In Light Of Lady Fatimah (A)

'A'udhu billahi min al-Shaytan al-rajim, Bismillah, al-Rahman, al-Rahim. Wa as-salat wa as-salam 'ala asharafi al-anbiya'i wa'l-mursalin, sayyidina, wa habibi qulubina, Abil Qasimi Muhammad, Salla-llahu 'alayhi wa aali wa sallam. In today's session, we'll be discussing the comparison between Maryam, alayha as-salam, and Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam. It is important to discuss the comparison between these two great ladies for us to be able to converse and to be able to answer in discussions with our fellow brothers in Christianity.

You find that these two individuals that have such great status within Islam, both Maryam and Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, and we find that Islam is usually attacked within the West. We see many articles, many newspapers, many magazines or television programs attacking Islam. We usually find that they accuse Islam of oppressing a female and not giving freedom to the females. We also find that they say that Islam only caters for the male and not the female.

So therefore, when we discuss and we compare and we study the lives of Maryam, alayha as-salam, and Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, we find that we will be able to respond to our fellow brothers, whether in Christianity or in other faiths, we will be able to answer them and present to them examples.

For instance, there is a Hadith that says the four women of paradise are Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, Maryam, alayha as-salam, Aasiya and Khadija and therefore you find that Maryam and Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, are presented as the four women of paradise. Which is such a great status. There is another hadith by the Holy Prophet, which says that many of the prophets were infallible and the Imams were infallible. Yet you find that Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, is in fact infallible and also there is Hadith that say Maryam, alayha as-salam, is infallible. So you already see that the status of these two women are sincerely great.

Therefore, when we converse in discussions regarding females within Islam when we know the status of Maryam and Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, we will know how to respond to those who accuse Islam of oppressing a female. Therefore, discussing this will open up an avenue for us to converse and to encourage us to converse and have a dialogue with our fellow brothers and sisters within Christianity.

We live in a society which is in the Western society, which is mostly Christians, as it's a Christian country. Therefore, the importance of knowing the status of Maryam and Isa within Islam is something important for us to have to be strong in discussions and to have knowledge regarding these two great figures. And in fact, we are not the first to discuss the status of Maryam or the comparison of Maryam and Fatima, alayha as-salam, we find that there's a book called "Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi'ite Islam".

And this is a book written by Mary F. Thurlkill, therefore, that if you go on the Internet and you go on Google and you search: "Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi'ite Islam", you'll find the book there and give you websites of where you can buy this book. You know, you can buy it on Amazon and other book and other that sell books. So therefore this is a great book. And I'll come to this later on the discussion, because this is a book not written by a Muslim. This is a book written by a non-Muslim. And it compares Fatima, alayha as-salam, and Maryam, which is such this is an amazing book. And I'll come back later and discuss.

Therefore, we find in general, Christianity has many comparisons to Islam. For example, a lot the prophets within Christianity are the same prophets within Islam. We find that Nuh, alayhi as-salam, Ibrahim, alayhi as-salam, Jesus, alayhi as-salam, which is Isa, Ibrahim, which is Abraham, Solomon, Sulayman and you find many, many prophets within Christianity, are in fact prophets within Islam.

So you find many comparisons between Christianity and Islam to start off with. Also, Christianity is a religion which preaches the principles the same as Islam, like loving your neighbor and the respect towards your parents. So therefore, you will find many comparisons to start off with. When we look at the Holy Qur'an and look at this Ayat, Allah says: "O people of the book, Ya Ahlul Kitab, the people of the book, come to a joint word between us and you" (3:64). Notice how Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, He says the joint word between us and you, this was revealed thousands of years ago. Therefore, we find that this joint word will continue until the reappearance of the Mahdi, and when Isa returns back, this joint word between us and the Christians will continue.

We are also finding Sura 5, Verse Number 82 in the Holy Qur'an it says that there's no people closer to us Muslims than the Christians (5:82). Therefore, you find the importance of engaging in dialogue and having this brotherhood between us and them. So therefore, many Muslims have this misconception about Islam.

They do not know the status of Maryam and Isa, alayha as-salam. In fact, when I was in university, and I used to converse with the Christian brothers and sisters within my class, I used to tell them about the status of Maryam and Isa, many of them did not know that we even believe in Isa as a Prophet or we even had Maryam within Islam. And therefore, when I had a dialogue with them, they were very intrigued and very interested as to what Maryam's status was.

