Fatima az-Zahra'

Fatima, nicknamed az-Zahra' (“the Radiant”), is the youngest daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and Khadija. Wife of ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, she is the mother of al-Hasan and al-Husayn, from whom all the sharifs descend, including the Idrisids of Morocco.

Family and youth

Fatima was born in Mecca, before the start of her father's preaching according to most sources. She grew up in the house of Muhammad and Khadija, then accompanied her family through the trials of the Meccan years. After the Hijra, she settled in Medina.

Marriage and children

Around 2 AH she married her cousin ʿAli ibn Abi Talib. The couple had four known children: al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum. Their home life was marked by simplicity: sources report that she took care of the household chores herself.

Place in the tradition

In the Muslim tradition, Fatima is honoured as one of the most revered women in Islam, because of her closeness to the Prophet. Her descendants, called sharifs or sayyids, are spread throughout the Muslim world, notably through the Hassanid and Husaynid lines.

Death

She died in Medina about six months after her father, in 632, at under thirty. The exact place of her burial is debated by the sources.