UM KULTHUM Very little is known about her though her name...

UM KULTHUM Very little is known about her though her name appears several times in history. By popular accounts she was younger than Hazrat Zainab but like her she was very intelligent and pious. She was married to Muhammad Bin Jaffer. Several traditions mention her. For example, it is reported that the night before his martyrdom, Imam AH (A.S) was in the house of Hazrat Um-Kulthum and she reports in detail the position of Imam Ali (A.S) on that night.

It is also reported that while Imam Ali (A.S) was at the Battle of Jamal, one of the Prophet's wives, Hafsa, organized a big party celebrating Imam Ali's defeat (she was wrongly informed that Imam Ali (A.S) had been defeated). When Um-Kulthum came to know about this she went to her to point out to her that what she was doing was wrong. Um Kulthuirfs name surfaces again in Kerbala. On the night of "Ashura" Hazrat Abbas Bin Ali (A.S) sees Hazrat Um-Kulthum weeping.

On asking her for the cause of her crying, Hazrat Abbas is told by Um-Kulthum that she does not have a son of her own to sacrifice in the name of Islam. Hazrat Abbas then tells her that he would represent her in the way of Allah and his sacrifice would be on her behalf A long and very sad elegy ("Marsia") is said to have been by Um Kulthum when she returned to Medina after she was released from the prison of Yezid.

In this elegy she addresses her grandfather's city, Medina, telling the city to inform the Prophet (S.A. W.W) of all the troubles which his grandchildren had to go through for sake of Islam. It is said that she is buried in the graveyard at "Makbara Saghira" in Damascus. Previous…