Fatimiyya (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: فاطمیة) are days in which

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

Muslims mourn the martyrdom of

Fatimah Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...

, daughter of the

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. Fatimiyya is the window between the two possible dates for her death, that is, from 13 Jumada al-Awwal to 3

Jumada al-Thani Jumada al-Thani (), also known as Jumada al-Akhirah (), Jumada al-Akhir (), or Jumada II, is the sixth month of the Islamic calendar. The word ''Jumda'' (), from which the name of the month is derived, is used to denote dry, parched land, a lan ...

. In particular, the Fatimiyya period is a total of six days, three days in the month of Jamadi al-Awal and three days in the month of Jumada al-Thani. That is, the first Fatimiyya is 13–15 Jumada al-Awwal and the second Fatimiyya is 3–5 Jamadi al-Thani. Instead of three, some Shia Muslims mourn for ten days.

Time of mourning

Whilst there is no established convention, periods of Fatimiyya such as "the first ten days" (10–20 Jumada al-Awwal) or "the second ten days" (1–10 Jumada al-Thani) are in recent years increasingly commemorated by Shia Muslims much like the first ten days of

Muharram Al-Muharram () is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is banned. It precedes the month of Safar. The tenth of Muharram is known as Ashura, an important day of commemoration in ...

, which are traditionally associated with the martyrdom of Husayn. The prominent place of Fatimah in Islam as daughter of Islamic prophet Muhammad, the hardships she endured in her short life, and that she gave her life to defend the first

Shia Imam In Shia Islam, the Imamah () is a doctrine which asserts that certain individuals from the lineage of the Islamic prophet Muhammad are to be accepted as leaders and guides of the ummah after the death of Muhammad. Imamah further says that Imam ...

Ali Ali ibn Abi Talib (; ) was the fourth Rashidun caliph who ruled from until his assassination in 661, as well as the first Shia Imam. He was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born to Abu Talib ibn Abd al-Muttalib an ...

, are among the reasons Shia Muslims give for the annual remembrance of Fatimah.

Fatimiyya in other countries

Apart from Iran and Iraq, Fatimiyya is also observed in other countries, including India, Pakistan, Australia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan. There are also events organized in Europe by the Islamic Centre of Hamburg in Germany, the Islamic Centre of England, and others in Sweden and elsewhere.

Differences in date

The uncertainty about when Fatimah died is often attributed to multiple factors: * In early Islam, historical events were remembered orally—not in written—which might have led to discrepancies. * Muslim civil wars might have meant less attention and care in preserving historical records. * The Arabic script initially lacked any symbols, including

punctuation Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of writing, written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, c ...

and

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

. For this reason, seventy (Arabic: سبعون) and ninety (Arabic: تسعون) were written identically, creating a source of ambiguity for later historians who received the narration, "She atimahdied when she was eighteen years old and seventy five days." *The probability of distortion by partial individuals.Shahidi, Seyyed jafar, The life of Fatima-Zahra (a.s.), Tehran, Publishing office of Islamic culture, p. 155

References

{{reflist, 3 Fatima Shia days of remembrance Shia Islam Islamic terminology

Time of mourning

Fatimiyya in other countries

Differences in date

See also

References