Blessed Birthday

Date: 29 April 2025 - 22:04

News ID: ۱۳۹۰۱۳

Salaam dear young friends. Heartiest congratulations to you all on a very blessed day.
Could you guess the occasion?
Yes, you are absolutely right. For the information of our readers abroad, yesterday was the 1st of the month of Zilqa’dah, the day when a great personality was born over a millennium and two-and-a-half centuries ago. A lady of merits of so transcendental, that her graces would not be confined to her birthplace, but would be of universal nature, to be benefit of all humanity, without the boundaries of time and place.
No wonder she was named Fatema (SA) in honour of her Infallible Ancestress, the daughter of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Her birthday is celebrated in the Islamic Republic of Iran as the Day of the Virtuous Daughters, and today all roads lead towards her blessed shrine in Qom.
“Whoever visits Ma’suma in Qom is like the one who has visited me.”
The phrase that we recited is the tribute of a beloved brother to his devoted sister. The identity of the siblings ought to be obvious in view of the Iranian city referred to in this short sentence, along with the epithet “Ma’suma” which in Arabic means “Innocent Lady”.
The fact that Imam Reza (AS), the 8th Infallible Heir of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), uses an epithet to refer to his sister, instead of her proper name, speaks volumes of the lofty status of the immaculate daughter of Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS).
The 1st of the sacred month of Zilqa’dah is the birth anniversary of “Our Innocent Lady of Qom”. In brief, Hazrat Ma’souma was the embodiment of virtue and knowledge. She was engrossed in the worship of Allah to such an extent that like Prophet Jesus’ mother, the Virgin Mary (SA), no man of her age was worthy of her hand. For this reason, she did not marry.
Shortly after Imam Reza (AS) was forced to leave Medina for distant Khorasan by the Abbasid regime, she decided to travel to Iran to meet her brother. It was a long journey and when the caravan accompanying her and several of her brothers, reached Saveh (near modern Tehran), forces of the Abbasid regime attacked them. She now turned towards Qom, where the people accorded her a warm welcome. However, after a short 17-day stay, her soul flew to the ethereal heavens at the young age of 28 years, and she was laid to rest in this city. When word reached Imam Reza (AS) in Khorasan, he was aggrieved, and by the Will of God, gave tidings of paradise for those visiting her grave, fully aware of her merits and position in the sight of God.
Today, seekers of knowledge from all over the world flock to Qom to acquire Islamic sciences at the seminaries in and around the grand sprawling mausoleum of Hazrat Ma’sumah (SA).
God bless you and goodbye.