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FATIMA IS FATIMA (21)

A book by Dr. Ali Shariati


Where is His Sword?

What has happened to the famous sword of her husband, Ali? Whenever he returned from battle, it was full of blood and was given to her along with the sword of the Prophet. Ali would say to her in a voice full of honor, glory and pride, 'Fatima, wash these!' Now, he is becoming lifeless and after ten years of constant struggle, he is laying down in bed.

She also sees that they are attacking Ali's house, but he does not leave his silent corner. Thus, in the battlefield where the Prophet could not succeed, Ali, the warrior, the champion who gave glory to the field of battle, has been defeated and Fatima is alone. What can she do?

Always fighting in the battle front, he is more severe and causes more misery than the front in which the external enemy is standing opposite him. Now a battle has begun where Abu Lahab, Abu Jahl, Abu Sufiyan, Hind and Otbeh Omiyeh ibn Khalaf and Akarmeh are not opposite him. These visages are well known as lacking any respect or human desires. It is obvious that they fight only to protect their power, interests, force, strength, business caravans, slave markets and not because of poverty, spiritual meaning, faith and human wishes. It is a battle between despotism and revolution, slavery and freedom, captivity and salvation, humiliation and lordship, purity and filth. Finally, it is a war against the guardians of ignorance and darkness in human disguise by the messengers of awareness and enlightment.

What is it? On one side is Ali and Fatima as it was in Mecca, Badr, Ohud Khaybar, Fath and Honein. But, on the other side is Abu Bakr, the first person who, outside the Prophet's home, joins him, his friend, his companion on the migration, and father of his wife. A person who gives him friendship when the Prophet has no one and is alone who spends all of his wealth in the way of the Prophet, and, as a result, in Medina, he is so poor that it is said that he had to work for Jews and strange and despised people. He was a person whom people had seen for 23 years, that is, from the first year of the mission of the Prophet until his death of the Prophet, beside the Prophet.

And Omar, the 40th person who, in the hidden Shelter of the Prophet, accepted Islam. With his joining and that of Hamzeh, the first few weak friends gained power and appeared among the people to announce Islam. From that time on, he gave all of his power towards the progress of the movement. He is from among the closest friends and most distinguished of the Emigrants of the Prophet. He was the father of Hafaseh, one of the other wives of the Prophet and people accept him as one of the leaders and great Companions of the Prophet of God.

Othman, an Emigrant who had made two emigrations in the way of Islam was the son in law of the Prophet who had married two daughters of the Prophet. He had an eyecatching, sacred personality and he belonged to two of the great families of the Qoraish. He had a great wealth which he distributed among the poor friends of the Prophet and had actively participated in social services and helped the people a great deal. The masses of the people call upon him as one of the Companions, great Emigrants, friend and family of the Prophet.

And Khalid ibn Walid, who is a hero in the religious struggles against the enemies of Islam. At the Battle of Muteh, where he is a simple soldier, he breaks nine swords over the heads of Romans. He is known as 'the sword of God'. Amr al Aas is one of the four famous Arab geniuses who had become a Moslem many years before. He showed the power of Islam to the Emperor of Rome at the Northern borders. Saied ibn Vaqas , the first person who in Islam fires an arrow at an enemy, takes Moslems from the position of defense and shows them how to attack. He shows the enemies what attack is all about and at the Battle of Ohud he carefully released several arrows and saved the life of the Prophet who was in great danger. He had defended himself so bravely that the Prophet praised him.

There were many, many more including great Emigrants, Helpers, all the army, leaders and builders of the foundation of Islam and closest friends and pioneers of the Prophet among them.

Their Slogan is Islam

And their slogan? Not idol worship, disbelief, polytheism, myths, protection of the business of the Qoraish nor the nobility of the tribe, but establishment of unity and the spread of Islam, the gathering and propagation of the Qoran, piety, the negating of the gathering of wealth and gold, helping people,. seeking of the satisfaction of God, the implementation of religious law and finally, the putting of the Prophet's Traditions into effect and most important of all, promoting Unity and the uniting of Moslems.

