-so, i.e., equal to him. When we speak of parity in marriage, the semantic framing will be reflected in its concept within the subject of marriage. There is no doubt that the eminent scholars of religion and its jurists have pointed to a fundamental parity in marriage, namely faith and Islam: (The believing man is the match of the believing woman), and “Do not marry idolatresses until they embrace faith. A faithful slave girl is better than an idolatress, though she should impress you. And do not marry [your daughters] to idolaters until they embrace faith. A faithful slave is better than an idolater, though he should impress you.” (Qurʾan 2:221). And there is another parity additional to it, connected with social status: it is enough for a man to be a believer to be a match for a believing woman, but it is of the Sunna that he be on a par with her in terms of social status, or that he must take into account the wife's standard when she was in her father's house.
As we see, the narration does not establish this concept primarily and essentially, but it touches upon its meaning in one of its aspects, and so it serves as a corroboration of other narrations on the subject of marital parity. This claim is reinforced by the fact that if the negation of a match were specifically about marriage, it would have been more fitting to negate it of contemporaneous persons, since they are the ones addressed by the discourse of the possibility of marriage; and there would have been no reason to negate a match from the beginning of creation and to encompass the entirety of all creation.
As for the narration being cited in the chapter of virtues, it gives a signification of faith in part of its text, and this signification says that no human being approaches al-Siddiqa al-Tahira (the Pure Truthful One) (a) in honor, rank and excellence, including the prophets and messengers (Adam and whoever is below him).
But we are still framed by that context, despite the depth of its signification and the importance of its import; and the noble text continues to hold within it other treasures, the bringing to light of which is undertaken by further free contemplation outside the contexts of the aforementioned topics.
Decoding the Allusion
The narration, in the aim of its meaning and the purpose of its import, does not appear to mean parity in the sense of primary likeness in faith, nor psychological harmony, nor the coinciding likeness in rank with the Commander of the Faithful (a) from which her elevated rank above all the prophets and messengers has been derived—while we affirm that the text carries the signification of her superiority over the rest of humankind, including the prophets. Rather, the aim of the noble text is the parity between al-Zahraʾ (a) and the Commander of the Faithful (a), in that had Allah not created him as a match for her, she would have had no match other than him. Hence we must make this aim the axis of the research and its point of focus, so as to draw from it significations befitting the context.
What is that parity between al-Zahraʾ (a) and Imam ʿAli (a)?
Before we disclose the heading of the parity derived from the text, we must mention that we are faced with a difference between the two sacred personalities; and taking that difference into account, it is valid to apply the text to all other kinds of parity apart from that.
We can conceive of the divergence between Imam ʿAli (a) and al-Siddiqa al-Zahraʾ (a) in the following respects:
1 – The difference arising from the difference of sex, for the male is not like the female; the specification of each sex with attributes means that a given attribute may be a merit for a man but a demerit for a woman, and vice versa.
2 – The difference arising from the nature of roles and tasks, which may go back to the difference of sex or to the difference of the function entrusted to it.
3 – The difference in rank, established by proof, through the superiority of the Commander of the Faithful (a) according to the well-known view, or what is established through the special characteristics established for each of them separately: al-Siddiqa al-Tahira has special characteristics unique to her, and the Commander of the Faithful (a) has special characteristics unique to him.
We mention these three respects without elaborating on them or arguing for them, in order to advance the research to the hoped-for result, namely: what is the type of parity between the two of them (a)?
Parity of Mission
After it has been established that parity, linguistically, conveys equality and likeness, and after we have excluded what is excluded from it by proof, we have concluded that it conveys generality in everything apart from the mentioned exceptions; that is, the parity is a parity of mission par excellence, meaning the establishment of equality and likeness in the attributes of the mission connected with the relationship to religion and with everything linked to it, in knowledge and in action.
For this reason the text of the narration reinforced that meaning by negating the existence of a match for Fatimah (a) even from Adam and those after him among all creation, including the prophets; and it has been established by proof that Imam ʿAli (a) has an elevated station above all the prophets, with the exception of the Seal (s).
What we say about parity of mission is exactly like the equivalence between the Qurʾan and the Ahl al-Bayt (a). For our saying that they are the counterpart of the Qurʾan means complete correspondence, without regard to firstness and lastness, or the lesser and the greater, or the silent and the speaking. They (a) are the interpreters of the Mighty Book, its best exemplars and the summit of its noble qualities, and their conduct is the purest expression of its verses.
Parity Is a New Book about Fatimah
When we read the text from this angle, we see that it is a precious treasure, which we describe as a new book speaking about al-Siddiqa Fatimah al-Zahraʾ (a) in matters of which history has not reported to us any trace, and in what was hidden, or was concealed, from humankind concerning her (a).
