BB00134: Ziyarat al-Zahra (Fatimah)

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

When thou standest before God at the apparent resting place of Fatima, upon her be God’s blessings, pray in the station wherein the Messenger of God, peace be upon Him and His family, prayed in the house of Fatima, upon her be God’s blessings. And now that place is known in the Greater Mosque. When thou hast finished, arise and say:

I bear witness that there is no God but God, alone without partner, even as His Essence hath testified to His Essence, beyond any creature’s capacity to know or testify thereunto. He is the Mighty, the Wise. And I bear witness that Muhammad, peace be upon Him, was His servant whom He chose for Himself before all contingent things, and selected for His love before all created things, and established in the station of the sovereign authority of His everlasting dominion throughout all manifestations, for no essential vision can grasp Him while He graspeth all atoms, and He is the Mighty, the Ancient.

And I bear witness to the successors of Muhammad, God’s blessings be upon them, even as God hath testified to them in the knowledge of the unseen, whereby God made them the pillars of His unity, the signs of His uniqueness, the manifestations of His sanctity, the stations of His detachment, and the proofs of His praise, such that none can match them in essence nor compare with them in attributes, for they are sanctified above all similitude and likeness, even as God hath described them in His decisive verses, saying—and His word is the truth—“honored servants who speak not until He hath spoken, and who act by His command.”

Then say: Peace be upon thee, O divine Tree through whom God, thy Lord, was made manifest in the pre-existence of the Essence and the transcendence of attributes, such that after the Imams, God’s blessings be upon them, nothing of essence can reach thee, nor can any compare with thee in the station of attributes. Thou art indeed sanctified above all similitude and exalted above all likeness, for God chose thee for His Beloved, selected thee for His Friend, approved thee for His Proof, fashioned thee as the manifestation of His Being, and elected thee for the station of the revelation of His sovereignty.

How sweet, O my Lady, is thy remembrance in the kingdom of names and attributes! How manifest thy majesty in the heights of the Throne and the heavens, reaching even unto the palace of overwhelming depths! I bear witness that thy description was thine own self, and that all besides thee knew not of the station of thy love save less than an ant knoweth of the attributes of its Lord. And I seek forgiveness from God thy Lord, then His Prophet, then His successors, then thyself, for the limitation of multiplicity.

What am I, and what is my station, then my mention and my boldness? By Thy might and Thy majesty, and there is no power nor strength save in God thy Lord, if the fire were commanded to seize me for the duration of Thine essential existence as recompense for my mention of Thyself and my boldness before the court of Thy glory, I would deserve it and say:

“Thou art just, by God’s leave, in judgment, and I have no argument to say why or wherefore.”

Far, far be it from those who harbor suspicions about Thee, who slander Thee, who usurp Thy right, who deny Thy word, and who break Thy covenant! They have veiled themselves from the manifestation of Thy greatness in the horizons of the heavens and earth, and have forgotten the covenant of Thy guardianship taken in the worlds of creation and invention, and have been deluded by worldly possessions from witnessing Thy grace in the abode of the hereafter, and have sold the bliss of the hereafter and the greatest portion for worldly benefits and the lowest share. How distant I find their station before Thy countenance! I ask God to sanctify them for what their hands have earned in oppression against Thee, and all who deserve His wrath. Verily He is the Mighty, the All-Forgiving—and He shall multiply their punishment for all eternity according to what they deserve through His justice, for He is the Mighty, the Gracious.

O my Lady, O Fatima the Radiant! How can I praise Thee before the majesty of Thy Being, and the glory of Thy Greatness, and the sanctity of Thy Beauty, and the brilliance of Thy Light, when I see no existence for myself before the court of Thy might? I know with certainty that God created within Thy essence from the light of His Essence, and made it to transcend all substance from the station of nearness to Thee, and barred all material things from the precincts of Thy presence. How exalted is Thy station, O my Lady, and how mighty is Thy rank, O my Mistress! Were all the seas ink for Thy praise and all the trees pens for Thy description, they would be exhausted before a single aspect of Thy grandeur and purity could be revealed.

How sweet, O my Mistress, is Thy remembrance in the heart, and how delightful, O my Lady, is Thy glory flowing from the pen! By Thy might and majesty—and there is no power nor strength except through God, Thy Lord—I say, relying upon God Thy Lord and clinging to the cord of Thy sovereignty: were God Thy Lord to choose for me the greatest punishment for all eternity, my standing before Thee and my praise in the presence of Thy holy court would not cease. I would choose the fire in my longing to witness the lights of Thy glory, and it suffices me to praise the manifestation of Thy sovereignty in the kingdom of the heavens and earth. Blessed am I in this station, as though I see Paradise gazing upon Thee with yearning and envying my station before Thee.

