{81}

 Ahlul Bait to meet me, and it is a very short interval of a few counted days of separation."
It is already said that soon after the funeral of the Holy Prophet, only a day or two had passed instead of offering condolences to the bereaved holy family, an insurgent crowd surrounded the abode of this Holy Lady, a kick at her door by a tyrant caused the door to fall on her side, wounding her, breaking her rib, the wound which proved fatal.
The Holy Lady wept so much for her father the Holy Prophet that even the people in the neighbourhood could not bear the laments.
Besides the grief and the sorrow for her father, was the treat- ment meted cut to her husband Ali, the Vicegerent of the Holy Prophet.
To add to her grief, she was deprived of her rights over the garden of Fidak which was bequeathed to her by her father the Holy Prophet. To know the details as to how her claim was rejected by the Kalifate, the reader may refer to Saheeh Bokhari which relates from Ayesha a detailed note about Fatema's claiming the ' Fidak' and how it was rejected and how Fatema got annoyed and to whom it was that she did not even talk, until she departed from this world.

Fatema martyred : succumbing to the Wound

THUS AFTER SEVENTY-FIVE or ninety days after the departure of the Holy Prophet, as prophesied, the Holy Lady passed away. But before breathing her last she called Ali and desired that none of those particularly a few ones who had turned hostile to the House of the Prophet and violated the will of the Apostle of God, should be informed of her departure from this world, and that she should be quietly buried in the darkness of the night.
Some reporters say that when the body was lowered into the grave, by Ali, in the grave appeared the two hands of the Holy Prophet, with a voice addressing Ali:-
" Come on ! Ali! return thou the part of mine to me." It is said that Ali shedding tears responded to the voice saying:-
" I am ashamed of thee 0' Apostle of God,for I took Fatema


{ 82}

 from thee sound in her body but I am now returning her unto thee rib broken."
Thus the Holy Lady was the first of the martyrs among the Ahlul-Bait, after the departure of the Holy Prophet.
It is now left to the intelligent ones of the readers to judge the position of those who annoyed this holy one of God, (i.e., Lady Fatema) under the apostolic announcements of the Holy Prophet and the verse of the Holy Qur'an referred to above.
It is authentically reported that the Holy Lady once referring to her miserable plight and the sorrowful life she had to lead, addres- sing her father, the Holy Prophet, standing before his grave, said :-
" Oh! Father dear! After thee, fell on me such miseries that had they fallen on bright days, the bright days would have turned into darkest nights."

The Holy Lady of Light left behind two sons and two daughters whose ages at the time of her departing from them, were:-

Hasan

about 8 years.

Husain

about 7 years.

Zainab (daughter)

about 6 years.

Umme Kulthoom (daughter)

about 5 years.

The Ahlul-Bait knew their lot, beforehand

IT IS A universally acknowledged fact that every one of the Holy Ahlul-Bait, knew beforehand, everything that would befall in his or her life in this world, and the manner in which his or her earthly sojourn will end.
1. The Holy Prophet had announced a year ago that that year was the last one of his stay on earth and the pilgrimage he would perform that year, would be the last one and no pilgrimage thereafter he would have to do.
2. The Holy Prophet had already informed every one of the members of his Ahlul-Bait, every calamity that would befall them and the treacherous course the people would adopt after him with regard to his family.


{83}

3. The Holy Prophet had informed particularly about the calamities that would befall Husain and the details of the gruesome massacre at Karbala.
4. To Ali the Holy Prophet had already said that he was seeing Ali with his (Ali's) beard drenched with the blood of his (Ali's) head, in the Mosque of Kufa.
5. Fatema had already foretold even her handmaid Fizza about her departure. She was informed by the Holy Prophet about her stay in the world after him.
6. Ali even used to point out to Abdur Rahman ibne Muljim as his assassin, when there was no apparent sign of ibne Muljim entertaining any idea of killing Ali. Days before his martyrdom, Ali had been continuously informing his family about his destin- ed departure and had already given the details of his funeral and the location of the place of the burial.
7. Hasan knew his end and had advised Husain to be patient against the atrocious behaviour of the people and not to insist upon his burial besides his grandfather the Holy Prophet when it will be resisted and prevented.
8. Husain's martyrdom was already prophecied by the Holy Prophet with all the details of the Tragedy. The Holy Prophet had even given a handful of a mysterious dust to Umme Salema his wife, saying that it was the dust of the plain of Karbala where Husain will be martyred and when Husain would be martyred, the dust would turn into blood, and it happened so.
it is reported that Fatema before her departure, called her daughter Zainab to her and willed to her that on the day when Husain would ask her for some torn clothes, it will be the last departure of Husain from her (Zainab), then to kiss Husain on her behalf on Husain's throat on which will pass the sword of Shimar the assassin. Fatema again called Husain to her and willed to him, that before his ultimate separation from her (Zainab) to kiss on her behalf, on the two sides of her (Zainab's) arms on which will be


{84}

 tied the ropes when the ladies of the camp will be taken captives by the Yazidian forces.

