The Sermon of Fadak
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- 2021-05-07
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The Sermon of Fadak
Fatimiyyah is Ashura (eng) by Ayatullah Lutfullah Safi Gulpaygani, pgs 11-19
This is the renowned sermon of Sayyidah Fatimah Zahra (ss). Her words are far beyond the
comprehension of anyone except the Creator, who created her as the epitome of infallibility and embodiment of
perfection. Her words are replete with lucidity, insight and perfection, while pearls of wisdom and eloquence flow through
her tongue.
It is quoted in the book al-Ihtijaj of Shaykh al-Tabarsi from ʿAbdullah b. Hasan who relates from his
fore-fathers that when Sayyidah Zahra(sa) was informed that Abu Bakr had confiscated Fadak, she put on
her veil and cloak, and accompanied by some servants and women of the Bani Hashim, came to the
Masjid and facing Abu Bakr and the Muslims who were present, recited a powerful sermon.
Sayyidah Zahra (sa) had worn a long dress (and was thus placing her feet upon her dress) and her way of
walking was similar to that of the Prophet. When she entered the Masjid, Abu Bakr was seated with a
group of the Muhajirin, Ansar and others and a curtain was put up for her and she sat behind it.
LAMENTATION OF THOSE PRESENT :
Sayyidah Zahra (sa) heaved a sorrowful sigh from her scorched and aggrieved heart such that all of those
present were affected by it and began to weep. The gathering was converted into a mourning ceremony and everyone was deeply touched. Sayyidah Zahra (sa) then remained silent for a moment until the weeping
of those present calmed down, and then she began her speech.
PRAISE AND EULOGY FOR THE LORD AND WITNESS OF THE UNITY OF ALLAH
AND THE PROPHETHOOD OF MUHAMMAD ﷺ
She started her speech by saying:
“Praise be to Allah for His bounties (upon us) and thanks be to Him
for all that He inspired; and commended is His name for all the bounties He created before our own
creation, for all the common bounties that He bestowed (upon us) from His Ownself without even (our)
asking for it, and abundant and complete bounties, such plenteous and unlimited bounties whose numbers cannot be computed and thanks cannot be offered for the duration and commencement (of
the bounties), and whose perpetuity is beyond comprehension. He invited (His servants) to offer praise, thus resulting in an increase and perpetuity (in their blessings)
and in lieu of this abundance (of bounties), Allah desired that His creatures praise Him. Again, He invited you (to perform good deeds) resulting in bounties of this world as well as for the hereafter.
I bear witness that there is no other deity (worthy of worship) except Allah - He is Unique and Unparalleled. Certainly interpretation (and result) of this witness (of monotheism) is sincerity, and it’s comprehension has been placed in the hearts, and the mind is illuminated by its (profound)
understanding. He (Allah) cannot be seen with the eyes, nor can He be described with the tongues, and
His state cannot be perceived.
He is the One Who created all things without any past prototype, and originated them without having any past image and equals. Rather He created them with His Might and dispersed them according to His
Will, He did not create them for a need, nor did He shape them for a benefit (for Himself), but rather (He
did all of this) to establish His Wisdom and to bring their (the creature’s) attention to His obedience, and
manifest His Might and (so that) His creatures may venerate Him, and (He created to) strengthen His
invitation by dispatching His prophets and friends. Thus He provided recompense for His obedience and
granted punishment for His disobedience, (He informed) His slaves from performing such acts that invite
His wrath, and thus would gather them in His Paradise. And I bear witness that my father Muhammad, is His slave and His Messenger, while Allah the Almighty
chose him and selected him before bestowing prophethood upon him, and named him before selecting him, and chose him before sending him (for the mission of Islam), when the whole of creation was
concealed in the hidden world, and they were in awe, and were in the extinction of nothingness.
Almighty Allah was certainly aware of the consequences of all the tasks, and was acquainted with the occurrences of the ages, and conscious of the position of the destined. Allah sent His Prophet so as to
complete His commands, to execute His rulings, and to deliver His decisive ordinances. He saw the
nation divided into various religions, addicted to their places of worship, worshipping their idols, denying
Allah despite their knowledge of Him. Then Allah illuminated their darkness (misguidance) through the
medium of my father Muhammad and lifted the veils of obscurity from their hearts, and removed
ignorance from their eyes. He (the Prophet) stood up among them for their guidance; delivered them
from misguidance, enlightened their eyes from blindness, guided them towards the ‘Straight Path’ and invited them towards ‘the Right Path’.