In the middle of this, a right is easily and quietly aiscarded. The rights of Ali. How? Very easily and with a very understandable logic because of sympathy towards the community and because of the fate of Islam and the danger of internal rebellion, pressure of the foreign enemies and the fear of separation among the Moslems and... in short, it is. because it is advisible for the moment.

A young man, thirty some years old, often harsh, whose background does not stand well with the majority they are jealous of him. His behaviour is of a type that causes the influential, effective personalities and groups to not be optimistic towards him.

`It is still too soon for Ali. It is not advisable for Islam at the moment.' Yes. Advisability! The inauspicious blow which is always used against the Truth. Advisability, a sword used by clever people to sacrifice the Truth. It is done in accordance with the Divine Law:face the giblah and say, `In the Name of God', a clean and pure sacrifice, a permissible meat.

How simple! Without any noise. Without anyone understanding. Without any who are asleep, awakening: Without the people rebelling. Without anyone to bring awareness to the people. Without anyone being able to distinguish the rights which are asleep under the blows of advisability, they silently die and are forgotten. Finally, without any effort, or protest, to be able to save the Truth and stand against the power which is armed with `adviseability', the struggles, cries, protests, moanings anti: even objections of Fatima go unheeded. When, a society is covered under advisability, nothing can be done. The greatest tradegy in human history takes place. It. is a silent and defenseless tragedy which sacrifices Ali and Fatima and later on we see their successors and one by one all of their posterity. Fatima sensed it had begun and she could do nothing about it.

Suddenly she felt the exhaustion of a whole lifetime of resistance, bearing of miseries patiently, tortures, poverty, difficulties and the bitterness of her life. She becomes convinced that all has been lost. She senses that she can do nothing to keep what the Prophet could not keep and what Ali could not protect.

All of the nights become blurred in her eyes, nights which come successively. Her father, during the last days of his life, gave news of it to her. The time has come. What will happen tomorrow? What will become of the great efforts of her father in the cold winds of policy and advisability which have now begun? What is the future of this young community? Into whose hands will the future of these people fall whose fate is to be sacrificed because of policy? The smell of aristocracy, nobility and tribal ties once again has arisen. Allegiance replaces the commandment. How can the votes of the tribes who elect their leader or the Qoraish who elect their elders be more acceptable than the vote of the Prophet?

What kind of people are these who at Saqifeh first give their allegiance to Saied and then with one word from Abu Bakr, give their allegiance to him? Do they have sufficient growth and awareness so that the Prophet does not need to interfere in their politics? These people are the people of the Prophet's city who have lived near him and next to him.

Fear for the Future of Islam

They have performed the jihad together. They have learned of Islam from the Prophet but they have chosen Abu Bakr. Tomorrow when Islam spreads beyond Medina and this generation passes, what fate will this allegiance bring to the leader of the people? Who will vote and who will be chosen?

'Now that the most sacrificed visages of the Emigrants and Helpers of the Propeht of the first generation of Islam and the pioneers of faith have put Ali aside because of policy and he is forced to sit in his home, what will tomorrow's generation do to my children? What will tomorrow's policies be when people have not grown up in the atmosphere of faith, piety and jihad?' Even now the future of Hasan, Hosein and Zainab can be seen and one can be certain what their future will be.

The beginning of Ali staying at home is the beginning of a frightening and bloody history. The allegiance of Saqifeh, which began quietly and cleverly will be followed by bloody allegiances and the problem of Fadak will be the beginning of extortions and the oppressions of tomorrow. Tomorrow is black, frightening and bloody. Successive tomorrows will bring plunder, murders and torture.

The Caliphate of tomorrow will be a great tragedy to Islam and a serious tragedy to humanity. But now what can be done? Fatima does everything her strength will allow to try and see that the first stone which is laid is not laid crooked. She can do nothing. She sense that the ears of the Medina of the Prophet are deaf to her cries. Her heart is made heavy by the silence of Ali, a silence which would cause any heart which has any feeling, who understands Ali and knows the times, to heat up and burn .

