Birth in Makkah
Fatima (a) was born in Makkah on 20 Jumada al-Thani, according to most Shia reports in the fifth year after the beginning of her father's mission, though al-Mufid places it in the second and Sunni sources earlier still. She was the youngest child of the Prophet (s) and Khadija (a), and the only one of their children through whom his line continued.
A childhood in persecution
She grew up in the years when the Quraysh turned against her father: she saw him mocked and assaulted, endured the three-year boycott in the ravine of Abu Talib as a small child, and lost her mother and then Abu Talib in a single year. She migrated to Madinah with Ali (a) after the Hijrah and married him in the second year, becoming the mother of Hasan, Husayn, Zaynab and Umm Kulthum (a).
Why the day is marked
The Prophet (s) called her Umm Abiha, "the mother of her father", for the way she cared for him; the Shia honour her as the best of women and the link between the Prophet and the Imams. Her birthday is celebrated with gatherings and gifts, and the Islamic Republic of Iran keeps it as Women's Day and Mother's Day.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
