English Translation of the Kahani of Bibi Fatema (A.S.), a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.
168,803 items / 1,314,899 views
English Translation of the Kahani of Bibi Fatema (A.S.)
One famous event about some Arab city, there lived the widow of a goldsmith who had only one son. One day when the widow went to the well to get water, her son went along with her. The widow left her little boy close to the well and began to fill her water bucket. Along side the well lived a blacksmith with a furnace in his shop. The little boy was playing in the area of the well and went off away from it towards the furnace while his mother was getting the water. When the widow filled her vessel with water she headed home, she expected that her child had toddled off home and would find him there. When she finally reached home she did not find her son, she looked for him all over the place but could not find him. She became more and more worried. She asked everyone but no one knew anything. By this time evening fell. Then the news spread that the little boy had fallen in the furnace of the blacksmith and had burned and died. When she heard this, she cried and wept so much that she passed out.
In her dream she saw a pure lady who told her not to be sad. The pure lady told her that she would find her child very soon. She told her to make a vow that if her son was recovered safe and sound from the blacksmith's furnace that she would listen to the event of Janab e Sayeeda. The widow at once made the vow to listen to the event of Janab e Sayeeda. When the widow opened her eyes she saw her son coming to her playing and laughing and there was no sign of burns, even his clothes were undamaged.
Allahumma salle alla mohammad waale mohammad
The goldsmith's wife in her joy went to the market to buy 2 dinar's worth of sweets and told her neighbors that her wish came true. She asked them to come to her home and tell her the event of Janab e Sayeeda. She went to 6 or 7 different houses but all the people gave her the answer that they did not know such a story and they were not interested in such a useless thing. In her sadness the widow went off towards the forest. After walking a certain distance she again saw the same masked pure lady from her dreams, who told her “lady please dont cry, put down a sheet and sit down, I will tell you the story and you can listen.” Then the pure lady started narrating the event:
In the city of Medina lived a Jewish man. His daughter was getting married. For this reason he came to the Prophet of God (S.A.W), and said “My daughter is getting married, and I wish that you would give permission that Janab e Fatima would come to my house for the wedding.” The Prophet replied that the person who is in charge of this matter is Hazrat Ali. After hearing this the Jew went to Hazrat Ali and asked that he give permission that Janab e Fatima would come to the Jew's house for his daughter's wedding. The Commander of the Faithful Imam Ali replied that the person who is in charge of this matter is Janab e Fatima herself.
After this the Jew went to the home of Janab e Fatima and at the door said “O daughter of prophet, my daughter is getting married, if you come to the wedding my honor will be greatly increased.” Janab e Fatima replied that if Hazrat Ali allows then she would be willing to go. The Jew replied that he had been to both the Prophet of Allah and the Lion of Allah Hazrat Ali and they both had no objections and told me that it was up to you. After hearing this Janab e Fatima was pondering over the matter. During this time the Prophet of Allah came to see Janab e Fatima. Janab e Sayeeda asked her father what she should do over the matter, to attend the wedding ceremony or not to attend the wedding ceremony. The prophet said to his daughter that this is your decision. Janab e Fatima replied that all her clothes were old and had rips and patches all over them, while the women at the wedding will be dressed well in new and expensive clothing. The prophet replied that you have what you have according to the will of Allah. After hearing this the daughter of the prophet decided to go to the wedding.
As she was getting to the door of her home, fairies from heaven descended with jewelry and beautiful clothing and dressed Janab e Fatima. She headed out with her entourage of fairies surrounding her, with some walking behind her, some walking in front of her and some on her left and right side. As she headed out to the house of the Jew, her brilliant light and fragrance descended upon the wedding ceremony. Due to the powerful light and fragrance, many Jewish women fell unconscious. After a short while, the people started to wake up and gain consciousness, but the bride did not come back to consciousness. Many things were tried to reawaken her, but to no avail. Upon further analysis it was realized that her spirit had departed from her. The wedding had turned into a matam kada. Seeing this Janab e Fatima turned very sad, and then said to everyone to remain calm, the bride will wake up soon. At this point Janab e Fatima established 2 rakat prayer, and made a prayer to god “Oh God, I'm the daughter of your prophet, if the bride dies the people will say that the bride died upon the arrival of Janab e Sayeda”. No time had passed that the prayer of Janab e Sayeeda was accepted and the bride regained consciousness. Upon awakening she recited the Holy kalma and sat up.
