Hawzah News Agency- The messages, published by the Jurisprudence Center of the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them), urge Shias to hold mourning gatherings and take to the streets in mourning processions to restore part of the rights of the martyred lady.
Introduction
The messages open with a saying of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny): "Fatima is a part of me; whoever harms her has harmed me."
In recent years, the Fatimiyya mourning period—particularly the second Fatimiyya and especially the martyrdom anniversary of Hazrat Fatima Zahra on the third of Jamadi al-Thani—has taken on a special atmosphere across the country, with shops closing and mourning processions, chest-beating and chain-beating in the streets for the lady who was the Prophet's flesh and blood, the wife of Imam Ali and the mother of the infallible Imams.
The Prophet would stand at her door and call out: "Peace be upon you, O people of the house of prophethood."
But before long, another sorrowful sunset descended on the Islamic world, and the moon of Fatima's beauty set in her youth through the oppression and persecution of the unjust, causing the man of battles—Imam Ali—to be brought to his knees.
When Imam Ali secretly buried the body of the lady of faith in the middle of the night, grief and sorrow rushed into his heart. Yet he stood in prayer and complained to God. Was this the last of the oppression suffered by the Prophet's household? It was not: the house arrest of Imam Ali (AS), the wars of Muawiya, the Kharijites of Nahrawan and the Battle of Jamal, the oppression of Imam Hassan (AS), the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions and children at Karbala, and the oppression of all the infallible Imams throughout history were a continuation of that same oppression. But the oppression is doubled when the oppression itself is denied.
A movement was underway in which some, by questioning the martyrdom of Hazrat Zahra (AS) and the injustices done to her, sought to deny the oppression inflicted on the Prophet's daughter. But through the vigilance of the grand source of emulation, including Grand Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani, this sinister plot was thwarted, and the day of Hazrat Zahra's martyrdom was made into another Ashura. By encouraging people to mourn and honor these days, they declared: "If we were not there to defend the Ahlul Bayt at that time, today through mourning, chest-beating, forming mourning groups and issuing messages, we will not let the oppression of Fatima Zahra (AS) be forgotten."
First Message
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad and his pure progeny, especially the truthful and martyred Fatima Zahra (AS), and curses upon all their enemies.
These days coincide with the martyrdom of the greatest lady of the Islamic world, Hazrat Fatima Zahra—a reality and a jewel whose existential dimensions have not yet been properly and precisely clarified for people of thought and insight. She was named Fatima because creation is deprived of the depths of her knowledge. She is a being whose anger makes the Prophet and God angry, and whose satisfaction brings them satisfaction—a reality that is not only the axis of the People of the Cloak but the main axis of the Ahlul Bayt in the Verse of Purification.
We who are now honored to follow that noble lady and her infallible children must be more aware of their thoughts, ideas and instructions in the current circumstances, and must not fall short in performing our duties. It is necessary for scholars and preachers, in addition to holding mourning ceremonies as grandly as possible, to pay special attention to her spiritual and scholarly dimensions. Praise be to God, the Shia school is full of reasoning and logic, and people of fairness and reflection readily submit to it.
Today the enemy has well understood that to empty this nation and dominate its affairs, it must extinguish and diminish what manifests people's beliefs and faith. One day, with complete ignorance, it questioned weeping and mourning for Imam Hussein as futile; another day it casts doubt on the martyrdom of Fatima Zahra, even though this is among the clear facts of Islamic history.
Let the opponents know that even if they raise doubts about her martyrdom, they can never imagine casting doubt on her oppression and the injustices inflicted on her after the Prophet. Her short life, her fiery and thoroughly reasoned sermon in the Prophet's Mosque, her night-and-day weeping, and her strong defense of the domain of wilaya are all clear proofs of her oppression, and for this reason the Islamic world is forever in mourning for her and her husband.
The Islamic Revolution arose from the Iranian nation's special attention to these days, and today the best way to preserve and sustain it is to give importance to such occasions. The believers and followers of the Ahlul Bayt (AS) must pay more attention to the Fatimiyya days than before and not let this tragic event fade among other events—especially the third of Jamadi al-Thani, which the Islamic Republic has declared a public holiday. May we accompany that lady, the mother of Shia culture, on this path and be worthy of her special intercession and that of her pure children on the Day of Resurrection.
Peace be upon all our believing brothers and the mercy of God and His blessings.