So therefore, when we tell the Christians, when we show the Christians the status of Maryam, it's a very enlightening thing for both them and ourselves. Therefore, when you look at the Qur'an, you see that Maryam, alayha as-salam, is the only woman to be mentioned by name. There's no other woman in the Holy Qur'an to be mentioned by name. And we see the whole Surah in the Holy Qur'an dedicated to Maryam, alayha as-salam. We see that her name is mentioned on Holy Quran thirty-four times. Look at the amount of that. Thirty-four times. When we tell the Christian Brothers that Maryam is mentioned in the Qur'an thirty-four times that's an amazing thing.

And we see a whole Surah titled by her name, Maryam. Therefore now going back to the book Chosen among Woman, Maryam, Mary actually the title is "Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi'ite Islam". We see that this is a book which discusses a number of issues and a number of aspects. For example, the book examines the comparison between Mary and Fatima in medieval text. It discusses the issue of the infallible mother. We also see the aspect of the mother who has a martyred son to save mankind, both of them had a son which sacrificed their life to save mankind. And this is what is discussed in the book.

We see many other comparisons discussed in this book. And if you're interested in reading it, you should pick it up and read it. Just see how the non-Muslims perceive Fatima, alayha as-salam, and what they see her as and the comparisons they have drawn between her and Maryam. We also see that likewise we see another book by James A. Bill and John Alden Williams, which is called Roman Catholics and Shia Muslims. In this book, Roman Catholics and Shia Muslims, it discusses the comparisons between Shia Islam and Roman Catholics. And we see it's very interesting book because once again, it's written by a non-Muslim. So therefore, you get another perspective within this whole issue. And we see that once again, the idea of the infallible mother emerges. The idea of the son who gave his life towards mankind emerges. The idea of the rosary bead emerges, the idea of the one who will come at the end of time and save mankind.

And we see that the Rosary beads is a very interesting thing, because as we know that Tasbeeh of Fatimatu az-Zahra' is something great. We see that to this day we do Tasbeeh Fatimatu az-Zahra' and we see that even in the depictions of Mary, alayha as-salam, she always has a bead where she uses it to remember Allah. So once again, it's a very interesting thing. Therefore, when we see that even in Portugal, they have a whole holy site called Fatima and many people visit this holy site.

And when we look within history, there's a story of three shepherds kids where they see a vision of a lady. And this lady says, I am the lady of Fatima. And she actually says, I am the lady of the rosary beads and my son will come at the end of time and he will save humanity, which is such an amazing thing, because to the Christians, the vision of this lady was in fact, Mary, but they call her the lady of Fatima.

But we see that the fact that this lady is respected, is something amazing because the description of that lady is exactly the description of Fatimatu az-Zahra, alayha as-salam. We live in a Christian country. When we go to the churches, we see the depiction of Mary, alayha as-salam. Look how she's depicted. Tell me, have you ever seen a picture of Maryam, alayha as-salam, within Christianity have you ever seen a picture of Maryam wearing different clothes?

She's always wearing a long veil. She's always covered, her hair is covered. Yet, we see that they depict Maryam, alayha as-salam, yet when we see the the followers of Christianity, do they dress as as how Maryam dressed in those depictions? I guarantee that when I look in today's society, I see that's not the case. Therefore we see that the whole issues of modesty arises, and I'll be speaking about that just in a second, because the issue of modesty is such an important issue and many females do not realize that many females get disrespected in this society.

They get treated like a piece of meat, like animals. Yet they do not know that the simple answer for that is modesty. The simple answer to be treated like absolute rubbish is to put a cloth over your head, to respect yourself, to wear sensible clothing. And you see the dramatic change of how people perceive you. You'll see the dramatic change of how people react to you and how people treat you. And the whole issue of modesty is something that's been presented to us by these by these two great ladies.

And we'll speak about that, just one more issue. We see the issue of chastity. Maryam, alayha as-salam, and Fatima, alayha as-salam, they have such great chastity, that in the Qur'an it says in Surah sixty-six, Verse number twelve, look at this. It says "also Maryam, she maintained her chastity. So she breathes into her our spirit"(66:12) Therefore, and there's numerous ayat in the Holy Qur'an, Allah talks about Maryam's chastity. Maryam had such great high chastity, that she was so noble, that even when men came towards her, she has a sense of chastity that she would turn away.

