ii. IN MYTH, FOLKLORE, AND POPULAR DEVOTION
Although little historical information on Fāṭema is available, her importance in myth and devotion is considerable throughout the Islamic world. In legend all historical circumstances unfavorable to her image (e.g., her quarrels with ʿAlī; see i, above) have been obliterated, whereas such favorable aspects as her courage in conflict with Abū Bakr over Fadak have been enhanced (see i, above). In addition, anecdotes, wonders, and miracles related to her birth, betrothal, wedding, virginity, pregnancy, motherhood, and powers have been elaborated. Interpretation of the koranic phrase “people of the (Prophet’s) house” (ahl al-bayt; 33:33; see AHL-E BAYT) as “family of the cloak” (āl-e ʿabā; q.v.) and cosmological notions of primordial light (see COSMOGONY AND COSMOLOGY v) have greatly influenced her image in popular religion. Her blood relationship with the Prophet; the charisma associated with her husband, ʿAlī, and their sons Ḥasan and Ḥosayn, the only male perpetuators of Moḥammad’s line; and her role as transmitter of traditions added to her importance for all Muslims. It was, however, mainly through Shiʿite devotion, whether moderate (partly shared by Sunnites) or extreme, that she became the foremost female figure in Islamic thought and piety. Popular veneration of Fāṭema thus remains closely linked to hagiographic, esoteric, and philosophical interpretations.
The first substantial biography of Fāṭema, by Henri Lammens (1912), was mainly based on historical and Sunnite sources. Lammens’ rather antipathetic portrait of her was severely criticized by Louis Massignon (1969, I, pp. 570, 585 ff.), who preferred to portray her both as an incarnation of divine vengeance (1969, I, pp. 514-22, a study of Fāṭema’s cult based on Noṣayrī Shiʿite texts mainly from Syria) and especially as a compassionate mother akin to the Virgin Mary (Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 550-618; for parallels among Fāṭema, Moses’ sister Maryam, and Jesus’ mother, Maryam, see p. 584; idem, 1963, p. 267). Henri Corbin took up Massignon’s study of Fāṭema, but with particular stress on redemption; unlike Massignon’s “transhistorical” approach, his method was rooted in gnostic theosophy. While accepting the main parallels between Fāṭema and Mary, he focused on her role as eternal feminine archetype, Fāṭema as Sophia, a manifestation of God and the feminine element of the Prophet and the Imams, whose own theophanic and initiatory functions depended on their degree of fāṭemīya (1960, p. 113 ff.; 1971-72, index). Massignon’s original exposition of similarities between devotion to Mary and to Fāṭema, sometimes called Maryam Kobrā, has been criticized, however (McAuliffe, 1981, pp. 27-28); the similarities remain partly conjectural, especially those involving the Marian cult at Fatima, Portugal (Massignon, I, pp. 615 ff.; Eilers, p. 98).
Corbin also drew parallels between Fāṭema and pre-Islamic Persian feminine archetypes embodied in Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā (see ANĀHĪD i). This connection was further stressed by Wilhelm Eilers in his study of Shiʿite holy water, heavenly and earthly waters having been part of Fāṭema’s dowry (mahr/mahrīya), as was salt (Eilers, pp. 97 ff.; Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 225). In popular belief Fāṭema has been linked with archetypes and natural elements connected to fertility rites: Ḵeżr/Elias, the rainbow, the jasmine flower, and the pomegranate (Massé, Croyances et coutumes, pp. 158 n. 2, 179, 212; Ayoub, 1978, p. 45). She is also said to symbolize the cavern of the seven sleepers of Ephesus and the Masjed al-Aqṣā, the goal of M oḥammad’s night journey (Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 569, 581, 595, III, p. 147 n. 2).
Esoteric or popular beliefs about Fāṭema, often connected with episodes in her hagiography, constitute the basis of several feasts and pilgrimages (zīārāt). The most important of the former are commemorations of the ordeal (mobāhala) witnessed by the ahl al-ʿabāʾ, who are thus recognized as legitimate leaders of the community, celebrated on 21 Ḏu’l-ḥejja (Schmucker; Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 550-91); of Fāṭema’s birth (mawlūdīya) on 21 Ramażān, with a secondary celebration on 15 Šaʿbān (which also commemorates the birth of the Mahdī Fāṭemī; the laylat al-barāʿa; the death of Salmān); of her death on 3 Jomāda II, with a secondary celebration on 2 Ramażān; of her figure as al-Masjed al-Aqṣā, on 27 Rajab, commemorating Moḥammad’s meʿraj (Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 576-77). Specific zīārāt are made for Fāṭema at Medina (Massignon, 1969, III, pp. 295 ff.). In private rawża-ḵᵛānī (recitation of the martyrdom of Ḥosayn) assemblies held by Persian women at any time of year, the most popular story is of Fāṭema’s invitation to a wedding, where she converts those present (ʿarūsī-e Qorayš;Massignon, 1969, I, p. 580). Special offerings are dedicated to Fāṭema: small pots (dīgča-ye ḥażrat-e Zahrāʾ) on the last Wednesday of Ṣafar and samanū, a kind of pudding reputed to have been her favorite dish (Šakūrzāda, pp. 26-27, 46 ff., 83; Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 47 n. 2). On the last Wednesday of the solar year (čahāršanba sūrī) some families used to break and replace their earthenware pots in her honor (Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 146 n. 2). Offerings and thanks are dedicated to Fāṭema as an intercessor on various occasions and in various sanctuaries throughout the Islamic world. She is especially invoked by Shiʿite women during childbirth (Massignon, 1969, III, p. 296).
