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Fatima, daughter of Imam Musa al-Kazim عليه السلام and sister of Imam al-Rida عليه السلام, set out from Medina in 201 AH to join her brother in Khurasan, fell ill on the way and died in Qom. Her shrine there grew into one of the great centres of Shia learning, and narrations attributed to Imam al-Rida عليه السلام and Imam al-Jawad عليه السلام promise Paradise to those who visit her.
The journey to Qom
The History of Qom, the earliest account, relates that when Fatima fell ill at Saveh on her way to her brother in Khurasan she asked to be taken to Qom. Musa ibn Khazraj of the Ash‘ari family, who had come out to meet her, brought her to his house, where she lived for some sixteen or seventeen days before she died. She was buried in his garden at Babilan, where her shrine now stands.
The merit of visiting her
Al-Saduq records in Uyun Akhbar al-Rida, and Ibn Qulawayh in Kamil al-Ziyarat, that Imam al-Rida عليه السلام was asked about visiting Fatima the daughter of Musa ibn Ja‘far and answered that whoever visits her will have Paradise; Kamil al-Ziyarat also records a similar saying of Imam al-Jawad عليه السلام about his aunt’s grave in Qom. The title al-Ma‘suma, “the protected from sin”, is given to her in later works.
Differing reports
- Dates: 1 Dhu al-Qa‘da 173 AH (zahoor) and 10 or 12 Rabi al-Thani 201 AH (death) are commonly observed but come from later works; the early sources give only the year of her death.
- The account of a battle at Saveh in which her companions were killed appears only in later works.
Sources
- Tarikh-i Qum — al-Qummi, al-Hasan ibn Muhammad (4th c. AH / 10th c. CE)
- ‘Uyun Akhbar al-Rida — al-Saduq (d. 381 AH / 991 CE)
- Kamil al-Ziyarat — Ibn Qulawayh, Ja‘far ibn Muhammad (d. 368 AH / 978–9 CE). Bab fadl ziyarat Fatima bint Musa bi-Qum