Portraits of Youths in Quran and the History of Islam

Fatima Masuma

The Pious Daughter Of The Seventh Imam

Among the children of Imam Musa Kazim (a.s) no one was more respected and honored after Imam Reza (a.s) than this young lady. She is remembered by the name of Fatima Masuma. Ahmed ibn Musa, known as Shah Chirag and Hamzah ibn Musa are the two sons of Imam Musa Kazim (a.s) who are buried besides Abdul Azeem Hasani. However, in respect and excellence Fatima Masuma precedes them.

Obviously, this position of excellence is on the basis of knowledge, intellect, purity and piety, otherwise being the Imam’s child or Imam’s sibling is no criterion for excellence and even if one tries to obtain greatness and respect on such a basis, it is not possible.

Today Iran has the unsurpassed honor of hosting the eighth Imam and after that giving a welcome to his sister and later according her a place for burial when she passed away from this world. The magnificent dome of her mausoleum is a living testimony to the devotion of this people for the meritorious lady of the family of the Prophet. From the time this lady stepped on the land of Qom , it has became famous

for its regard for Ahle Bayt and it became an important center of pilgrimage for the faithful.

Even before the arrival of Imam Reza (a.s), many Shia people of Kufa had migrated to Qom and made it their home. From that time this city always remained an important center of Shias. Many great jurists and scholars have come from this city. During the time our Imams stayed at this place, these resident scholars and jurists went all the way to provide them with every sort of facility and assistance. They also served the cause of the propagation of faith through their wealth, sincerity and labor.

That is why Imam Sadiq (a.s) has said that if there had not been the scholars and intellectuals of Qom , the religion of Islam would have become extinct and people would have forgotten the traditions of Ahle Bayt.

The well known religious scholars of Qom include, Zakaria Ibn Adam, Reyan ibn Sult, Shazan ibn Jibraeel, Ahmed Ibn Ishaq Qummi, Saad ibn Abdullah Ashari, Muhammad ibn Hasan Saffar, Muhammad ibn Walid, Ali Ibn Babawayh and his illustrious son Muhammad Ibn Babawayh (Shaykh Sadooq) and Hasan Ibn Babawayh, Ali Ibn Ibrahim Qummi, Ibn Quluwahy Qummi and other thousands of luminaries. In other words it can be said that the city of Qom has a great role in providing many important scholars of Shia religion.

During the Abbaside Caliphate, Qom was so well known for its fervor regarding Ahle Bayt (a.s) that its governor was always appointed from among its own people. Qom was considered the base of Shias in Iran .Thus it is written about Qom that special instructions were made regarding its governance and in order to assure that there is no civil

unrest and other problems the Shia law was applied in all the aspects of its administration. Because it was known that people could not bear the rule of a non-Shia.

As we have mentioned before, since the time of the burial of Fatima Masuma in Qom , the importance and significance of this town is beyond description. Rather, it can be said that her mausoleum is a candle around which the scholars and intellectuals have gathered since ages. In other words there is such a great conglomeration of religious students and other sincere followers of Ahle Bayt for her Ziarat that it would not be wrong to say that it is like a Ka’ba for Shias.

The lady Masuma commands special status after Imam Reza (a.s) among the children of the seventh Imam. Traditions before her birth and after her passing away inform us about the elevated position and the personality of this lady.

Imam Reza (a.s) came to Iran on the behest of caliph Mamun in the year 200 A.H. and he stayed in Merv. In the year 201 A.H., that is after one year, Fatima Masuma left Medina and came to Iran .

The great scholar Hasan ibn Muhammad Qummi writes in his History of Qom (378 A.H.) that when Fatima Masuma arrived in Sawwa she inquired about the distance to Qom from there. The people informed her that it was 10 farsakhs. She told her attendant to take her to Qom .

When news reached Qom that Masuma was coming there the people of Qom rushed out to welcome her. The senior-most citizen of Qom , Musa ibn Khazraj took hold of the reins of her camel and led it inside the city of Qom and in this way he took the honorable lady and lodged her in his own house.

The Masuma stayed at his place for seventeen days and passed away there. She was buried in Bablan, which was also a property of Musa ibn Khazraj. From that time onwards it is a center of pilgrimage for the Shias. For the Iranian country the city of Qom is a matter of pride or rather a testimony of its honorable position.

There is a religious college, “Satt” at the place where the house of Musa ibn Khazraj stood where the Masuma had stayed. It is one of the oldest religious college of Qom . This area is known as the Maidan Mir-i-Qom. On one side is a mosque called Masjid-e-Behmeen. In Arabic “Satt” stands for “lady”. This mosque and religious college is named after lady Masuma Qom. The Mihrab (prayer niche) of the Masuma is also situated in this building, where travelers and visitors pray. It is a matter of pity that the date of birth of Masuma is not recorded and neither is the date she passed away in 201 A.H.

However in any case, history certainly proves that hardships and atrocities meted out by the Abbaside rulers and the unfavorable times were responsible for the fact that none of the daughters of Imam Musa Kazim (a.s) married. This is so because all the youths of the families of Ahle Bayt lived anonymously during the Abbaside rule. And probably there was no young man among the Shias who could be considered eligible to marry a girl of the noble Ahle Bayt family of infallibility and purity. Or probably the noble ladies themselves exercised caution due to the prevailing circumstances.

Because in 179 A.H. under the orders of Harun Rashid, Imam Musa Kazim (a.s) was summoned to Baghdad and

imprisoned, and there he spent four years in confinement and at last bid farewell to the transient world in 183 A.H. and departed for the everlasting abode, while the lady Masuma passed away in 201 A.H., hence at the time of her death she must have been at the most twenty-two years old.

Thus as we have already stated above, the city of Qom which became the place of repose for Lady Masuma Qom acquired the status of a holy city for the Shia people and from that time onwards Sayyid families migrated there and made it their home as long as they lived and later they were also buried there. Therefore their holy tombs in the vicinity of Qom and the surrounding areas are centers for visitation of the Shias of the world.

Apart from this, the long history of Qom informs us that it was the center of great religious scholars and intellectuals and it is the place selected by numerous rulers, kings and royal ladies as the place of their burial.

In the words of a poet: The daughter of Musa Ibn Ja'far is that brilliant moon due to which the people of Iran rest in safety and peace.

Put your forehead on its threshold.

See, indeed, the life of the universe rests here.

 back
Back

 Home
Index

 Forward
Next