Popular devotion finds its utmost expression in representations of redemptive suffering focused on the Karbalāʾ paradigm. As mistress of the bayt al-aḥzān (house of sorrows) and the Day of Judgment (Ayoub, 1978, pp. 48 ff., 212 ff.), Fāṭema is present in most rituals as an “icon”: She wears a crown for Moḥammad, a necklace or sword for ʿAlī, and earrings of diamonds and rubies for Ḥasan and Ḥosayn (Massignon, 1969, I, pp. 517, 568, 583, 612; Kāšefī, p. 67; Calmard, p. 416; Ayoub, pp. 213-14). Ḥosayn’s daughters Fāṭema Kobrā, who allegedly married her cousin Qāsem b. Ḥasan at Karbalāʾ, and the sickly Fāṭema Ṣōḡrā, who remained in Medina, were both named after her (see Kāšefī, pp. 24, 391 ff.; Calmard, pp. 390, 393, 401). Banners (see ʿALAM VA ʿALĀMAT) related to Fāṭema are carried in Moḥarram processions. The 17th-century traveler Adam Olearius mentioned having seen at Ardabīl a miraculous ʿalam allegedly made by her daughter (Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 131). The large Bībī kā ʿālam, made of gold (with pendant diamonds on each side symbolizing earrings), is carried on an elephant in ʿĀšūrā processions at Hyderabad, Deccan, and is venerated by both Sunnites and Shiʿites (Hollister, p. 169; Pinault, pp. 158-59). The symbol of the open hand of Fāṭema (cf. the hand of God among Jews, of Mary among Christians) is widespread in Sunnite areas (see Kriss and Kriss-Heinrich, I, p. 23, II, pp. 2 ff., with illustrations and references to Venus and Babylonian cults), but among Shiʿites the open hand (panja) represents that of Ḥażrat-e ʿAbbās b. ʿAlī (q.v.), severed at Karbalāʾ (Massé, Croyances et coutumes, p. 27 n. 1; Eilers, p. 111 n. 7). Rawża-ḵᵛānīs and other liturgies and rituals connected with Fāṭema also found their way into passion plays (taʿzīa; see bibliography).
Beside Fāṭema’s name and variants, popular for Muslim girls, her epithets Zahrāʾ, Ṭāhera, Zakīya, Rażīya, Rāzīa, Batūl (virgin), Kanīz (maiden), and the like are also given as names, as are various diminutives: Faṭayma/Foṭaytom/Faṭṭūš, Fōtī/Fōtō in India (Schimmel, pp. 44, 69 ff.; on other names, see Veccia Vaglieri in EI2 II, pp. 847-48). Her name is sometimes given to girls born on Friday night (Schimmel, p. 23 n. 41). Fāṭema as “sovereign of feminine humanity” (Corbin, 1960, pp. 115 ff.; idem, 1971-72, IV, p. 314) has been variously appreciated in recent history. Qorrat al-ʿAyn, the Babi poet and preacher also known as Fāṭema, Zakīya, and Ṭāhera, has been considered by some the manifestation of Fāṭema (Elwell-Sutton and MacEoin; Amanat, pp. 304, 331). Fāṭema has been idealized as a symbol of feminine excellence, a model of submission both to the will of God and her husband (Meer Hassan Ali, p. 97) and authenticity and liberation for all women (Šarīʿatī).
Bibliography
(for cited works not given in detail, see “Short References”):
A. Amanat, Resurrection and Renewal, Ithaca, N.Y., 1989.
Aʿyān al-šiʿa II, esp. pp. 535-639.
R. Aubert, “Fatima” [in Portugal], in Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques XVI, Paris, 1967, cols. 680-82.
M. Ayoub, “Towards an Islamic Christology: An Image of Jesus in Early Shīʿī Muslim Literature,” Muslim World 66, 1976, pp. 163-88.
Idem, Redemptive Suffering in Islam: A Study of the Devotional Aspects of ʿÃshûrâ in Twelver Shiʿism, The Hague, 1978.
J. Calmard, “Le culte de l’Imām Ḥusayn,” Ph.D. diss., University of Paris, 1975.
H. Corbin, Terre céleste et corps de résurrection: De l’Iran mazdéen à l’Iran shiʿite, Paris, 1960.
Idem, En Islam iranien, 4 vols., Paris 1971-72.
B. A. Donaldson, The Wild Rue, London, 1938.
Ebn Hešām, Sīra, Cairo, 1937, I, p. 206; III, p. 407.
