the chosen branch of his household, known as “the mother of her father” (1), daughter of the master of all creation, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim ibn ʿAbd Manāf—a noble Qurashī Hāshimite lady—and the mother of the two grandsons.

She was born only a little before the advent of the Prophet’s mission.

The Commander of the Believers, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, married her in Dhū al-Qaʿdah—or just before it—in the second year after the Battle of Badr. Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr states that he consummated the marriage after the Battle of Uḥud (2). She bore him al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, Muḥsin, Umm Kulthūm, and Zaynab.

She transmitted hadith from her father, and among those who narrated from her were her son al-Ḥusayn, ʿĀʾishah, Umm Salamah, Anas ibn Mālik, and others. Her reports are recorded in the Six Books.

The Prophet ﷺ loved, honoured, and confided in her, and her merits are abundant. She was patient, devout, virtuous, chaste, content, and constantly grateful to Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ became angry on her behalf when word reached him that Abū al-Ḥasan was considering—thinking it permissible—proposing to the daughter of Abū Jahl. He declared, “By Allah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah and the daughter of the enemy of Allah shall never be united in marriage! Fāṭimah is but a piece of me; whatever distresses her distresses me, and whatever harms her harms me.” (3)

So ʿAlī abandoned the proposal out of regard for her; he never married another woman during her lifetime, nor