Fatimah al-Zahra was a spiritually and intellectually strong woman who stood up in defiance to the intrigues of the time, endorsing the status of her husband and standing up for his rights.

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It was the 28th of the month of Safar in the 11th year after the migration to Medina. The Prophet of Islam, the man who gave all that he could to guide not only his community, but the entire world, passed away.

Death is nothing new as previous prophets had also died and God has confirmed that His final messenger will also leave this world, “And Muhammad is no more than a messenger; the messengers have already passed away before him; if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels, he will by no means do harm to God in the least and God will reward the grateful.

وَمَا مُحَمَّدٌ إِلَّا رَسُولٞ قَدۡ خَلَتۡ مِن قَبۡلِهِ ٱلرُّسُلُۚ أَفَإِيْن مَّاتَ أَوۡ قُتِلَ ٱنقَلَبۡتُمۡ عَلَىٰٓ أَعۡقَٰبِكُمۡۚ وَمَن يَنقَلِبۡ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيۡهِ فَلَن يَضُرَّ ٱللَّهَ شَيۡـٔٗاۚ وَسَيَجۡزِي ٱللَّهُ ٱلشَّٰكِرِينَ

“Muhammad is not but a messenger. [Other] messengers have passed on before him. So if he was to die or be killed, would you turn back on your heels [to unbelief]? And he who turns back on his heels will never harm Allah at all; but Allah will reward the grateful.” (3:144).

Disregarding the basic Muslim tenets of ensuring a prompt burial, the Prophet’s body lie in his house in Medina for many days with the family and close companions lamenting this loss. However, there was a segment of the Muslims were busy plotting who would take over the reigns of leadership of the community.

This group had gathered outside of Medina in an area known as the saqifah, a tent area, which belonged to the tribe of Bani Sa’ida.

Seeming to have forgotten the pledge they took on the 18th of Dhul Hijjah at the event of Ghadir al-Khumm– a short 70 days prior, a small contingent of people who had once been loyal to Prophet Muhammad discussed who has the right to take control of the Muslim community now that the Prophet had passed away. They insisted that this was the right of the Muslims to determine on their own and that there were no Qur’anic precedents nor Prophetic statements which vested the authority in any particular individual.

The days which followed the death of the final Messenger of God saw many tragic events unfold – affecting not only the family of the Prophet in the immediate, but also placing a wedge between his companions. These events would transform the destiny of Islam and the Muslims for generations to come...

Once the caliph was carefully selected, one of the first things which was done by the state apparatus was to work at eroding the status of the family of the Prophet.

Their first course of action was to confiscate the fertile land of Fadak – property which the Prophet received outside of a war and thus was his personal property which he in turn gifted to his daughter, Fatimah al-Zahra.

We should not think that the daughter of the Prophet was after land simply for the sake of ownership. Rather, if we dig deep into this event, we see that her goal was to secure the rights of her husband – the right of leadership of the Muslim community which God had given him on the day of Ghadirr.

She was merely using the right of ownership of Fadak and the witnesses which she had called in a calculated campaign to press the caliph and the Muslim community to think deeper about the words of the Messenger of God which he had delivered time and time again, most notably at the event of Ghadirr. If they accepted her claim of the right to Fadak based on her own testimony and that of her witnesses, then she would be able to put forth the caliphate of her husband.

When the first caliph took office, he had also taken charge of all of the assets of the Muslim community - which he felt included the fertile land of Fadak. When Fatimah al-Zahra was told that her personal property had been taken away, she went to the caliph to prove her ownership. Bringing her witnesses to prove that this was indeed her property, he accepted the argument put forth and the land of Fadak was returned to her. However when the individual who would later on become the second caliph was informed of what had transpired, not only did he snatch the title-deed from her hand, tearing it to pieces, but he went on to quote the famous and grossly inaccurate statement attributed to the Prophet in which it is stated that he purportedly said, “We the group of prophets do not leave anything as inheritance, whatever we leave behind is charity.”

In such a tense climate in Medina, Fatimah al-Zahra delivered her famous speech in the masjid of the Prophet in which she noted that her claim to ownership of Fadak was not only based on witnesses but also on verses of the Qur’an and a logical understanding of their contents.

As such, she is quoted as saying, “You assume that I do not have a share in the inheritance and that I should not inherit from my father and that there is no relation between us? Has God in His verses (of the Qur’an) not taken into consideration everyone in general and are not all Muslims included in these verses? Is my father discharged from the applicability of this verse? Or do you say that two people of the same community do not inherit from one another? Are my father and I not from one community?”

All of these actions took place in the direct sight of the Muslim community - with only a few of the loyal companions standing beside the Ahl al-Bayt.

Sadly, not only was the gift or inheritance which was given by the Prophet of Islam taken away from her, but she also saw the rights of her husband, the Commander of the Faithful Ali, taken away - namely his God-given leadership after the demise of the Prophet of God.

Thus, Sayyida Fatimah, as the unique and unparalleled woman that she was, used this golden opportunity of the transgression of her right of inheritance / possession to further advance the right of her husband, Imam Ali, to the caliphate of the Muslim community after the tragic demise of Prophet Muhammad.

However, this would fall on deaf-ears and the injustice and oppression against her and her husband would continue. Little did she know that this would be one of her final actions in this world, as her days were numbered.