He said to them...

He said to them, ‘An angel came and said to me: O messenger of Allah, Allah sends you greeting and says to you: I have married Fatima to Ali in the high Heaven, so you marry her to him in the earth.’ [2] Then, the Prophet (a.s.) went to Fatima (a.s.) and said to her, ‘I marry you to the best one of my umma.

He is the most knowledgeable, the most prudent, and the first Muslim.’ [3] On another occasion, he said to her, ‘O Fatima, do you not know that Allah observed the people of the earth, and then He chose your father from among them and sent him a messenger, and once another He observed and then He chose your husband and revealed to me so that I married him (to my daughter) and took him my guardian?’ [4] On a third occasion he said to her, ‘He (Imam Ali) is the first of my companions in being Muslim, the most of them in knowledge, and the greatest of them in prudence.’ [5] All high qualities, ideals, and values were available in Imam Ali (a.s.) and therefore, Allah had chosen him a husband for the daughter of the Prophet (a.s.).

In traditions it is mentioned that: “If Ali was not created, there would be no equal for Fatima.’ [6] p.153. [1] Majma’ al-Bayan, vol.9 p.175. [2] Thakha'ir al-Uqba, p.32. [3] Jam’ al-Jawami’, vol.6 p.398. [4] Thakha'ir al-Uqba, p.32. [5] Kanzol Ummal, vol.6 p.153. [6] Musnad of Ahmad bin Hanbal, vol.5 p.36, Majma’ az-Zawa’id, 6 p.101, Ar-Riyadh an-Nadhirah, vol.2 p.194. The dowry of Fatima The dowry of Fatima (a.s.) was very simple.

The Prophet (a.s.) had assigned it so to be an example for all the women of his nation so that no man and no woman might remain unmarried because of high dowries.

The Prophet (a.s.) said to Imam Ali (a.s.), ‘O Ali, do you have something (to pay as dowry)?’ Imam Ali (a.s.) said, ‘I have a sword, an armor, and a horse.’ The Prophet (a.s.) said to him, ‘As for your horse, you need it, and as for your sword, you cannot do without it, but as for your armor, you can sell it.’ [1] Imam Ali (a.s.) went to the market and sold his armor for four hundred and eighty dirhams and came back with the amount knotted in the end of his shirt, [2] and put it before the Prophet (a.s.).

It was a very simple dowry and it was less than what the poor might pay for their wives. Her furniture The Prophet (a.s.) took a handful of dirhams and gave them to Bilal to buy with them some perfumes for Fatima (a.s.), and other handfuls to Salman and Umm Salamah to buy some furniture.