Can Sayyidah Fāṭimah be called 'Umm al-Mu'minīn'?

Question

Assalamu Alaikum

- Can a Muslim call Hazrat Fatima RadiAllahu Anha Ummul Mu'aminin?

— Md Wasim Akram, Kolkata, India

Answer

The title of ‘Umm al-Mu’minīn is exclusive to the blessed wives of the Noble Prophet Muḥammad, upon him be an abundance of blessings and salutations and may Allāh be pleased with all of them, as is evident in the verse of the Holy Qur’ān:

وَاَزْوَاجُهٗۤ اُمَّهٰتُهُمْ

“And his wives are their mothers.”

[Sūrah al-‘Aḥzāb: 6]

Commenting on this verse, Ṣadr al-‘Afāḍil `Allāmah Sayyid Na`īm al-Dīn mentions that the reason that the pure and chaste wives of the Noble Messenger, upon him be blessings and salutations, have been labeled the mothers of the believers is due to the obligation upon the believers to honor and revere them and also due to the fact of nikāḥ forever becoming prohibited with them, as is the case with one’s own biological mother.

[Khazā’in al-`Irfān, Sūrah al-‘Aḥzāb: 6]

Although the Chieftess of the Women in Paradise, Sayyidah Fāṭimah al-Zahrā’, may Allāh be pleased with her, is to be revered and honored by all believers, to marry her was not prohibited for the believing men and thus, Sayyidunā `Alī al-Murtaḍā, may Allāh be pleased with him, was given her blessed hand in marriage. Due to this reason, the title of ‘Umm al-Mu’minīn does not apply to her, and Allāh knows best.

Faqīr Sayyid `Abdul Ṣamad al-Qādirī · (may he be pardoned) · Dhū al-Ḥijjah 19, 1445 AH