As you may or may not know, the Islamic calender differs somewhat from the calender we use on a regular basis. The Islamic calender, or 'Hijri' calender began with the migration of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) from Mekkah to Medina after facing opposition in the face of the rise of Islam as a religion.
Today, 12/05/2010 happens to be the 27th of Jamad al Thaani [6th month] 1431 and we are approaching the time of the 2nd narration of the death of an iconic woman in the Islamic world: Fatima Zahra (as) daughter of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). The relationship between the Prophet and his daughter was akin to that of a mother and a son- she was dubbed as 'Ummu Abeeha' or Mother of her Father. A string of narrations from many sources look at the extent to which the Prophet loved her, here is one that gives us a hint:
"Miswar b. Makhramah reported Allah's Messenger (pbuh) as saying: Fatima is a part of me. He in fact tortures me who tortures her." [Book 31, Number 6000. Sahih Muslim.]
This statement almost foreshadows the events leading to her death; I don't want to narrate this for fear of presenting an incomplete depiction of her life story and the way in which she was killed, but rather to focus on the tradition of Elegies employed as a way of keeping the memory of her tragedy alive.
The elegiac tradition mainly looks to express deep sorrow in the shape of poems; we see an increase of this with the passing of time, especially with the development of languages other than the Arabic language experimenting with this. One of the greatest elegy, or 'Latmiya' writers of this day and age, Jaber Alkathumi, has dedicated his life to the writing of elegies and retelling the tragedies that befell the Holy Household after the death of the Prophet. His son, Ali Jaber Alkathumi, among other extremely talented youth (to name but a few; Nouri Sardar, Ali Mousawi Khalkhali, Taher Adil and Aneesa Al-najjar*) have implemented and spread this tradition to the wider world by choosing to write in the English language, bringing to light these tragedies to those who do not understand Arabic, Persian or other languages in which they were originally written.
A recent poem, written by promising talent Nouri Sardar is being aired on Ahlulbayt TV, read by Ali Fadhil. I'm going to post it here so you can see how this tradition has developed and is now broadcasted globally for people of many tongues.
I'll leave you on that note..
Am I Not Fatima Zahra?
The elegiac tradition mainly looks to express deep sorrow in the shape of poems; we see an increase of this with the passing of time, especially with the development of languages other than the Arabic language experimenting with this. One of the greatest elegy, or 'Latmiya' writers of this day and age, Jaber Alkathumi, has dedicated his life to the writing of elegies and retelling the tragedies that befell the Holy Household after the death of the Prophet. His son, Ali Jaber Alkathumi, among other extremely talented youth (to name but a few; Nouri Sardar, Ali Mousawi Khalkhali, Taher Adil and Aneesa Al-najjar*) have implemented and spread this tradition to the wider world by choosing to write in the English language, bringing to light these tragedies to those who do not understand Arabic, Persian or other languages in which they were originally written.
A recent poem, written by promising talent Nouri Sardar is being aired on Ahlulbayt TV, read by Ali Fadhil. I'm going to post it here so you can see how this tradition has developed and is now broadcasted globally for people of many tongues.
I'll leave you on that note..
Am I Not Fatima Zahra?
* My apologies to other poets who I have not mentioned; may Allah (swt) accept your deeds and your humble attempts in the service of the Ahlulbayt (as)
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