We are fully aware that her virtues (a) have been established among all Muslims, and that they contain great and profound significations relating to her centrality in faith, to her virtues manifested in the arena of society, to her roles and her struggle (jihād), and to her station in the world of the Hereafter. But all of that does not do justice to even a small part of her reality, the reality of her excellence and the loftiness of her being—whether because of the critical circumstances that the Islamic nation went through, or because of the nation's shortcomings toward the Ahl al-Bayt (a), or because the faith of the nation was not capable of comprehending her dazzling realities, or for other reasons. But that does not prevent searching for more, so that we may ascend in knowing her in the world of this life and the world of the Hereafter.
Through establishing the parity of mission between al-Siddiqa al-Tahira (a) and the Commander of the Faithful (a), springs full of knowledge gush forth in the world of knowledge, fountains of virtues flow from them, and more of the supreme attributes of the personality of our Lady and Mistress al-Zahraʾ al-Batul (a) become manifest before us. For the Commander of the Faithful (a) to be a match for al-Zahraʾ (a) means that in everything that history has bestowed and that the books of narration have contained about the Commander of the Faithful (a), al-Zahraʾ (a) is like him and stands with him on an equal footing, except for what we mentioned as being excluded by its subject matter.
We may find the two lights sharing in greatness in some of what has been narrated, which points to and reinforces what we have inferred—such as sharing in the revelation of verses and the merits established through them, like the Verse of Purification and the Verse of Self-Preference (īthār). And in an eloquent allusion to what we are concerned with, Imam al-Sadiq (a) tells us of the virtue of asceticism in Imam ʿAli and al-Zahraʾ (a) together, in a system of equivalent correspondence and functional specialization, as he says, as found in al-Manaqib and al-Bihar:
(The Commander of the Faithful (a) used to gather firewood, draw water and sweep, and Fatimah (a) used to grind, knead and bake).
That is, Fatimah al-Zahraʾ is like her husband ʿAli, the Commander of the Faithful, in abundant humility at a time when servants, slaves and slave girls were widespread; yet it manifested in each person according to what the tasks and functions required.
The Table of Contents of the Book of Fatimah
The parity between the two lights places in our hands a new book that has not been recorded in the biography of Fatimah (a); it consists of an encyclopedia of the knowledge and virtues established for her husband, the Commander of the Faithful (a). Thereby additional attributes of our Lady al-Siddiqa al-Batul (a) become manifest before us.
Just as the virtues of the Commander of the Faithful filled the East and the West, so too are the virtues of al-Batul; we cannot record and enumerate them in these lines, but what we can mention by way of hint and clarification is:
Just as Imam ʿAli (a) was the best of people in judgment, the most knowledgeable of them, the most learned of them in jurisprudence and the wisest of them, so too is al-Siddiqa (a) in her secret book.
And just as he was the most humble of people—pouring water over the hand of the guest, carrying dates and the burdens of his family, sitting with the poor and the destitute, walking along the road alone and guiding the one who has lost his way—so too is the hidden life of al-Siddiqa al-Tahira in her humility and her service.
And just as the Commander of the Faithful (a) was generous and munificent—fasting and going hungry, preferring others over himself, working with his hand and then giving his wages in charity, never turning away a beggar and never disappointing one who hoped—so too are the unrecorded pages of the history of our Lady al-Batul (a).
If you wish to know the life of the Mistress of Women in her food and drink, her worship, her sincerity and the answering of her supplication, in her forbearance, her forgiveness and her help, and in the field of politics and management, follow the life of the Commander of the Faithful (a), so that the pages absent from view may be disclosed to you.
And what the Commander of the Faithful (a) was described with, in a general way, by ʿAdi ibn Hatim before Muʿawiya—his saying:
(He was, by Allah, far-reaching in aim and mighty in strength; he spoke with justice and judged decisively; wisdom burst forth from his sides and knowledge from his every quarter; he felt estranged from this world and its bloom, and found intimacy in the night and its loneliness. He was, by Allah, abundant in tears and long in reflection, taking account of himself when alone... until he said: And he was among us like one of us: he answered us when we asked him and drew us near when we came to him; yet despite his bringing us near and his closeness to us, we would not speak to him out of awe of him, nor raise our eyes to him because of his majesty. If he smiled, it was from strung pearls. He revered religion and showed affection to the poor; the strong did not fear his injustice, nor did the weak despair of his justice...).
Measure by this, and follow this trace, and you will see the secret, unrecorded Book of Fatimah, its letters having appeared from light, forming a new encyclopedia of her blessed life; for the glorious deeds of the Commander of the Faithful (a) have extended across the horizon of knowledge until even the obstinate acknowledged them and the loyal drew from them.
So peace be upon the one of the short life and the long-lasting legacy.
