Fatimah al-Ma`sumah (as): a role model for men and women

A Call from His Eminence

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Husain Fadlullah to the Muslims and the followers of Ahlul Bayt in particular .[^1]

I say to you, with all love... All of you have listened to me, day and night, in seminars, lectures and Friday sermons; so, is it reasonable that some people from this generation do not understand me? I ask you: who has spoken with you like I have; who has been with you in all issues like I have; who has worked - and I am honoured - in your service? Is it acceptable that irresponsible words have come out, and not one voice has come out to say, silence this wrong?

May I say to you a word in this matter? As far as I am concerned, this matter is like thin air 'If you have no anger on me, I do not care [about anything else] then.'[^2] My concerns, first and last, are not with you - my concerns are with Allah the Most High - 'O my Lord! If you bring me down who can elevate me and if you elevate me who can bring me down?'[^3]

In this regard, I say to you: I remind you of Allah in the Islamic situation; I remind you of Allah in the way of Ahlul Bayt (as). Do not let anyone mess it up; do not let anyone offend (or bring bad image unto) it, and do not let anyone come up with confusing words in this regard.

For forty years, I have been saying to the old and young amongst you that there is no unimportant question and no embarrassing question; fact is the outcome of dialogue, and I am ready to enter into dialogue with all people and to answer the young and old, and you know this. Therefore, do not defend me, but defend your Islamic situation, defend this reality which you live in, where the entire world is attacking and aggressive towards you.

Be aware, have political awareness and understand how the enemies infiltrate the arenas. We do not say that everyone who is involved in this is working for the enemy, but we say that they exploit points of weakness.

Therefore, O my beloved, there is no problem (as far as I am concerned) in this matter. As I told you, had it not been that they had been muddling and disrupting the Islamic situation and threatening it with danger I would have said: 'May Allah forgive them!' However, the matter does not concern me personally, but the Islamic situation. I say: 'I pray to Allah for their guidance, but if they do not desist, I shall not forgive them because they have offended Islam and Muslims, and I do not mean a particular party or a particular person, but the phenomenon and situation.'[^4]

If some continue to insist - in spite of all our words and frankness in sanctifying Lady Fatimah (as), glorifying her and explaining her infallibility, and in spite of our numerous and wide-ranging lectures for more than fifty years regarding Ahlul Bayt (as) - to fabricate lies in what we say, and to fabricate false meanings regarding our Lady Fatimah (as) and her infallibility, or regarding the guardianship of our master, the Commander of the Faithful (as), which has been laid down and emphasized by the trustworthy Prophet (sawa) in many locations, the most distinguished of which is in Ghadeer Khumm, we then pray to Allah to guide them, if they still have capability for that, otherwise their judgement shall be with Allah. And we shall have a position to hold with them on the Day of Judgement, the day on which people stand up in front of the Lord of the worlds and creation, He who does not miss a small or a big deed, but has it registered in a book, and the settlement of our dispute shall be at the presence of our grandfather the Messenger of Allah (sawa) and our grandfather the Commander of the Faithful (as) and our grandmother the truthful al-Zahra (as), and we shall see who will win that day![^5]

[^1]: This call was not issued separately, but was extracted from his eminence's lectures and speeches. The translator.

[^2]: This was part of the words that the Prophet (sawa) said in prayer, just following his very bad experience with the people of Ta'if, whom he went to call to Islam, but they sent their youth after him, who threw stones at him and wounded his feet. The translator.

[^3]: This is a line from a supplication by Imam al-Sajjad (as). The translator.

[^4]: The dialogue meeting, al-Jinan hall, 22/10/1997.

[^5]: Al-Zahra (as) al-Qudwah, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Husain Fadlullah, compiled by Husain Ahmad al-Khashin, Al-Malak publishers, Beirut, 3rd edition, 2001, p. 173.