As for the report that she performed a ghusl (full ritual bath) before her death and instructed that she not be washed thereafter, it is weak and cannot be relied upon; Allah knows best.

The one who led the funeral prayer over her was her husband ʿAlī; some say it was her uncle al-ʿAbbās, and others say it was Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq—Allah knows best.

She was buried at night, on the night of Tuesday when three nights of Ramaḍān had passed in the year 11 AH. Another opinion holds that she died two months after him (peace be upon him); others say seventy days, seventy-five days, three months, or eight months. What is sound, however, is what is established in the Ṣaḥīḥ (1) through al-Zuhrī, from ʿUrwah, from ʿĀʾishah: Fāṭimah lived six months after the Prophet ﷺ and was buried at night. It is said that she never laughed during the entire period she remained after him (peace be upon him), and that she was wasting away from grief over him and longing for him.

There is also disagreement about her age at that time. Some say twenty-seven; others say twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, or thirty-five. The last figure is unlikely, while the earlier ones are closer to the truth; Allah knows best.

She was buried in al-Baqīʿ, and she was the first for whom a bier was screened.

It is authenticated in the Ṣaḥīḥ (2) that ʿAlī enjoyed a particular standing among the people during Fāṭimah’s lifetime; when she died, he sought—and gave—his pledge of allegiance to al-Ṣiddīq, as related by al-Bukhārī. This later pledge was meant to remove the estrangement that had arisen over the inheritance issue and does not negate the earlier pledge that had already been given, as we have explained; Allah knows best.

Among those who died in that same year was Umm Ayman, Barakah (3) bint Thaʿlabah ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥiṣn (4) ibn Mālik ibn Salamah ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Nuʿmān, the freedwoman of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He had inherited her from his father—some say from his mother—and she cared for him when he was small and continued to do so thereafter. On one occasion she drank his urine, whereupon he said to her, “You have placed between yourself and the Fire a protective barrier (5).” He then set her free and married her to ʿUbayd (6), by whom she bore her son Ayman, after whom she was known. She later married Zayd ibn Ḥārithah, the freedman of the Messenger of Allah, and bore him Usāmah ibn Zayd. She emigrated in both migrations to…