Ali's Regard for Fatema

ALl's REGARD FOR Fatema was the same as was the regard of the Holy Prophet for Lady Khadija. Until the life of Lady Khadija, the Holy Prophet did not accept the hand of any other woman and likewise until the life of Fatema, Ali did not marry any other woman.
The critics of Islam, in their ignorance of the truth, betray their prejudice in their venture to criticise saying that the Holy Prophet was extremely polygamous. Such prejudiced critics should know that when the Holy Prophet was in the bloom of his youth, he was not only contented but was the happiest husband of a lady in the decline of her age and the death of the lady who was older than him- self, he observed the whole of the year following the death,as Aamul-Huzn, i.e., the Year of Grief It is an elementary truth of human life that if a man be lusty in his sensual desires, particularly matrimonial, he would be such in his youth. When the Holy Prophet was in the fullness of his youth and when he had an aged wife, and if he had only desired to have a young lady, there was already the offer from the people of Mecca to give the fairest woman of his own choice, if he only spares his condemning idolatry, but he bluntly refused. The fact is that the attachment of the Holy Prophet to Lady Khadija was so much that none dared to offer his daughter and no woman had the courage of even thinking of offering herself. It was only at the departure of Lady Khadija that Abu Bakr could offer his daughter Ayesha who was of about nine years. History is there to vouch that when Ayesha was offered to him, at Mecca, the Holy Prophet refused and it was only in Madina after the migration that the Holy Prophet could not reject the offer of Abu Bakr any longer, just to please the companion that the offer was accepted, other- wise he would not have asked for the hand of a girl of only nine, when he had already crossed the fiftieth year of his age and when there were only a few years before his departure from this world. And the alliance of Hafsa with the Holy Prophet, was only to please his other companion Omar. Similarly, came one after another, ladies, some of them far advanced in age imploring the Holy Prophet to give them the honour, privilege and the pride to be the wives of the Apostle of God. As the Mercy unto the Worlds which he was, the Holy Prophet could not deny the grace asked for, from him.


{ 85}

 To know how happy and harmonious was the life of the Holy Prophet with his aged wife Khadija-let us hear what Carlyle reports about it:-
This young brilliant Ayesha was, one day, questioning him: " Now am not I better than Khadija? She was a widow; old, and had lost her looks : you love me better than you did her?"-
"No by Allah! answered Mahomet: " No, by Allah!" She believed in me when none else would believe. In the whole world I had but one friend, and she was that!" - Seid, his Slave, also believed in him ; these with his young Cousin Ali, Abu Taleb's son, were his first converts. Carlyle's Sartor Resartus.
It is unimaginable that one who did not think of any other woman besides his wife, when he was a full-grown youth, to have ever thought of any woman, in the age ofabout 55 years. The truth is that none of the ladies besides Lady Khadija, did the Holy Prophet desire to marry. They were either offered by their parents or the ladies themselves volunteered with prayers to accept them. The Holy Prophet, the Mercy unto the Worlds, could say no to none.
It was perhaps a providential plan to prove to man the weakness in women that even the Apostle of God who never talked or acted but by the revealed will of the Lord, having mercifully accepted the ladies in matrimony, could not escape the miseries that these ladies inflicted on him which went to the extent that for about a full month or even more, he discarded all of them and the suspension of his connection with the ladies was so long, that people even suspected him to have divorced the ladies and it was at the revelation of verse (66:1) that he resumed his connections with them. See the interpretation of this in any commentary of the Holy Qur'an by any commentator of any school of thought, be he a muslim or a non-muslim.
This was definitely to show to man that when even an apostle of God who is the most balanced head and the divinely conditioned personality, inspite of maintaining full justice among them, could not escape the torment of the envy of the women against each other, how can an ordinary man manage with more than one wife at a time. Even the sanction of having four wives at a time is only a sanction under emergencies and exigencies and not an order. The closing clause of the verse (4:3) clearly says that if equity could not be


{86}

nbsp;maintained then, man should take only one wife and the verse further clearly asserts that man will never be able to maintain equity among the women, which means that he can take only one at a time. If any one misinterprets the law to suit his own fancy, law can never be responsible nor the Law-giver.
It must also be remembered that it was not Islam that started Polygamy in the world. Most of the ancient prophets and even the great sages in India who are worshipped as gods or the incarnations of gods, were polygamous. On the other hand, Islam is the first of all the religious orders of the world, which controlled and regu- lated the matrimonial life of man and woman, protecting the rights of woman and restricted the unbridled and unlimited polygamy in such a logical and realistic way that it made man either naturally monogamous or got the lust in man for sexual enjoyment, fully harnessed, loaded with heavy responsibilities to his wives, safe- guarding the rights of woman. The responsibilities or the restric- tions imposed on polygamy are such that the Holy Qur'an clearly warns man saying it will be impossible for him to bear them. What Islam has done for woman, no other religion in the world had even thought of.