W. Eilers, “Schiitische Wasserheilige,” in V. Haarmann and P. Bachmann, eds., Festschrift Hans Roemer, Beirut, 1979, pp. 94-125.
L. P. Elwell-Sutton and D. M. MacEoin, “Ḳurrat al-ʿAyn,” in EI2 V, p. 502.
J. N. Hollister, The Shīʿa of India, London, 1953.
M. K. Hermansen, “Fatimeh as a Role Model in the Works of Ali Shariʿati,” in G. Nashat, ed., Women and Revolution in Iran, Boulder, Colo., 1983, pp. 87-96.
R. Kriss and H. Kriss-Heinrich, Volksglaube im Bereich des Islam, 2 vols., Wiesbaden, 1960-62.
H. Lammens, Fāṭima et les filles de Mahomet: Notes critiques pour l’étude de la Sīra, Rome, 1912. Idem, “Fāṭima,” in EI1 II, pp. 85-88.
J. D. McAuliffe, “Chosen of All Women. Mary and Fāṭimah in Qurʾānic Exegesis,” Islamochristiana 7, 1981, pp. 19-28.
Idem, “Fāṭimah bint Muḥammad,” in M. Eliade, ed., The Encyclopaedia of Religion V, New York, 1987, pp. 293-94.
L. Massignon, “Les origines de la méditation shiʿite sur Salmân et Fâṭima,” in Mélanges Henri Massé, Tehran, 1963, pp. 264-68.
Idem, Opera Minora, ed. Y. Moubarak, 3 vols., Paris, 1969.
Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observations on the Mussulmauns of India, London, 1832; repr. Oxford, 1972.
D. Pinault, The Shiites: Ritual and Popular Piety in a Muslim Community, London, 1992.
E. Šakurzāda, ʿAqāyed wa rosūm-e ʿāmma-ye mardom-e Ḵorāsān, Tehran, 1346 Š./1967.
A. Šarīʿatī, Fāṭema, Fāṭema ast, Tehran, 1356 Š./1977; tr. L. Bakhtiar, Tehran, 1981.
A. Schimmel, Islamic Names, Edinburgh, 1989.
W. Schmucker, “Mubāhala,” in EI2 VII, pp. 276-77.
L. Veccia Vaglieri, “Fadak,” EI2 II, pp. 725-27.
Idem, “Fāṭima,” in EI2 II, pp. 841-50.
Ḥosayn Wāʿeẓ Kāšefī, Rawżat al-šohadāʾ, ed. M. Ramażānī, Tehran, 1341 Š./1962.
A. J. Wensinck, A Handbook of Early Muhammadan Tradition, Leiden, 1927.
Idem, Concordances et indices de la tradition musulmane, 8 vols., Leiden, 1933-65.
Yaʿqūbī, Taʾrīḵ II, pp. 19, 35, 42, 91, 128-29, 141-42.
Taʿzīa literature. V. Cremonesi, tr., Uzurpazione di Fadak, Morte di Fatima, ʿUmar e Abu Bakr chiedono scusa, Naples, 1964 (three Cerulli MSS.).
Ḡaṣb-e bāḡ-e Fadak, ed. Z. Eqbāl and M. J. Maḥjūb as Jong-e šehādat, Tehran, 1355 Š./1976 (ed. of MS. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, pers. 993), tr. A. Chodźko as “Le jardin de Fathema,” in Le théâtre persan, Paris, 1878.
W. Litten, Das Drama in Persien, Berlin and Leipzig, 1929, no. 9 (Fāṭema’s marriage).
L. Pelly, The Miracle Play of Hasan and Husain, 2 vols., London, 1879 (Vol. I, Scene vi, “The Seizure of the Khalifate by Abu Bakr”; Scene vii, “The Death of Fatimah” in English tr. only).
E. Rossi and A. Bombaci, Elenco di drammi religiosi persiani (fondo MSS. Vaticano Cerulli), Vatican City, 1961 (see esp. pp. 351-52, with index of themes connected with Fadak, ʿarūsī-e Qorayš, Karbalāʾ, death, etc., in the Cerulli, Chodźko, Pelly, and Moscow collections of taʿzīa plays).
Untitled MSS., Moscow, Kryzenski collection (see Rossi and Bombaci, pp. xvi, xxi, nos. 1 and 2, Death of Fāṭema).
Untitled MSS., Tehran, Ketāb-ḵāna-ye Malek (three plays on the death of Fāṭema). Wafāt-e Ḥażrat-e Fāṭema, MS. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, pers. 993, Chodźko no. 4.
Specific prayers to Fāṭema. A. Monzawī, Fehrest nosḵahā-ye ḵaṭṭī-e Ketāb-ḵāna-ye Ganjbaḵš IV, p. 2364 no. 6702.
ʿA. Qomī, Mafātīḥ al-jenān, ed. M.–Ḥ. ʿElmī, Tehran, 1340 Š./1961 (doʿās to Fāṭema in Arabic with Persian translations, pp. 113, 601-2, 632-33, 660).