Muhammad Fazel Lankarani
August 21, 2001
Second Message
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
"Indeed, those who annoy God and His Messenger—God has cursed them in this world and the Hereafter and prepared for them a humiliating punishment." And the Prophet said: "Fatima is a part of me; whoever harms her has harmed me."
One of the greatest honors of the Shia is having a personality who is the mistress of the women of the world and possesses the station of infallibility and purity. By virtue of the Verse of Purification, which was revealed concerning the five, at the head of whom is the noble Prophet, she is distant by God's creative will from all impurity, sin and disobedience, and adorned with absolute purity.
Her lofty station is beyond the horizon of our limited and inadequate thoughts, and our minds fall short of comprehending it.
She was the first martyr on the proud path of wilaya and imamate, and the infallible Imams all took pride in being her children.
Fatima (AS) is a woman who, at the peak of oppression and despite abundant afflictions—especially the loss of the Prophet and in highly sensitive circumstances when an ordinary person would not even be able to speak normally—delivered a sermon before the rulers and notables of the people that the wise are incapable of comprehending: how a woman in such a situation could speak so reasoned and firmly, on matters of great importance relating to monotheism, prophethood and imamate, and rebuking those who, for the sake of comfort and a peaceful life, abandoned their divine duty and remained silent before the oppression of others.
Yes, we must admit that, regrettably, after 1,400 years we have not been able to recognize that peerless jewel. More regrettable still, ignorance and perhaps carnal desires and being deceived by seemingly new ideas have caused some blind-hearted people to question her stations. It is never comprehensible to an ordinary human being that a woman could reach such a degree of growth and excellence that her satisfaction becomes the axis of God's satisfaction.
For some time, baseless claims revealing obstinacy and stubbornness have been said or written about her, wounding the conscience of every fair-minded person attached to truth. It is true that the issue of unity was emphasized by the great architect of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini, but he did not mean that the Shia should abandon its firm doctrinal foundations and bear false witness even regarding Fatima Zahra. Rather, his clear meaning was that Muslims in general should unite against the enemies of Islam and global arrogance so that the enemy cannot penetrate the truth of Islam.
Now it is incumbent on Shias and followers of the Ahlul Bayt to mourn as grandly as possible on Monday, the third of Jamadi al-Thani—which according to authentic narrations coincides with her martyrdom and which the Islamic Republic of Iran has declared an official holiday—and to enhance gatherings in her memory in quantity and quality, and to appear in the streets in mourning processions so that we may restore part of the martyred lady's rights. It is clear that indifference in this regard will have worrying negative consequences.
Peace be upon all the righteous servants of God.
Muhammad Fazel Lankarani
August 9, 2002
Third Message
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
"Indeed, those who annoy God and His Messenger—God has cursed them in this world and the Hereafter and prepared for them a humiliating punishment." The Prophet said: "Fatima is a part of me; what harms her harms me."
Following the note written last year on the martyrdom anniversary of the truthful and great Fatima Zahra (AS), I state: honoring the martyrdom of this noble lady—the first and most distinguished martyr on the path of wilaya—is a renewal of covenant with the lofty station of wilaya, through which the religion was perfected and God's blessing completed. Fatima, whose satisfaction is the Prophet's satisfaction and whose anger is the Prophet's anger, and the Prophet's anger is God's anger.
Fatima, whose motherhood our great Imams—the most perfect human beings in history—took pride in. Fatima, who with her very short life insured Shia Islam forever. Fatima, who astonished friend and foe with her eloquent sermon.
Fatima, who with her constant weeping inside and outside Medina conveyed to all the magnitude of the tragedy of losing her father and the oppression of her husband, and whose voice still seems to echo in the air of Medina.
We Shias take pride in having learned the true and unadulterated teachings of the religion from the school of her infallible children—teachings that conform to sound reason, can be presented in any circumstance, and possess a comprehensiveness that answers all human needs. With the school of Fatima and her children, the great and aware Iranian nation was able to stand against the oppression of the oppressors and attain its independence and dignity.
For this reason, the sworn enemies of Islam have realized that to destroy this nation they must take Fatimiyya and Ashura, Sha'ban and Ramadan away from it, and then achieve their sinister goals.
Here I deem it necessary to remind again that honoring these days and holding mourning gatherings was among the established practice of Imam Khomeini, and this has nothing to do with the issue of unity. The unity emphasized by the great Imam and Ayatollah Boroujerdi does not mean that the Shia should remain silent about its established beliefs or ignore them; rather, it means the unity of all Muslims against global arrogance, which claims exclusive power and, inspired by Zionism, seeks to demolish the firm foundations of Islam.