The Holy Qur'an - Its Compilation

IT IS A historic fact acknowledged on all hands that as and when the Holy Qur'an was revealed in Suras, in parts of Suras, and in lonely verses, it was then and there recorded by the scripts engag- ed by the Holy Prophet for the purpose. It is also said that at the receipt of each revelation, the Holy Prophet used to direct the scripts to place it in a certain sura and thus by the end of the ministry the Book of God, the Holy Qur'an, was completely compiled in the form of a perfect Book and before his departure, the Holy Prophet declared:-
quot;1 leave behind amidst you, Two great things, the Book of God and my Ahlut-Bait. Should ye be attached to these Two, never, never will ye get astray after me, for verily these Two will never be separated from each other until they both meet me at the Spring of Kauther." (TA., DM., Sm., and others)
The above declaration of the Holy Prophet, the genuineness of which is universally acknowledged by all the traditionists, clearly


{87}

indicates that at the time of the departure of the Holy Prophet there was the Holy Qur'an in the form of a complete Book approved by him. Otherwise the statement on the part of the Holy Prophet that he was leaving the Book will hold no truth.
Secondly, there is the clear undertaking by God Himself about the preservation of the Holy Qur'an in its originality and purity, and the Holy Book being guarded by God Himself:-
Varily We have sent down the Reminder (the Holy Qur'an) and We Ourselves shall be its Guardian. 15:9
Who can believe that the above declared will of the Lord, expressed as a challenge to those who had swallowed up the previous scriptures, was not fulfilled and any human hand to have obstructed its fulfilment.
Besides history loudly declares and it is acknowledged by all the traditionists that the following persons had the full text of the Holy Qur'an in the form of a complete Book which had been read out to the Holy Prophet and which he had approved-
1. Ali ibne Aid Taleb.
2. Abdullah ibne Mas'ood.
3. Ka'b ibne obai.
4. Ma'az bin Jabal.
and the copy of Ali ibne Abi-Taleb contained the explanatory and the special notes about the external as well as the internal meaning of each verse of the Holy Book, given by the Holy Prophet
RN., TIB.
The question arises that when the above historic facts were known to one and all in Madina and Mecca and to the world around, where was the necessity of any fresh endeavour on the part of any one to collect the Holy Qur'an anew:
It is said that the steps to collect the Qur'an were first taken during the regime of the first Kalif and continued during the whole of the regime of the second Kalif and ultimately the endeavour ended in the regime of the third Kalif, without any result, for, history says that the whole collection was deposited with Ummol Momineen Ayesha, the daughter of the first Kalif and there, a part of the collection was eaten away by a goat. There is no historic


{88}

record to say that that collection was ever completed and if so by whom and whether it was ever put to any use by any one thereafter. What history says is only that the third Kalif took some authentic copy and granted it, his official seal as the authorised version and commanded that that version of the Holy Qur'an only shall be followed, and in fact the same version was there in the use of the people all the while since the departure of the Holy Prophet hence there was not the least murmur or objection to it from any quarter. Since the copy with the official seal was the one which was already with them, the Ahlul-Bait also allowed it to be called the official version.
It cannot be believed by any muslim that until about twenty five years there was no Qur'an in the world. What was it then that the Holy Prophet had said that he was leaving the Book of God and what happened to the challenging declaration from God Himself (15:9) God Himself being the Guardian of the Book which He revealed to the Holy Prophet?
There is history which declares that by the time the third Kalif set his official seal on a copy of the Holy Qur'an and declared it as the official version of the Holy Book, Iran had embraced Islam and the faith had reached upto Azarbaijan on one side, and upto Egypt on the other, and the Holy Qur'an was already in the regular daily use of the people.
Thus the present Qur'an is the copy of the Holy Book which was compiled in its present order and read to the Holy Prophet and approved by him and was in use of the muslim world since then. No doubt, the copy of Ali ibne Abi Taleb contained the special explanatory notes but when Ali offered that copy, it was rejected by the Kalifate. However, the notes of Ali were given out by his successor Imams, after him, to their disciples which are found in the commentary of the Holy Qur'an based on the version of the Ahlul-Bait. Whatever opinion about the Holy Qur'an any one might have, but this is the Truth and to say that there was nothing to be called a Book of God and yet the Holy Prophet said that he was leaving it among the people is a clear calumny or that Ali ibne Abi Taleb had the complete copy of it, but he suppressed it and did not allow the public to have the due benefit of it, and he did not publish it even when he had the opportunity to do it, when he was the Kalif, is a false charge against the Holy Prophet and the Holy


