Fatima bint Muhammad (bint means daughter of), or better known as Fatima al-Zahra (as), was born around 615 A.D. and died around the year 632 A.D. She was the only living biological child of the Prophet (s) who survived until adulthood. She was born from the Prophet’s (s) first wife Khadija.

Fatima was also the wife of the first Imam, Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (as). Fatima is important in Islam for many reasons, however, the most outstanding of these reasons is being the mother of all of the 11 Imams. In other words, all eleven Imams, starting from her own direct sons Imam Hasan (as) and Imam Husayn (as), are descendants of her. Without Fatima, Imamah would not have continued in this world and would have ended with Imam Ali (as).

Fatima (as) is also the means through which some of the most important practices of Islam were conveyed to Muslims. For example, the Tasbīh of Fatima al-Zahra (Fatima al-Zahra’s Glorification of God) is a contemplative and meditative practice of recalling God through prayer beads. In almost all of the ritual practices that Muslims have been recommended to do, the Tasbīh of Fatima is one of the most meritorious and the most widely practiced among Muslims today.