Now it is incumbent on all Shias to hold mourning gatherings on the third of Jamadi al-Thani—an official holiday declared by the Islamic Republic—and to appear in the streets in mourning processions so that we may restore part of the rights of that martyred lady.
"They want to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God will perfect His light, even though the disbelievers dislike it." God's light will shine forever through history, and hearts free of prejudice will draw light from it.
Muhammad Fazel Lankarani
September 28, 2003
Fourth Message
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
"Indeed, those who annoy God and His Messenger—God has cursed them in this world and the Hereafter and prepared for them a humiliating punishment."
The Prophet said: "Fatima is a part of me; what harms her harms me."
We are in the days of the martyrdom of the greatest embodiment of infallibility, Fatima Zahra (AS). A noble being who was both Umm Abiha and the honored mother of the infallible Imams. A reality that is the axis of the Ahlul Bayt and a great secret in creation that humanity—even Shias and her lovers—has not been able to recognize. A companion whose luminous reality remained behind the veils of oppression, obstinacy, ignorance and enmity and will not be fully revealed until the Day of Resurrection.
The Shia—indeed all humanity, angels and the heavenly realm—take pride in the existence of such a creature and regard this great God-given abundance as the cause of the survival of the Prophet's religion and the saturation of human society with the perfections, sciences and virtues of her noble children.
Truly, if Zahra (AS) had not been and this precious jewel of existence had not manifested, what a dark horizon would have been drawn over the world of creation and legislation! All human beings, according to the verse "Say: I ask of you no reward for it except love of the near of kin," are obligated before the Prophet's great spiritual right in guiding humanity to a common duty: love and affection for the near of kin and the Prophet's household, at whose head is the pure Zahra.
This is a duty and obligation for all human beings in all eras and is not limited to the people of her time.
Love for Fatima means honoring and glorifying her, reviving her memory, and recounting the sufferings and tragedies that befell that precious being.
We can never forget those tragedies, and history testifies that in her short life what torments and injustices were inflicted on that unique lady, such that Imam Ali—the head of the monotheists—said after her martyrdom: "My grief and sorrow are everlasting and will not end." With such a description, can the Shia of Imam Ali and the nation of the Prophet be apart from this grief and mourning?
Therefore, it is incumbent on Shias and followers of the Ahlul Bayt to strive as much as possible on Wednesday, the third of Jamadi al-Thani—which according to authentic narrations coincides with her martyrdom and which, praise be to God, is an official holiday in the Islamic Republic—to revive this matter, and with cries, mourning and processions to express their devotion to her and restore part of the rights of that martyred lady. God willing.
Muhammad Fazel Lankarani
July 19, 2004
Fifth Message
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
"Peace be upon you, O truthful and martyred lady."
We are on the eve of the martyrdom anniversary of the great lady of Islam and the world, Fatima Zahra (AS).
A noble being who is the pride of God, the fruit of the Prophet's heart, the wife of Imam Ali (AS) and the mother of our infallible Imams.
She is the greatest lady of the worlds. Although in the Holy Quran God says of Mary, "And He chose you above the women of the worlds," according to authentic narrations this choosing was because Mary gave birth to Jesus without a husband and in this specific respect Mary was unique. But the station and greatness of Hazrat Fatima (AS) in knowledge, infallibility, purity, servitude and worship surpasses all the women of the world from eternity to eternity.
It is necessary for Shias and Muslims to honor the third of Jamadi al-Thani—which coincides with the martyrdom of that great truthful lady and is a public holiday declared by the Islamic Republic—and by holding mourning ceremonies and organizing processions to turn this day into a second Ashura, just as in recent years this Fatimid nation has, praise be to God, performed its duty excellently, and I must express my appreciation and thanks for this. It is clear that honoring and respecting the pure Zahra is itself honoring the Prophet and fulfilling the reward of his mission.
The dear and great Iranian nation, by holding fast to the firm and unbreakable rope of the Ahlul Bayt, has created great honors on the scenes of the revolution and moves forward with this same force. We must know that the secret of our success is connection and complete faith in the school of the pure Imams and seeking intercession from those sacred beings. Our true identity is real Shia Islam and true Islam. May God grant us more and more benefit from the blessings of His abundance, Fatima Zahra (AS).
Muhammad Fazel Lankarani
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