{89}

Imam Ali and a blasphemy against God Himself of having taken the undertaking to guard the Holy Book and not fulfilling His word.
When one speaks of anything of Islam or about Islam, the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith or the Traditions of the Holy  Prophet must be kept in view otherwise what will be said, will be nothing but conjectures of no value whatsoever.
The Holy Prophet says that he has left Two very weighty things and they will never be separated from each other until they reach him at the 'Spring Kauther'. If there was not such a book to be called the Holy Qur'an until the third Kalif compiled it in 35 A.H. it would mean that the Ahlul-Bait were without the Book of God for about twenty five years, which is against the declaration of the Holy Prophet, which can never be, which is definitely an impossi- bility for the word of the Holy Prophet according to the Holy Qur'an, is the Word of God (53:3, 4).
If it be said that of the Ahlul-Bait Ali had a complete copy of the Holy Qur'an and the saying of the Holy Prophet was not wrong, then the proposition goes against the wording of the saying which is " I leave among you" i.e., among the people, and not among the Ahlul-Bait. Secondly , if the Book of God was secured with the AhIul-Bait with its unavailability to the general public, how could the parting advice of the Holy Prophet 'if ye be attacked to these Two' be enacted by the muslims?
The Truth is that when the Holy Prophet gave out the declara- tion the ' Hadeethuth-Thaqalain'(the tradition of the Two Weighty things), there was the Holy Qur'an with the people, the present copy of it and it is a fact that the Ahlul-Bait will always be with the Holy Book and the Holy Book in its present external form and with its meanings plain as well as latent, will always be with the Ahlul-Bait.
If intelligently read, the ' Hadeethuth- Thaqalain' is a clear guarantee or a proof-positive of the fact about the reverse of the statement 'never will they be separated from each other', which clearly indicates that as long as the Holy Qur'an is there in the world, there will surely be one from the 'Ahlul-Bait'i.e., one of the di- vinely commissioned Imams of them. It is a clear guidance that in this age also there is one from the 'Ahlul-Bait' the last one of them the Holy Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi. It is quite a different thing


{ 90}

altogther,people believing in him or not. There is God, as He is not seen some people deny His Existence, it does not mean that the Existence of God, is really questionable. God, the Almighty has kept certain chosen ones of His, like ' Kidr', 'Idrees' , and 'Jesus'; some people may not believe in this fact but it does not mean that God also is as helpless as any one of us to be subjected to the little and the limited knowledge of the laws of nature which we possess, whereas, He is the Independent Author of nature and nature is subject to His will, and His will is not subject to nature. Nature is nothing but the enactment of His Will.
The motive behind such allegations against the position of the Holy Qur'an is obviously to say that the compilation, the preserva- tion and the propagation of the Holy Qur'an was not done by the Ahlul-Bait but by somebody else. This was another move to deprive the Holy ones, of their divine right. Or it can be a charge against Ali that though he possessed a copy of the Holy Book, he did not make it available to the muslims, even when he once came to power as a Kalif.
Some of the scholars seem to have been misled when they speak of the number of the verses reported to have been found in some version of the Holy Book. They have obviously mistaken the explanatory notes might have been there recorded besides the verses in those versions, owned by the different people, as the verses them- selves. While arguing about the number of the verses found in any other version with anybody else, one should also remember the declaration of the Sixth Holy Imam Jaffar ibnc Muhammad as-Sadiq that the Holy Qur'an is what is in between the two pads' , i.e., nothing less and nothing more.

The Devil's plan frustrated

ABu SOFYAN THE old arch enemy of Islam and the Holy Prophet, thinking Ali to have been disappointed at others getting into power, position and authority over the Muslim Empire, deemed it an opportunity to create a rift in the muslim ranks and to initiate a civil war among the muslims themselves. He came to Ali and condemning the conduct of the people against the legitimate rights of Ali, offered to aid Ali with a huge army, if only Ali wanted to revolt against the Kalifate established by the people. But Ali's reply utterly frustrated the Devil's plan to bring ruin to Islam and