Who Prayed Over the Body of Lady Masumah?

A group from Rayy came to Imam al-Sadiq (a) and said, “We are from Rayy.” The Imam replied, “Welcome to our brothers from Qom.” The Shi‘a emphasized that they were from Rayy, and the Imam again replied, “Welcome to our brothers from Qom.” They repeated several times that they were from Rayy, and he continued to give the same reply. Then he said: “Indeed, God has a sanctuary, and it is Mecca; the Messenger of God has a sanctuary, and it is Medina; the Commander of the Faithful has a sanctuary, and it is Kufa; and indeed, we have a sanctuary, and it is the city of Qom. In the future, a lady from our family, named Fatimah, will be buried there; whoever visits her, Paradise will become incumbent upon him.” The narrator says that Imam al-Sadiq (a) related this report before the birth of Imam Musa ibn Ja‘far (a), the father of Fatimah al-Masumah.

The city of Qom is important in various respects. Imam al-Sadiq’s (a) directing attention to Qom is itself evidence of this claim. As this noble narration stated, one important reason for the honor of Qom is the presence in it of an honored lady from the family of infallibility and purity.

Lady Masumah’s (a) residence in Qom brought immense spiritual blessings to the city, so much so that Imam al-Sadiq (a), in his luminous words, compared Qom with Mecca, Medina, and Najaf. Just as God’s spiritual blessings and favors descend upon Mecca and Medina, these blessings also descend upon Qom.

Because of the presence of the noble Messenger of Islam in Medina, Imam al-Sadiq (a) called that city the sanctuary of the Prophet. Because of the presence of an honored lady, he called Qom the sanctuary of the Ahl al-Bayt. Although this expresses a great rank and status for Lady Masumah (a), it should not be regarded as far-fetched, for similar statements can be found regarding other descendants of the Ahl al-Bayt, such as ‘Abd al-‘Azim al-Hasani, of whom Imam al-Hadi (a) said: “Visiting him carries the reward of visiting Imam Husayn (a).”

The value and greatness of Lady Masumah (a) are such that she transformed the desert of Qom into a sacred valley, and visiting her causes the visitors of that honored lady to become worthy of Paradise.

Imam al-Sadiq’s (a) statement concerning her visitation is highly significant. In the continuation of this hadith, he says that Paradise becomes incumbent upon the visitor of Lady Fatimah al-Masumah. This meaning has also been transmitted from other infallible Imams in different forms. Imam al-Rida (a) said of her: “Whoever visits her knowing her right, Paradise is his.”

God Almighty is the Creator of the universe and has brought all creatures into existence. No human being and no law can impose an “obligation” upon God. God is subject to no law by which anything would be incumbent upon Him; yet this narration says that whoever visits Lady Masumah will have Paradise become incumbent upon him. Does it become incumbent upon God to bring Lady Masumah’s visitor into Paradise?

How could it be obligatory for God, the absolute Owner of the Day of Resurrection, to admit the visitor of Lady Masumah (a) into Paradise? Yes, no one can make anything incumbent upon God Almighty, except that God has made mercy incumbent upon Himself and said: “He has prescribed mercy for Himself.” He is the God who has made mercy obligatory for Himself.

Thus, what has become incumbent upon God by His own will is mercy, and nothing other than mercy is incumbent upon Him. Therefore, when Imam al-Sadiq (a) reports that Paradise becomes incumbent upon the visitor of Lady Fatimah al-Masumah, it means that the noble and luminous resting place of that honored lady is a place where divine mercy descends, and her visitor deserves to be encompassed by divine mercy. Hence Qom, the celestial shrine of that noble one of the Ahl al-Bayt, is a place of the Lord’s mercy, and that honored lady and her pure forefathers are manifestations of divine mercy on earth.

God Almighty has placed one of His tables of mercy in Mecca, another in Medina and Najaf, and in Qom as well—of which it has been said, “the sanctuary of us, the Ahl al-Bayt”—the sea of divine mercy flows. Whoever reaches Qom in this world and attains the honor of visiting Lady Masumah (a) has entered the sea of divine mercy, and this divine mercy makes Paradise incumbent upon that person.