She was so high and she was so modest. We'll see also Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, she had great chastity as well. And we see in the story, I'm sure you've all heard this before, the story of the blindman. When the Holy Prophet came home with a blind man and Fatimatu az-Zahra' ran for her veil. The Prophet said, Fatima, this man is blind. Why do you have to go and wear your veil? She said the man is blind, but I'm not blind.

And therefore the Prophet after this replied, and he said, surely Fatima is a part of me. Because, Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, I'm sure you've heard this but let's now look into this deeper. Why does Fatima turn away when it was a blind man, a man that will not be able to see her physically? We see that the social hijab arises, that many females, they may put a cloth on their head, they may wear hijab, but yet do they have the social hijab?

And we find that the social hijab is as important as the physical hijab. And we see that these two great ladies they presented to us the social hijab, and they presented us examples of how we look at them and we learn from them what is hijab? And we learned that the social hijab is so important. I can wear hijab. But yet if I'm talking to every guy, and I'm doing this and I'm laughing and I'm informal every time, does that mean I have the proper hijab? No, because people will not respect me. They would go deeper into me.

Therefore, a woman must act modesty within society. She must act there's a saying in Arabic it says that a woman must act heavy, that people do not easily go to her and easily attack her. Therefore, we also find that within these two great ladies is purification. We see in the Holy Qur'an, the Allah has purified both of them. We see in Verse number forty-two, Surah Aale Imran, which is surah 3, we find the Allah says "And when the angel said, oh, Mary, indeed, God has chosen you and purified you and has chosen you above all the women of the worlds" (3:42), we find that Allah has purified Maryam and she has such a great status.

And then when we go back to Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, we find in Suratul Ahzab, which you all know, the Ayat of purification Verse number 33, "Verily Allah desires to keep away the uncleanses from you, O people of the house and to purify you through purification" (33:33).

Therefore, Allah has purified Maryam and Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam. And in this Verse, verse number forty-two, Allah says that Maryam is chosen above all the women of the world. She is the woman of the world. And therefore you find that Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, is Sayyidatu Nisaa al Aalameen, she is the chief of the women and therefore she is Sayyidatu Nisaa al Aalameen Min al Awwaleena Wal Aakhareen, from the beginning to the end. Therefore, Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, is example to all women from the beginning of time till the end of time.

She is example for everyone. And therefore, when we go to the prayer of Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, and the prayer of Maryam, as you all know that Maryam is referred to as the maid of the temple. She has such great worship and Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam that once, there is a narration that her children came in and they saw her praying for everybody, all her neighbours, except herself. And they also they said, mother, we've heard you pray for everybody. We heard you pray for the neighbors, but we haven't heard you pray for yourself. She said: "al-jar thumma al-Dar", she said that the neighborhood before myself.

Therefore Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, look how she cared and the level that she had that she would pray for the neighbors before she prayed for herself and there are other narrations that say that Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, stood in prayer all night. All night, she stood in prayer, praying to her lord, that she had such devotion to our Lord, that she would pray to him night and day.

And Maryam as, alayha as-salam, we all know during her time, that people did not see women as praying, they did not see women, that women were worthy of worshipping. There was no such thing as a maid in the temple, therefore that she broke that barrier and she worshipped Allah, that she amazed the people around her. And therefore, you find that when you look at the status of these women, you find that their children become exactly the same.

For example, Imam Al-Husayn, alayhi as-salam, on the day of Ashura, he was in battle yet he stood up and he prayed. Although, it was during battle, he still stood up and prayed before battle. And we find that people in this day and age, they would neglect prayer. They will postpone prayer like it is nothing. Like it is something they can do later. When the call of prayer says, "Hayya ala Salaah" hurry to prayer, not to take your time and to postpone it. So therefore we can learn this from these two great examples.

And when we move on, we see the patience of these two women. And I think the patience is something that we must really touch upon. Because imagine this, starting with Maryam. Maryam, alayha as-salam, was a pure woman. She was not married yet when she got pregnant. Just imagine how the society would have reacted. A woman that's not married and she suddenly becomes pregnant. Therefore, that obviously the attack that she would get was huge.

Therefore, in Holy Quran, it says that when she was delivering, she said, I wish I had died before this moment because the stress and the reaction of the people would be so great that it would be shame upon her. Yet Maryam, alayha as-salam, she listened to Allah, and she kept silent. For Allah order her to become silent although people attacked her. In Holy Quran, people said, "O sister of Haroon, your father was not an evil man, nor was your mother an unjust woman" (19:28).

