ভূমিকা

onfirmed that His final messenger will also leave

this world, “And Muhammad is no more than a messenger; the

messengers have already passed away before him; if then he dies or

is killed will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns

Fatima al-Zahra: The Spring of Inspiration

back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to God in the

least and God will reward the grateful. (Q. 3:144)”

Disregarding the basic Muslim tenets of ensuring a

prompt burial, the Prophet’s body lie in his house in Medina

for many days with the family and close companions

lamenting this loss. However, there was a segment of the

Muslims were busy plotting who would take over the reigns

known as the saqifah, a tent area, which belonged to the tribe

Seeming to have forgotten the pledge they took on the

18th of Dhul Hijjah at the event of ghadeer al-khumm – a short

70 days prior, a small contingent of people who had once been

loyal to discussed who has the right to

take control of the Muslim community now that the Prophet

had passed away. They insisted that this was the right of the

Muslims to determine on their own and that there were no

Quranic precidents nor Prophetic statements which vested the

of God saw many tragic events unfold – affecting not only the

family of the Prophet in the immediate, but also placing a

wedge between his companions. These events would

transform the destiny of Islam and the Muslims for

Once the caliph was carefully selected, one of the first

things which was done by the state apparatus was to work at

land of Fadak – property which the Prophet received outside

of a war and thus was his personal property which he in turn

was after land simply for the sake of ownership. Rather, if we

dig deep into this event, we see that her goal was to secure the

rights of her husband – the right of leadership of the Muslim