It is impossible for a person burdened by grave sins, rebellion, and disobedience to his Lord to enter Paradise, for Paradise is the dwelling place of the pure. Even if a sinner enters Paradise, that person must necessarily be purified before entering that sacred station, the abode of God’s prophets and chosen ones. Some are purified in the Hereafter through the intercession of the Ahl al-Bayt, and some have their sins shed through punishments and the hardships of the agony of death and the Day of Gathering. But Paradise becomes incumbent upon the visitor of the noble one of the Ahl al-Bayt, Fatimah al-Masumah (a), through visiting that exalted lady. How can Paradise become incumbent upon someone while that person remains sinful? It must therefore be said that the visitor of Fatimah al-Masumah (a), through the blessing of visiting that heavenly lady, will be cleansed of sins; then Paradise becomes incumbent upon that visitor.

The lofty rank and station of Fatimah al-Masumah (a) is an inheritance she received from her mother, Fatimah al-Zahra (a). Just as Imam al-Sadiq (a) said concerning Lady Masumah’s mother and his own mother, the martyred truthful one, that Fatimah was named Fatimah because her Shi‘a would be kept away from the Fire of Hell, he also said concerning Lady Masumah: “Whoever visits her, Paradise becomes incumbent upon him.”

Yes, just as that honored lady inherited from her mother, the martyred truthful one (a), excellence and virtue, honor and generosity, purity and infallibility, she also inherited from her mother courage and the cry of the wronged one whose oppression was forgotten at Saqifah.

At a time when darkness had engulfed Medina, the people had regressed, and the hands of the Harun of that age had been bound, the martyred truthful one sacrificed her life and her six-month-old child in defense of Ghadir: a Ghadir whose message was the completion of the struggle against idolatry, and whoever departed this world without the covenant of Ghadir left it with the death of ignorance and hypocrisy.

Her cry shook the foundations of the idol-makers descended from Saqifah and exposed their deceit to those seeking truth. She said: “Have you forgotten the Messenger of God’s saying on the day of Ghadir Khumm: ‘Whomever I am his master, Ali is his master,’ and his saying: ‘You are to me as Aaron was to Moses’?”

Years later, it was Fatimah al-Masumah (a) who, amid the suffocating atmosphere of the Abbasids and the brutal rule of Harun and Ma'mun, raised the sorrowful cry of her martyred mother and recounted Fatimah al-Zahra’s (a) argument to the people of her own time.

In addition to martyring Musa ibn Ja‘far (a), Harun martyred many Shi‘a, lovers of the Ahl al-Bayt, and descendants affiliated with this family, solely because their forefather was the Commander of the Faithful Ali (a). Ma'mun was not less than Harun, except that Ma'mun’s deception and crimes were more cunning.

This narration was transmitted successively by the Fatimahs of Banu Hashim: both its narrator and the one narrated from are named Fatimah. Fatimah daughter of Musa ibn Ja‘far narrated from Fatimah daughter of Imam al-Sadiq; she from Fatimah daughter of Imam al-Baqir; she from Fatimah daughter of Imam al-Sajjad; she from Fatimah daughter of Imam Husayn; and she from Umm Kulthum, from Fatimah al-Zahra, the martyred truthful one (a). The unique chain of this narration led some Sunni hadith scholars also to transmit it, thereby conveying the legitimacy of the Commander of the Faithful Ali (a) to all Muslims.

She set out for Tus to meet her brother, Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (a), but on the way she was attacked by Ma'mun’s executioners, was unable to continue the journey, and changed her route toward Qom.

Lady Masumah lived in Qom for seventeen days and then departed this world after this short period. After she was washed and shrouded, and Musa ibn Khazraj performed the prayer over her, her pure body was buried in a place called Babulan, which was among Musa ibn Khazraj’s properties. A canopy of reeds was made over her grave, until Zaynab, daughter of Muhammad ibn Ali al-Rida (a), built a dome over the grave of that honored lady.

At the burial of that honored lady, the people of Qom disagreed over who was worthy to place Fatimah’s pure body into the grave. They all agreed to summon a very old servant named Qadir to do this, and sent for him. Meanwhile, two riders whose faces were covered came from the direction of the desert toward the people. When they approached Fatimah al-Masumah’s body, they dismounted, prayed over her, and buried Fatimah’s body. They then came out of the grave, mounted their horses, and departed. No one learned who those two riders were.