Imam ‘Ali relates that, “One month passed after these events, I prayed along with the Prophet of Allah and went to my house, but I did not utter a word to him regarding the actual marriage. After one month the wives of the Prophet told me, ‘Should we speak to the Prophet (on your behalf) to send Fatimah to your house?’ I asked, ‘Can you speak to him?’
They went to the Prophet of Allah and Umme Ayman19 said, ‘O Prophet of Allah! I have come to you regarding a matter that if Khadijah had been alive, she would have been delighted in regards to. ‘Ali would like to take his wife to his home. Let Fatimah be delighted by the glance of her husband and so too will we be delighted.’
The Prophet asked, ‘Why does ‘Ali himself not speak to me regarding this matter – I expect that he should precede you.’ Imam ‘Ali replied, ‘O Prophet of Allah! Modesty refrains me from speaking to you regarding this matter.’ The Prophet said, ‘Who is present here?’ Umme Salma replied, ‘I am at your service, and Zaynab too, and so and so are also present.’ The Prophet said, ‘Prepare a room from among the adjacent rooms for my daughter Fatimah and my cousin (Imam ‘Ali).’ Umme Salma asked, ‘Which room?’ The Prophet replied, ‘Your room.’”
The Prophet asked his wives and the other women to adorn Fatimah, befitting her dignity. Umme Salma said, “I went to Fatimah and asked, ‘Do you have perfume?’ She replied in the affirmative and brought a bottle of perfume and sprinkled some upon the palm of my hands. Its scent was so splendid that I had never ever smelt something similar to it. I asked her, ‘Where did you get this perfume from?’ Fatimah replied, ‘One day, Dihyah al-Kalbi came with the Prophet and my father told me, O Fatimah! Bring a mat for your uncle. I brought a mat and spread it on the floor, and they sat upon it. When they stood up, something scattered upon the floor from his clothes. My father told me, ‘Gather this.’ ‘Ali asked the Prophet as to what it was and the Prophet replied, ‘This is amber that has fallen from the wings of Jibra’il.’
Imam ‘Ali continued, ‘The Prophet then told me, ‘Prepare food for your relatives, the meat and bread will be arranged by us, while you take care of the oil and dates.’ I went and bought oil and dates and gave it to the Prophet. He lifted his sleeves up and mixed the dates in the oil, and sent a fleshy sheep and a large quantity of bread. Then he told me, ‘You may invite anyone whom so ever you desire.’ I went to the Masjid and saw that there were many companions therein. I felt ashamed that I should invite some and leave some and therefore I called out in a loud voice, ‘You are invited to a feast for the bethrotal of Fatimah’. Hearing this, all of them came. I was embarrassed due to the large number of men and the small quantity of food. When the Prophet perceived my embarrassement, he said, ‘I will pray to Allah to grant abundance to the food.’
All of the people ate and drank to their fill and prayed for us that Allah may grant us abundance. All of them, who numbered more than four thousand, were satiated, but the food did not become less. Then the Prophet called for some bowls, he filled the bowls with food and sent them to the house of his wives. Then he took a bowl, and filled it with food and said, ‘This is for Fatimah and her husband.’”