Fatimah az-Zahra

A piece of the Prophet ﷺ; first of his house to follow him, mistress of the women of Paradise.

The account

Fatimah bint Muhammad, youngest daughter of the Prophet ﷺ and Khadijah, grew up inside the siege years of Makkah; as a girl she lifted the camel filth from her father's back at the Kaaba while Quraysh laughed. He ﷺ said of her: "Fatimah is a piece of me; whoever angers her angers me." When she entered his room he would rise, take her hand, kiss her, and seat her in his place; the courtesy between them is its own chapter of the sunnah.

She married Ali on a dowry of a shield, kept a house of handmill and waterskin, and asked her father for a servant; he taught her instead the tasbih of thirty-three that the ummah still recites at every bedtime. She bore al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum: every descendant of the Prophet on earth passes through her. In his final illness he ﷺ whispered to her twice; she wept, then laughed. The secret, told later: he informed her he was dying, then that she would be the first of his house to follow him, and the leader of the women of the people of Jannah. She followed him within six months.

The facts

RankLeader of the women of Jannah
His word“A piece of me” (Bukhari 5230)
DowryA shield
The tasbih33 · 33 · 34, her gift
Followed himWithin six months

The narrations

Fatimah is a piece of me; whoever angers her angers me.

Bukhari 5230 · Muslim 2449

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