This article portrays the marital life of Fatimah and Ali. Fatimah was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and Ali was Muhammad’s cousin. Fatimah and Ali were both significant figures in early Islam: Fatimah occupies a similar position in Islam that Mary, mother of Jesus, occupies in Christianity.Fatimah was regarded by Muhammad as the outstanding woman of all time and the dearest person to him.Ali was the fourth of Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam. Ali holds a similar position in Islam as Aaron in Judaism.
Fatimah and Ali were survived by four children: Hasan, Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum.In particular, Muhammad considered Hasan and Husayn as “the masters of the youth in paradise,” and his love for the two young boys is widely narrated in hadith literature.Controversy surrounds the fate of their third son, Muhsin: The Shia hold that Muhsin died in miscarriage, following a raid on Fatimah’s house, ordered by the first caliph, Abu Bakr. Sunnis, on the other hand, insist that Muhsin died in infancy of natural causes.
It is through Fatimah and Ali that Muhammad’s progeny has spread throughout the Muslim world. Their descendants are given the honorific titles sayyid (meaning lord or sir) or sharif (meaning noble), and are respected by the Sunni and Shia alike.
Their marriage lasted until Fatimah’s death in 11 AH. Even though polygyny is permitted in Islam, Ali did not marry any other woman while Fatimah was alive.Their bond, according to H. Nasr, holds a special spiritual significance for Muslims because it is seen as the marriage between the greatest saintly figures surrounding Muhammad