How difficult and merciless is selfishness to be able to express itself with faith, particularly when it is armed with policy. It causes the faithful and devoted Companions to sacrifice the rights of the people and to kill Ali's rights.

Fatima is exhausted after a lifetime of bearing patiently the weight of the mission of her father and the difficulty of resistance when faced with the ignorance of her tribe, with a life from beginning to end full of torture, danger, poverty and efforts because the wishes are far from the despots of the time. In the misery of mourning for the death of her father whose life had been mixed with hers and saddened by the unbearable fate of Ali, who after a lifetime of jihad with the enemy, is forced to sit at home by the hand of a friend, not that of an enemy. He is the sacrifice of a force which has come into existence with the power of his faith, sword, sacrifice and sincerity. She is defeated and without hope. She falls to her knees as her last efforts put forth to get back Ali's rights proves fruitless.

It is not only further effort which is difficult, but she finds the bearing of it patiently to be impossible, not for that which was going on outside but rather, patiently bearing what she sees within her home and finally, the bearing patiently of the frightening silence which is taking over the house neighboring her's the house of the Prophet.

Now the window is also closed, the window from which every day would open onto hers, where they would smile at each other, where kindness and faith would fall upon the simple house of Fatima. Now one of those windows is closed. Death closed it forever upon Fatima. Politics closed the one in her own home. And she is now imprisoned in this house, next to Ali, who sits like a mountain of sorrow and is silent. It is a silence which holds the fire of a volcano within itself. He reads in the innocent and sorrowful faces of the children of the Prophet, the frightening fate of the tommorow of each one of them.

To remain alive is too painful and unbearable for her.

'To remain' is a heavy load. It is a load which is too heavy for the tired shoulders of Fatima to bear. Heavy time slowly moves upon her wounded heart and passes by her. Every moment, every minute, and every step is heavy and slow.

She Seeks Out the Soil of Her Father's Grave

Now the only meaning she finds in life is the kind soil of her father's grave and the hopeful news he, gave her when he said, 'Fatima, you will be the first person to join me from among my family.'

But when? What an exciting anticipation!

Her suffering spirit, like a wounded bird whose wings have been broken, is imprisoned and impatient from three sides: the silent and sorrowful visage of her husband, the saddened faces of her children and the silent, cold earth upon her father in the corner of Aiesha's house.

Whenever the pain in her heart increases and she loses her breath from crying, she senses that she is in need of the kindness and condolences of her father. She seeks him out. She falls upon the silent earth of her father. She stares at his grave and suddenly it is as if she just. heard of the death of her father for the first time. She cries out.

She pushes her fingers into the earth: She fills her empty hands with it. She tries to see him behind the curtain of tears. She puts the earth upon her face and with all of the emotions through which she loved her father, she smells it and for a moment she is at peace, she has found condolence, but suddenly, in a tone which breaks with tears, she says, 'Anyone who smells the earth of Ahmad (Mohammad) has lost nothing if they never again smell any other musk. Oh, father, what miseries have fallen upon me after you. If they had fallen upon a bright day, they would turn it into night.' Gradually she would grow silent. The earth of her father's grave pours through her senseless fingers. She looks at it with painful amazement. Then she becomes motionless and silent.

She puts all of her sorrows in the death of her father. Each day is like the first day of his death. Her impatience grows everyday and her cries become more painful. The wives of the Helpers gather round her and cry with her. The pressure and pain and the wave of sorrows are pressing upon her heart and causing her eyes to bleed. She complains of their extortion and remembers what they did to her and the right they destroyed.

Her sorrow is more disturbing than anyone can conceive of to be able to console her or ask her to be patient. Nights and days pass like this. The Companions have been warmed by their powers, richness and conquering and Ali in his sorrow, silent and Fatima in thoughts of death. The moment of impatience arrives, the gift her father had promised her.

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