Praise be to God, Thy Lord—a praise resplendent, radiant, sanctified, and gleaming, which excels all praise as His favor excels in regard to Thee, and rises above all as His praise rises regarding Thy station. Then praise be to Him for having made me know Thee and placed me among those who enter the court of Thy holiness, who gaze upon the countenance of Thy face, who remember Thy grace, who drink from the cup of Thy favor, who are patient in Thy sorrow, who submit to Thy wisdom, who long for Thy promise, who are enthralled by Thy love, who are certain in Thy knowledge, who hold fast to Thy cord, who place their trust in Thee, who ask at Thy gate, who hope for Thy generosity, who fear Thy wrath, who are at peace with Thy forgiveness, who flee unto Thee, and who seek intercession with Thee—a praise that fills the Throne with light, the heaven with bounty, the earth with justice, Paradise with grace, and hell with equity.

A praise that His knowledge encompasses His grace and His book enumerates His justice, a praise to the utmost of His good pleasure and the end of His wisdom, which He loves and with which He is pleased, and through which He forgives the believing men and believing women and all who deserve the torment of fire—verily He is the Generous, the Bestower.

O my Lady, Thou knowest that I am certain in Thy sovereignty and acknowledge Thy knowledge from which nothing is hidden except as God wills, and that none has power to expand or contract except by Thy will, for Thou willest nothing save what God, Thy Lord, hath willed and wished. How can I speak with my grief for the hearts of the weak ones? But by Thy might, I chose not the prison ground midst the mountains except to behold Thy presence, and describe Thy Being, and portray Thy Self. The fixed decree flows not except by Thy sanction, and the determined fate is not established except by Thy decree.

So I call God and His angels to witness that Thy Will in all things is the Will of God in Thy rank, and that Thy Purpose in all things is the Purpose of God in Thy station, and I have no doubt that your volition, compared to God’s volition, has no existence except through the mention of Him Who described you with it and made you its repository. May God’s blessings be upon you, O my Lady, according to what God has willed and desired for you, for He is the Originator, the Restorer.

I bear witness that your father Muhammad, may God’s blessings be upon him, is God’s servant and messenger, Who is unique and without likeness or equal, and Who stands in God’s station in all the worlds of command and creation, for He is far above being associated with created things, and He is the Self-Sufficient, the Most High. And I bear witness that your husband, the Commander of the Faithful—may God’s peace and the peace of the near angels be upon him—was the best of God’s creation after your father, and he was his successor, minister, keeper of his secrets, and vessel of his knowledge. He conveyed what was entrusted to him by your father until he fulfilled his destiny. Verily we are God’s and to Him we return.

And I bear witness that your son Al-Hassan was God’s proof and guardian, and through him the Throne was established upon the water and the celestial spheres were fixed in the kingdom of creation. He conveyed what was entrusted to him by his father in God’s religion until he fulfilled his destiny. Verily we are God’s and to Him we return.

And I bear witness that your son Al-Hussein, peace be upon him, was God’s proof to all who are in the heavens and earth. He fulfilled God’s covenant and arose with His Cause until he endured in God’s religion what none other could bear. May God reward him, for all atoms, with what belongs to him of names and attributes. Alas, alas, how can I console you, O my Lady, for his martyrdom, when hearts are unable to mention his affliction? Verily we are God’s and to Him we return.

And I bear witness that nine souls from among your descendants are God’s proofs to all who are in the heavens and earth, such that no one’s deeds benefit them except through loyalty to them, love for them, learning from them, and turning to them in every decree. I believe in their hidden and manifest aspects, their first and their last, and their Promised One through whom God will fill the earth with equity and justice after it has been filled with oppression and tyranny. O God, bless them as befits You and as they deserve, for You are God, the Generous, the Ancient. O God, punish their enemies as they deserve, for You are God, the Just, possessed of severe might.

I beseech You, O God, by the right of Your beloved Muhammad’s daughter, peace be upon him and his family, and by the right of her father, her husband, her two sons, and the nine from her progeny, to hasten the days of Your sovereignty and vengeance for Your proof against those who were arrogant in the earth without right or clear authority. O God, to You have necks been stretched, eyes cast down, hands extended, and needs raised. Nothing escapes Your knowledge. You see my position and witness my conscience. You know that I have been patient for Your sake, endured harm in Your love, been content with Your decree, and submitted to Your judgment in trials, hoping for Your grace, yearning to meet Your presence, relying on Your power, and trusting in Your excellent care and mercy.

I beseech You, O God, by the right of Muhammad and his family, the best of Your servants, to hasten Your days, bring relief to the hearts of Your friends, take vengeance on Your enemies, and hasten the day when, by the hands of Your proof, You will seek vengeance for Your near friends, the chosen Imams, who bore witness to the truth and acted by it. Glory be to God, your Lord, the Lord of Might, above what they describe!