Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
201

SERMON 201

What Amir al-mu'minin said on
the occasion of the burial of Sayyidatu'n-nisa' (Supreme lady)
Fatimah (p.b.u.h.) while addressing the Holy Prophet at his grave.

O' Prophet of Allah,
peace be upon you from me and from your daughter who has come to
you and who has hastened to meet you. O' Prophet of Allah, my
patience about your chosen (daughter) has been exhausted, and my
power of endurance has weakened, except that I have ground for
consolation in having endured the great hardship and heart-rending
event of your separation. I laid you down in your grave when your
last breath had passed (when your head was) between my neck and
chest.
... Verily we are
Allah's and verily unto Him shall we return. (Qur'an 2:156)

Now. the trust has
been returned and what had been given has been taken back. As to
my grief, it knows no bounds, and as to my nights. they will
remain sleepless till Allah chooses for me the house in which you
are now residing.

Certainly, your
daughter would apprise you of the joining together of your (1)
ummah (people) for oppressing her. You ask her in detail and get
all the news about the position. This has happened when a long
time had not elapsed and your remembrance had not disappeared. My
salam (salutation) be on you both, the salam of a grief stricken
not a disgusted or hateful person; for if I go away it is not
because I am weary (of you), and if I stay it is not due to lack
of belief in what Allah has promised the endurers.

(1).
The treatment meted out to the daughter of the Prophet after his
death was extremely painful and sad. Although Sayyidatu'n-nisa'
Fatimah (p.b.u.h.) did not live in this world more than a few
months after the death of the Prophet yet even this short period
has a long tale of grief and woe (about her). In this connection,
the first scene that strikes the eyes is that arrangements for the
funeral rites of the Prophet had not yet been made when the
contest for power started in the Saqifah of Banu Saidah.
Naturally, their leaving the body of the Prophet (without burial)
must have injured Sayyidatu'n-nisa' Fatimah's grief-stricken heart
when she saw that those who had claimed love and attachment (with
the Prophet) during his life became so engrossed in their
machinations for power that instead of consoling his only daughter
they did not even know when the Prophet was given a funeral
ablution and when he was buried, and the way they condoled her was
that they crowded at her house with material to set fire to it and
tried to secure allegiance by force with all the display of
oppression, compulsion and violence. All these excesses were with
a view to so obliterate the prestigious position of this house
that it might not regain its lost prestige on any occasion. With
this aim in view, in order to crush her economic position, her
claim for (the estate of) Fadak was turned down by dubbing it as
false, the effect of which was that Sayyidatu'n-nisa' Fatimah
(p.b.u.h.) made the dying will that none of them should attend her
funeral.