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 of leadership of the community. This group had gathered outside of Medina in an area 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 authority in any particular individual. The days which followed the death of the final Messenger 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 eroding the status of the family of the Prophet. Their first course of action was to confiscate the fertile land of Fadak – property which the Prophet received outside of a war and thus was his personal property which he in turn gifted to his daughter, Fatima al-Zahra. We should not think that the daughter of the Prophet 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 community which God had given him on the day of ghadeer. She was merely using the right of ownership of Fadak and the witnesses which she had called in a calculated campaign Fatima al-Zahra: The Spring of Inspiration to press the caliph and the Muslim community to think deeper about the words of the Messenger of God which he had delivered time and time again, most notably at the event of ghadeer. If they accepted her claim of the right to Fadak based on her own testimony and that of her witnesses, then she would be able to put forth the caliphate of her husband. When the first caliph took office, he had also taken charge of all of the assets of the Muslim community - which he fe