Then, Allah took away his soul with affection and by his choice, willingness and submission. Thus,
Muhammad was relieved of the toils of this world and entered (the world of) comfort. There, he lives in
ease among the righteous angels, and in the Paradise of the forgiving Lord, and in the neighborhood of the Mighty King.
May Allah’s mercy be upon my father, His messenger and the trustworthy one with regards to His revelation, His friend, the best among His creations, His favorite one; and peace upon him and Allah’s
Mercy and Blessings.
FOCUS UPON MEMORIZING THE QURAN, AN EXALTED TRUST OF ALLAH
You are the slaves of Allah and you are the establishers of His commands and prohibitions. You are the possessors of His religion and His revelation, the trustworthy ones with regards to yourselves and you
should propagate it (Islam) to other nations, while you deem yourselves worthy of all this ?
(Here Sayyidah Fatimah (sa) taunts the audience and says that you think that you are worthy of all of these great
entitlements and satisfied with it, while the reality is that you do not stand up to defend truth against falsehood. Then what is
the use of this status being bestowed upon you when you do not act and defend the rights of the Ahlul Bayt ?)
A pledge had been taken from you in advance by Allah and there is among you His remembrance and
that is the book of Allah (Quran), the speaking one. It is a book of complete truthfulness and a bright
light, the brilliant light. Its imminence is evident, its secrets are revealed, its apparent aspects are clear,
its adherents become reasons for others to envy, it leads its adherents to the status of paradise (or the
pleasure of Allah), its listeners are guided towards salvation and through it are gained the illuminated evidences of Allah. It determines the ordinances and prohibitions (of Allah), its evidences are illuminated
and its proofs are sufficient, it contains the virtues of the recommendable acts (mustahabbat), freedom
with regards to performing the lawful things (mubah) and (informs about the) discouraged (makruh)
acts, and in it are written down other legal laws (of Islam).
CONCENTRATION UPON THE PHILOSOPHY AND AIM OF DIVINE
ORDINANCES
Faith has been set so as to cleanse you of polytheism; salat (prayers) are prescribed to keep you away
from pride, zakat (charity) has been prescribed to purify ones’ self and results in the increase of
sustenance; Sawm (fasting) has been prescribed so that genuineness may be reinforced; hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) has been prescribed to establish the religion; justice is prescribed to establish
proper harmony in the hearts; THE OBLIGATION TO OBEY US (THE AHLUL BAYT) HAS BEEN PRESCRIBED TO SET UP
ORDER IN THE COMMUNITY, AND OUR AUTHORITY (IMAMAH) HAS BEEN PRESCRIBED TO SAVE THE PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENCES.
Jihad (struggle) is the honour of Islam and a humiliation for the people of polytheism and hypocrisy;
patience has been made a medium for recompense to be bestowed; enjoining good has been prescribed for the general welfare (of the society); righteousness with one’s parents is a safeguard
against His (Allah’s) wrath; kindness with one’s relatives is a medium of increasing one’s age and results
in an increase of friends and relations; retribution has been prescribed so that people’s lives may be
safe-guarded; fulfillment of vows leads to forgiveness; consideration of accuracy in measurement in
weighing commodities saves one from loss. Prohibition of intoxicants has been prescribed so that humanity may remain away from filth; the
prohibition of defaming (of adultery) has been prescribed so as to keep oneself away from the curse of
Allah; robbery has been prohibited so that the hands may be pure; and polytheism has been
prohibited so that sincerity may be established in Allah’s Divinity.
Thus fear Allah as you should, and (see that) you die not but as Muslims. Obey Allah with regards to His orders and prohibitions for surely only those of His servants are conscious of Allah who are endowed
with knowledge.
THE DECISIVENESS OF THE PROPHET IN STRENGTHENING THE PATH OF
GUIDANCE
"O people! Know that I am Fatima and my father was Muhammad. I say and I will repeat this again and
again and I do not utter any falsehood, and whatever I do shall not be wrong.
Indeed an Apostle from among yourselves has come to you, grievous to him is your falling into distress,
(he is) solicitous regarding your welfare, towards the faithful (he is) compassionate, (and) merciful.
If you look and understand, you will find that this Apostle is my father and not the father of any one of
your women; he is the brother of my cousin (Imam Ali) and not the brother of any one of your men and
how fortunate is the one related to him (the Prophet). The Prophet proclaimed the message and prevented the people from ignorance and polytheism and
worked at opposing the customs of the polytheists. He broke their backs while their breath was
entrapped in their chests. He called to the way of his Lord with wisdom and kind exhortation. He broke the idols and crushed the heads (of rebellion) of the polytheists until they were eradicated and took to
flight. Then, the darkness of the night passed and it dawned and the truth became manifest in its true
form. When the leader of the religion (the Prophet) spoke, foam gushed forth from the mouths of the
polytheists and they became silent; the degraded group of the hypocrites was annihilated and pledges
between disbelief and animosity broke. You all started uttering words of sincerity (Monotheism) and you were among a group consisting of illuminated countenances and fasting ones - those whom Allah
intended to keep off from them uncleanliness and purify them with a thorough purification. Indeed, you
were on the brink of the pit of the hell-fire.
