The mother of the sons
Fatima bint Hizam (a) of the Banu Kilab married Imam Ali (a) after the death of Fatima al-Zahra (a). Tradition says the Imam had asked his brother Aqil, an expert in Arab genealogy, for a wife from a family of proven courage, so that she might bear him brave sons. She bore four: Abbas, Abd Allah, Ja'far and Uthman, and so was called Umm al-Banin, "the mother of the sons". She is remembered for the reverence with which she treated Hasan, Husayn and Zaynab (a), never allowing herself to be seen as a rival to their mother.
Karbala
All four of her sons went with Imam Husayn (a) to Karbala and were martyred on Ashura, Abbas (a) as the standard-bearer of the camp. When the news reached Madinah she asked first about Husayn, and mourned him before her own children. The laments she composed at al-Baqi, where she went daily to weep, are among the earliest poems of the Karbala tradition, and it is said that even the enemies of the family wept with her.
Observance
She died in 64 AH, commemorated on 13 Jumada al-Thani, and is buried in al-Baqi. The Shia honour her as a model of devotion to the Ahl al-Bayt (a) and, through her sons, as the mother of the loyalty that Karbala made famous.
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.
