Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn reported to me from his father who reported from Ahmad ibn Idrees, who reported from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Jabbar, from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad al-Razi, from ‘Ali ibn Muhammad al-Hurmuzani, who reported from ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali, from his father al-Husayn, peace be upon them, who said:
When Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, fell ill, she willed to ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah bless him, to withhold the news of her (death) and treat it as a secret; and to allow no one to visit her during her illness. So he did accordingly, attending on her himself, helped by Asma bint Umays, may Allah bless her with mercy, so as to maintain the secrecy as she wished.
Then as her death drew near, she willed that Amirul Mu’mineen, peace be upon him, should attend to her rites, to bury her at night and to efface the trace of her grave. So Amirul Mu’mineen, peace be upon him, arranged accordingly, buried her and concealed the place of her burial. When he dusted off the earth of the grave (from hands), he was so overwhelmed with grief that tears rolled on his cheeks. And then he turned his face towards the grave of the Prophet, peace be upon him and his progeny, and said: “Peace be upon you from me, O messenger of Allah! And peace be upon you from your beloved daughter, the delight of your eye, your visitor, resting in the earth in your locality, for whom Allah so destined that she should join you so soon.
O messenger of Allah, it is indeed difficult to forbear the parting of your beloved daughter and my strength has waned with the demise of the lady who was above the women of the world. My main source of solace has been from your tradition (of submission to the will of Allah) and from your own departure which caused to me greater sorrow. For I laid you in the niche of your grave after you breathed your last on my chest, and I interred you with my own hands. And I attended to your rites myself. Yes, and the Book of Allah has the best guide to submission (in the verse):
‘To Him we belong and unto Him shall we return.’ (2:156).
The trust has been (thus) returned (to you) and the deposit (with me) has been redeemed; and al-Zahra has been snatched away (from me). How ugly has the green and the dusty (i.e. the surrounding) become. O messenger of Allah! As for my sorrow, it is ever lasting, my nights sleepless. The grief cannot leave my heart, till Allah destines for me the same abode as yours where you live. It is the heartache like a festering wound, and the irritating distress. How soon have we been parted from each other? And I raise my complain to Allah!
Your daughter will inform you how your Ummah rallied against me and worked together to usurp her right. So you seek information from her. How much of ill feeling wrestles within her chest for revenge! for which she found no expression. She would say: ‘Allah will judge, and He is the Most Just of the Judges.’
Farewell greetings to you O messenger of Allah! Not from weariness or seeking respite. If I go, I do not go because of tiredness, and if I stay on, it is not because of any distrust in what Allah has promised the patient ones. And patience is a blessed and more auspicious option. And had it not been for the prevailing authority against us, I would have found a place by your graveside, and would have lived in seclusion near it, and would have wailed the way a bereaved mother wails over her dead son, over the most distressing calamity.
With Allah as Witness, your daughter is buried in secrecy, her rights usurped forcefully, and her inheritance denied openly. And the time has not been long, nor had you been forgotten. So, the complain is raised to Allah, O messenger of Allah! And to you I offer the most sincere condolence; and the blessing of Allah be upon you and her, and His Mercy and His Grace.”