Hawzah News Agency- According to known accounts, the Prophet (PBUH) had four daughters and three sons, all of whom died during his lifetime except Hazrat Zahra (PBUH).

The names of the Prophet’s (PBUH) sons were Qassim, Abdullah and Ibrahim and his daughters were Ruqayyah, Zaynab, Umm Kulthum, and Zahra (PBUH).

Six of them were born to the Prophet’s (PBUH) first wife Hazrat Khadijah (PBUH) and one was born to Maria al-Qibtiyya.

There are different views about what Kawthar means in Verse 1 of Surah Al-Khawthar “Indeed, We have given you (Prophet Muhammad) the abundance (Al Kawthar)”. Some evidence, including Verse 3 of the same Surah, “Surely your enemy is the one who shall be without posterity,” points to the fact that Al-Kawthar refers to the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) posterity, namely the children of Hazrat Zahra (PBUH).

There are different views among biographers about the birthday of Hazrat Zahra (SA). Most Sunni sources like Tabaqat al-Kubra by Ibn Saad and Al-Isabah by Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani say she was born five years before the Prophet’s (PBUH) Bi’thah (appointment to prophethood) when the Quraysh Tribe was engaged in repairing the Kaaba. However, most Shia sources give the year 5 after the Bi’thah as the year of her birth.

The word Fatima is adjective that comes from the root word Fatm, an Arabic word that means cutting, severing and separating. Ibn Hajar Haithami says God named her Fatima because He has separated and protected her and her devotees from the fire of hell.”

Fattal Neyshabouri quotes Imam Sadiq (PBUH) as saying that she was named Fatima because she has been separated from bad and evil.

There have been other names mentioned for Hazrat Zahra (PBUH) such as Siddiqah, Mubarakah, Tahirah, Zakiyyah, Raziyah, Marziyah, Muhaddithah, and Batul.

She is also known as Umm Abiha (mother of her father), a title given to her by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) because after the death of Khadijah (SA), Hazrat Zahra (SA), who was a little girl, was exceptionally nurturing towards her father, and when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was wounded in battle, Hazrat Zahra (SA) would dress the wound and tend to him.

There are few historical accounts about the life of Hazrat Zahra (SA) during her childhood. According to some reports, after the Prophet (PBUH) announced his Dawah (invitation to Islam), Hazrat Zahra (SA) witnessed some violence by the unbelievers against her father. Three years of her childhood were spent in Shi’b Abi Talib under the economic and social pressures imposed by the unbelievers on the Bani Hashim and followers of the Prophet (PBUH). She lost her mother, Khadijah (SA), when she was a child.

Among other major events that happened during her childhood were the decision by Quraysh to kill the Prophet (PBUH), the Hijrah (migration) of the Prophet (PBUH) from Mecca to Medina, and the Hijrah of Hazrat Zahra (SA) accompanied by Hazrat Ali (AS) and some women to Medina.