You were a community that was (considered just) - a medium who would quench the thirst of others and
were a tool in the hands of the avaricious. You were similar to the place were hasty men come to take
the fire (for their own benefit) and were being trampled under the feet while at that time, your state was
such that you would drink water from the wayside gutter and your food was the unclean hides (of
animals) or leaves. You were the humiliated and degraded ones from among the masses, fearing that
people may carry you away by force !
Thus Allah, the Blessed, the Sublime, delivered you through the medium of my father Muhammad, while you attained this deliverance after he (the Prophet) had to face numerous difficulties and fight with the
stubborn polytheists, the beasts among the Arabs and after that with the People of the Book (the
Christians and the Jews).
ROLE OF IMAM ALI ع IN THE DEFENSE OF ISLAM
Whenever the polytheists kindled the fire of wars, Allah would put it out; and when the adherents of
Satan would manifest themselves or the beastly ones among the polytheists opened their mouths of
envy, he (the Prophet) would dispatch his brother (Imam Ali) towards them. He (Imam Ali) would
crush them and extinguish the blaze of their fire with his sword and he (Imam Ali) bore extreme brutality
in the way of Allah and strove to obey the commands of Allah. He was the nearest to the Prophet of
Allah and the master of the friends of Allah.
He was always ready to serve the creations (of Allah), looking over the welfare of the people,
endeavoring and toiling (in this way) and he was not affected with the censure of any censurer; while
you were living a life of pleasure and peace, and were far away from the severity of battle, (you were in) enjoyment and security. Then you waited that we, the Ahlul Bayt, may be engulfed in severity of trails
and waited to hear this news and in the heat of the battle, you retreated and fled from the battlefield !
CRITICISM AGAINST THE TREACHERY OF MEN
Thus when Allah the Almighty exalted his Prophet from this perishable world towards the abode of His prophets and His chosen ones, the thorns of hypocrisy became manifest in you and the mantle of your
religion gave, and the astray ones, who were silent until yesterday, suddenly started shrieking; the
degraded and mean ones came out of their burrows into the open ground, and the valiant ones of the polytheists of falsehood started roaring. Now, these very people have taken the reins of authority into their hands and Satan has raised his head
from the place of his concealment, inviting you towards evil - thus he found you to be among those
accepting his invitation and you held him (in esteem) with the intention of securing position or being
deceived. Satan invited you to rebel and found you to be (among the) base and meanest of people and
he incited your rage and thus you became enraged.
Then you started to snatch the rights of others and entered the spring that did not belong to you and you
did all of this when not much time had passed since the passing of the Prophet and the wound (of his
death) was deep and our hearts had not yet healed, and the corpse of the Prophet was not even laid to
rest in the grave!
You acted very swiftly dreading the outbreak of an agitation - beware that they themselves have fallen
into the pit of agitation. Surely into trial have they already fallen, and verily hell encompasses the infidels.
Far be it away from you! What has happened to you ? Where are you wandering while the book of Allah
(The Qurʾan) is amongst you; whose orders are apparent and judgements are illuminated; its emblems dazzling and whose enjoinments and prohibitions are straightforward. Did you not leave it behind your backs and then turned your faces away from it in disgust and turned to something else for judgement ? Evil for the unjust will be the exchange; and whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be
accepted from him, and in the next world he will be among the losers. You did not even wait that the tempest may calm down! Rather, you hastened to take the reins (of the
caliphate) into your hands. After having acquired it (the caliphate), you started to ignite the fire of mutiny
and you became engrossed in inciting the fire. You responded to the call of Satan, the seducer, and you intended to put out the light of the glorious religion. You started to destroy the practices of the chosen
Prophet, then you delighted in suckling the delicacies of the caliphate and opposed the Ahlul Bayt in
secret and in the open.
We have no choice but to bear the cuts of your daggers and the piercing of your spears into the body.
REASONING OF SAYYIDAH FATIMAH (SA) FOR FADAK
Now you presume that we do not have any inheritance from the Prophet - do you follow the customs of
the (age of) ignorance ? Is it the judgement of (the days of) ignorance (the Pagan era) that they desire ?