People accused her. They accused her of a sin. Yet, she kept silent. And look how Allah rewarded her that he made her son speak when Isa, alayha as-salam, spoke in the cradle, everyone was amazed. He said, "and I am indeed the servant of Allah" (19:30). And you see that Maryam, alayha as-salam, although she is being attacked, that she kept silent because of her obedience to Allah. And usually in this day and age, when someone gets attacked or someone attacks you, we jump at the chance to attack them back.

Yet, if we had true obedience to Allah and we knew the truth within ourselves, someone wouldn't jump in defense. And we see also Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, as these are the days of her Fatimiya and the days when she was martyred and she was brutally attacked and squashed between the door and wall, we find Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, although her rights were taken away from her.

And notice this, that when she went to deliver the sermon, how does she begin the sermon? She begin by telling them, you took away my rights? No, Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, she began the sermon by saying, "Praise be to Allah, Al-hamdulillahi ala ma an'am wa lahul shukru ala ma alham wal thana'u bi ma qaddam". She started by praising Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala. She began by saying," Praise be to Allah for what he has prescribed upon us. And look, her rights were taken from her.

But Fatima Zahra, alayha as-salam, began by the praise of Allah because Allah is truly great. It's not worth being dragged by these individuals of this society when you have Allah, Subhana Wa Ta'ala to turn to. And Allah does not burden anyone with what they cannot handle. And everything that happens in life happens for a reason. Therefore, we can learn from the patience of Fatima, alayha as-salam, and Maryam, alayha as-salam. And we see that this this patience reflects upon their children.

Sayyida Zainab, alayha as-salam, after Karbalaa, after her brother was brutally murdered, what did she say when she went to the courtyard of Yazeed? Yazeed said, Wo! Look what Allah has done to you. And she said: "I have seen [nothing] but beauty". Because you find that when someone has a mother like Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, it's so inevitable that the children will come out the same.

We see that Sayyida Zainab, alayha as-salam, when she heard her mother. I'm sure she heard her mother always in praise of Allah. Therefore, that one when the tribulations were poured upon her, she began by praising Allah the same way her mother began by praising Allah when she delivered the sermon. And we see that Maryam, alayha as-salam, and Fatima, alayha as-salam, they've been given the reward by having a son that was sacrificed and we see that worldwide Isa, alayha as-salam, and Imam Husayn, alayha as-salam, they are respected worldwide.

Worldwide, people go through them to seek intercession. Worldwide, people learn from them. We see that whether people subscribe to the religion or not. People always look up to these individuals because when you have a mother such as Fatima, alayha as-salam and Maryam, alayha as-salam, how do you think the sons will turn out? Or the children would turn out? Therefore, this reflects upon motherhood and the importance of being such a great mother.

And anyone that is a mother that these two ladies are great examples because if you want your children to become like those individuals, you must become a mother and see how the mother has raised these two children. As we see, Napoleon says, "give me good mothers and I'll give you a good nation." Therefore, the importance of motherhood. So therefore, we see that Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, and Maryam, alayha as-salam,we see that, their sons are in fact, will come to save humanity afterwards.

And we see that Isa, alayha as-salam, in narrations, it says that he will return to save humanity. And we see that Imam al-Mahdi, alayha as-salam, ajjal Allahu ta'ala faraja he will return to save humanity. And therefore, we see that that these great individuals, Allah has reward them by bringing someone that will save humanity afterwards. And inshaallah in the upcoming sessions, I'll be speaking more about the hijab of Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam. I'll be speaking more about the patience of Fatimatu az-Zahra'Sayeda. I'll be speaking more about the status of Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, because many people they look at other role models in society.

You may look at the random girl in the magazine and find her as a role model. Yet why do you not look at Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, and therefore the importance of studying the life of Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, for every female to learn from her, not even female every man, every human on this earth to learn from her. As the Imams have said, they have narrated that Fatima is the light of Allah and she is the light on this world of Allah. And she is such a great woman that we all must look after.

And InshaAllah, I pray that Allah hastens the reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi, ajjal Allahu ta'ala faraja, to save humanity. And that's all from me for now and inshaAllah in the next session, I'll be speaking about Fatimatu az-Zahra', alayha as-salam, and her qualities. Wa assalaamu alaikum, wa Rahmatullahi, wa barakatu.