Six months later, according to the most widely accepted view, his daughter Fāṭimah (1) (peace be upon her) passed away. She was affectionately called Umm Abīhā, “the mother of her father.” The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—had informed her that she would be the first of his family to join him, and he said to her:
“Are you not content to be the foremost lady among the women of Paradise?” (2)
By the most common report she was the youngest of the Prophet’s daughters, and she alone survived him. For that reason her reward was great, for she was afflicted by the loss of him—may Allah have mercy on them. It is also said that she was the twin of ʿAbd Allāh, son of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and that he left no descendants save through her.
Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkār relates that on the night ʿAlī married Fāṭimah—may Allah have mercy on them—the Prophet performed ablution, sprinkled some of its water on ʿAlī and on Fāṭimah, and prayed that their offspring be blessed.
Her cousin ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib married her after the Hijrah: some say after Badr, others after Uḥud, and yet others four and a half months after the Messenger of Allah ﷺ married ʿĀʾishah. The marriage was consummated seven and a half months later. ʿAlī gave her as dowry his ḥuṭamiyyah coat-of-mail (3), valued at four hundred dirhams. She was then fifteen years and five months old, while ʿAlī was six years her senior.
Fabricated reports about the marriage of ʿAlī and Fāṭimah exist; we have deliberately omitted them.
She bore him al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn, Muḥsin, and Umm Kulthūm—whom ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb later married.
Imām Aḥmad (4) said: ʿAffān narrated to us; Ḥammād narrated to us; ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib informed us, from his father, from ʿAlī, that when the Messenger of Allah married him to Fāṭimah he sent with her a coarse cloak, a leather pillow stuffed with palm fiber, a hand-mill, a waterskin, and two jars.
One day ʿAlī said to Fāṭimah, “By Allah, I have drawn water (5) until my chest aches. Your father has received captives; go and ask him for a servant.” She replied, “By Allah, I have ground grain until my hands are blistered (6).”
She went to the Prophet ﷺ, who asked, “What brings you, my daughter?” She answered, “I have come to greet you,” for she was too shy to state her request, and went back. He asked, “What did you do?” She replied, “I was too shy to ask him.”
The two of them then went to him together. ʿAlī said, “O Messenger of Allah, by Allah I have drawn water until my chest aches,” and Fāṭimah said, “I have ground grain until my hands are blistered. Allah has brought you captives and abundance; please assign one of them to us as a servant.” He replied, “By Allah, I will not give you anything while I leave the people of the Ṣuffah with their stomachs caving in from hunger, finding nothing to spend on them.” (7)
They returned, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to them while…