Who (else) can be better than Allah to judge for the people of assured faith. Indeed, it is as bright as the sun that I am the daughter of the Prophet of Allah.
O Muslims! Is it befitting that I am deprived of my inheritance? O son of Abu Quhafah (Abu Bakr) ! Is it
contained in the Glorious Quran that one should inherit from their father; while in your opinion, I should not inherit from my father? Indeed you have come with an unusual thing (attributed) upon Allah and
His Prophet. Did you then intentionally forsake the Book of Allah and leave it behind your backs ? Allah says: "And Sulayman inherited Dawud" (Surah Naml : verse 16); in regards to the life of Zakariyyah, He says: "So grant me
from Yourself an heir who shall inherit from me and inherit from the family of Yaqub" (Surah Maryam : verses 5-6) ; Allah also
says: "And the blood relations are nearer to each other in the Book of Allah" (Srah Anfaal : verse 75) ; Allah says: "Allah enjoins upon you about your children - the male shall have the equal of the shares of two females" (Surah Nisa : verse 11) ; and He (Allah) also says, "If he (the believer) leaves behind any goods that he makes a bequest for parents
and (the nearest) kinsmen in goodness (this is) a duty upon the pious ones" (Surah Baqarah : verse 180) You assume that I do not have a share and allowance (in the inheritance) and that I should not inherit
from my father and that there is no relation between us ? Has Allah in His verses (of the Qurʾan) not
taken into consideration everyone in general and are not all (of the) classes of men 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 a part and parcel of one community ?
Then, are you more cognizant of understanding the general and particular verses of the Quran than my
father and my cousin (Imam Ali) ? Then take it (Fadak) until we meet you on the Day of Judgement - where Allah will be the Best Judge, and Muhammad will be the claimant on that day, and our destined time of meeting will be the Resurrection and on that promised day, the fallacious ones will be engulfed in
deep loss and their regret (on that day) will be of no use to them ! For every prophesy, there is a (prefixed) time and you will soon realize upon whom a torment (of tribulations) will descend which will
disgrace him, and on who falls this lasting punishment.
INTENSE CRITICISM OF THE ANSAAR
Then Sayyidah Fatima (sa) turned towards the Ansar and said, “O group of valorous men ! The aides of the
nation! The helpers of Islam ! What is this slackness (that you display) in regards to me while you are witnessing the oppression being meted upon me, but you still lie in a deep sleep ! Did my father not say
that the rights of a father for his children must be considered ? How soon have you changed tracks, even
though you possess the strength to stand up for my rights and are capable of supporting me regarding
my claim !
Do you then say that Muhammad has passed away and there remains no responsibility upon us ?
His loss is great and the crack that has appeared (in Islam) is severe and the division is immense. Unity
has been shattered, the Earth is engulfed in darkness due to his concealment, the sun and the moon are
eclipsed, and the stars have scattered away ! Hopes have broken, mountains have crumbled, the family
of the Prophet has been lost and their sanctity has been dishonored after his death ! This is, by Allah, a
great calamity and a grand adversity, while this calamity is incomparable and there is no other greater
calamity than the death of the Prophet !
This (the death of the Prophet) had already been conveyed to you in the Book of Allah, may He be
glorified. You were reading the Quran day and night in a loud voice, lamentingly, in a normal tone
and in a pleasant voice. As for what happened in the past to Allah’s prophets and apostles - the command is decisive and destiny enjoined: "And Muhammad is not but an apostle, (other) apostles have already passed away prior to him,
therefore if he dies or is killed, will you turn upon your heels ? And he who turns upon his heels
will by no means do harm to Allah in the least, and soon shall We reward the grateful ones" (Surah Ale Imran : verse 144). Be aware ! I have said what I wanted to say, even though I know that you will not assist me as this
slackness of yours to assist us has become a part of your heart (your practice). But all of this complaint is the result of the grief of the heart and the internal rage (that I feel) and (I know that) it is of no use, but
I have said this to manifest my internal sorrow and to complete my proof upon you.
Thus usurp it (Fadak) and fasten it firmly, for it is weak and feeble, while its shame and disgrace will
always remain over you. The sign of the rage of the Supreme Allah has been cast upon it, and it will be an everlasting disgrace upon you and it will lead you to the fire of Allah which will engulf the heart. Thus
Allah sees whatever you do, "And soon shall those who deal unjustly know what an (evil) turning they will be turned into" (Surah Shu'ara : verse 227)
I am the daughter of that Prophet who was sent to warn you against the severe wrath of Allah, "Act (you) whatever you can, and verily we (too) act, and wait, indeed we too are waiting" (Surah Hud : verse 121-122)
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