The journey to Khurasan
Fatima bint Musa (a), called al-Ma'suma, "the immaculate", was the daughter of the seventh Imam and the sister of the eighth. When Imam al-Rida (a) was taken from Madinah to Marv by al-Ma'mun, she set out in 201 AH to join him. The caravan was attacked at Saveh in central Iran; already ill, she asked to be taken to nearby Qom, where the Shia families of the town received her.
Death in Qom
She died a few days later, on 10 Rabi al-Thani 201 AH, without reaching her brother. The Ash'ari family of Qom buried her on land they owned, and a mother of the Imams' descendants later built the first canopy over the grave. Hadith from the Imams promise Paradise to those who visit her, and Imam al-Sadiq (a) is reported to have foretold that a woman of his line would die in Qom and that the city would become a refuge of the Shia.
Qom
Around her shrine grew the seminary city that is today the centre of Shia scholarship in Iran. Her birth is celebrated on 1 Dhu l-Qa'da, and pilgrims to Mashhad customarily visit her first, as the sister of the Imam they are going to see.
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.