Alla humma salle alla mohammad walla e mohmmad
She praised the Holy prophet and his Holy daughter, She then requested to Janab e Sayeeda to teach her the religion of Islam. Then the wedding ceremony gave a Janab e Sayeeda a hand maiden and 500 Jewish men, women, and children converted to Islam. Upon returning she told the event to the holy Prophet, who on hearing it thanked God for the blessings bestowed on his ahl-bayt.
At this point Janab e Sayeeda told the goldsmith's widow, that this was the first part of the story, now I will tell you the second part.
SECOND HALF
Once upon a time there lived a king in a city. One day he told his minister pack up his hunting gear. Once the minister had gathered the gear, the king and his entourage left to go to the forest. The daughter of the king and the daughter of the minister came along as well. After a long while they reached a forest, and unpacked their gear. The hunting party was tired from the long march and decided to rest and eat lunch. Suddenly a severe tempest with furious wind struck the area where the party was gathered and people were blown miles away from each other. After the storm was over, all the people in the party gathered together and found each other, all except for the two girls. The party members searched all over the place for a long time with no sight of the two girls, the king at this point decided that the most important thing was to return to the kingdom and he left behind a smaller group to continue the search for the girls.
The two girls were in the meantime terrified and scared for being separated from their parents, and started to cry, so much so that they eventually fell asleep crying. In their sleep they saw a masked lady with a brilliant aura approach them and tell them that if they make a vow to listen to the story of Janab e Fatima after they are reunited with their parents, they will be saved. The girls upon awakening narrated the same dream to each other and decided that it must have been a true dream if both of them saw the same thing, they then made the vow to listen to the story of Janab e Fatima.
Coincidentally after the king left, another king with his entourage arrived at the same forest for a hunt as well. This king ordered his minister to search for water, and the minister in his search for water happened upon a hill where the two girls were, and was astonished to see them. The minister reported the incident to the king and the king asked the minister to ask the girls to come with them. The girls and the king's entourage returned to this king's kingdom. The girls stayed at this king's palace for a few days, when the king sent a message to the first king that he had found the two girls in the forest. The first king upon hearing this news, immediately asked for the return of the two girls. The second king replied that wouldn't it be mutually beneficial to have the two girls married to the son of the second king and the son of the second king's minister. The first king pondered over the matter and eventually agreed. The two girls were then returned to their homes and were very happy upon meeting their parents.
Both the girls were then married, and the two brides then left in a procession with their in laws. Coincidentally one of the girl's expensive wedding gift (a vessel) was left behind and half way through the journey, the wedding party stopped to look for it. As they could not find it, the king sent a guard to go back to the girl's kingdom and bring the vessel back. The guard when he reached the palace of the girls, found it to be completely deserted with nothing there except for the expensive vessel. The guard when he approached the vessel was harassed by a snake hiding inside the vessel. Try as he might the guard could not get the snake out of the vessel. The guard then returned to the king and told him of the event. Upon hearing this the king was very surprised and angry, and said to the girls that you two are both magicians and you will be executed in the morning.
The girls upon hearing this were shocked and cried a lot, and eventually fell unconscious from the shock and worry. They thought that at one moment they were celebrating their wedding and on the next they are going to be killed the next day. In their jail cell the girls were sleeping when they had another dream where the same holy lady approached them and told them that their troubles were caused by not listening to the story of Janab e Fatima, and they could be resolved if they completed their vows and listened to the event of Janab e Fatima. The girls responded that they had no money to buy sweets, the holy lady informed the girls that tied in the veil of the princess there was some coins they could use. Upon awakening the two girls narrated the same dreams to each other and found the coins. They somehow gathered some sweets and then listened to the event of Janab e Fatima.
In the morning the executioner approached the jail cell, the two girls pleaded with him that they wanted to talk to the king once again. They asked the king to once again have the matter verified by sending another messenger to their kingdom. The king agreed to this request and when the messenger arrived at the girls' parents kingdom, he found everything back to normal. The king at this kingdom gave the precious vessel to the messenger and the messenger reported everything back to his king. The king then questioned the girls as to what this miracle was. The girls narrated and told them about their unfulfilled vow and how they had completed it. The king believed the two girls wholeheartedly and vowed that he himself would listen to event of Janab e Sayeeda. He then ordered that the two girls be brought back to their kingdom with the utmost respect and comfort.
After narrating this story, the noble lady who was narrating the event to the goldsmith's widow disappeared.
After the widow returned back to her town, she saw that all the people who had thought the story was rubbish or had denied the request of the widow to listen to it were afflicted by various maladies and their homes were on fire.
How the wishes of the widow were granted, may Allah grant your wishes as well.
Alla humma salle alla mohammad waale mohammad
