House of Sorrows, The life of Sayyidah Fatimah al-Zahra and her grief (A Translation of Baytul Ahzan)

In utter grief and sorrow, a young woman made her way to the grave of her father, Prophet Muhammad and broke down in tears, lamenting, “After your death, our rights have been trampled upon; our rights were denied… However, O Prophet! I do not weep at your grave because of what I have personally suffered, but rather, due to my separation from you.”

This young woman also wept for political reasons.

Although she wept at different times, different places and for different reasons, she refused to weep privately – she wept publicly and openly. She wept at home, in the streets in the Masjid and in the graveyard – and she was making a political statement: The perfect system given by Prophet Muḥammad and the Quran has become corrupt! Her passionate pleas, wherever she went and to whomsoever she met were always the same: “We have tried our best to correct the corrupt state of affairs. We brought forth proofs however the majority of people have rejected them. We tried to educate and remind the Muhajirin and Ansar about the situation, however they ignored us. In private, they pledged their support, however in public, they were not ready to hold their promise – so now, where do we go?”

It was at this point that a demand came from various companions of Prophet Muhammad for her to stop crying. She was told: “Don’t cry day and day! Don’t cry every day! Don’t start a commotion in the society. People will begin to ask, ‘What is wrong with the only daughter of the final Prophet that she is incessantly crying?’ She must stop crying and if this is not possible, then tell her to cry once in a while…”

This young woman replied, “I am not going to live long. My departure from this world is soon, but I swear by Allāh that I will not keep silent. If this is the only way I can protest the persecution and wrongdoing against the legacy of the Prophet, then this is what I will continue to do.”

Eventually, her husband build her a small house outside the city of Madīnah and daily, she went to her ‘house of sorrows’ with her children to cry and lament until death overtook her…