Authenticity Review of Narrations on Sayyidah Fāṭimah’s Final Ghusl

Authenticity of Narrations Concerning the Ghusl (Ritual Washing) of Sayyidah Fāṭimah (رضي الله عنها)
Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah, Volume 1, Kitāb al-Janā’iz, Page 517

❖ Question​

In a Deobandi Tablīghī sermon, the following story is repeatedly narrated:


When Sayyidah Fāṭimah (رضي الله عنها) became ill, ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) was away for some task. She told her maid to prepare water and clothes for ghusl. She bathed herself, dressed in black, lay facing the Qiblah, and said: “Tell ʿAlī that I have already performed ghusl. My body must not be exposed.” Upon ʿAlī’s return, he acted accordingly and buried her in that state.


What is the status of this narration?

❖ Answer​

Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ammā baʿd!

✦ Analysis of the Chain of Narration​

◈ Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal narrated this story through the chain:
Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq → ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Rāfiʿ → his father → Umm Salamah
Musnad Aḥmad 6/461–462, Ḥadīth 27615; Asad al-Ghābah Vol. 5, p. 590; Maʿrifat al-Ṣaḥābah by Abū Nuʿaym 6/3507, Ḥadīth 7944


Issues with the Chain:
– Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq: A mudallis who narrates using ʿanʿanah (ambiguous connection).
– ʿUbaydullāh ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Rāfiʿ: Considered weak.
Taqrīb al-Tahdhīb No. 4322
– ʿAlī ibn Abī Rāfiʿ: Also weak; his authentication is unknown.


Conclusion:
This chain is weak and munkar (denounced).

✦ Presence in Other Books​

The same narration is found in:


– Al-Ṭabaqāt of Ibn Saʿd (8/27)
– Tārīkh al-Madīnah by ʿUmar ibn Shabbah (1/108–109)
– Ibn Shāhīn, Ḥadīth 632
– Al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiyah by Ibn al-Jawzī (p. 419)
– Al-Mawḍūʿāt by Ibn al-Jawzī (3/277)


In all these sources, the same weak chain is repeated.

✦ Scholarly Comments​

◈ Ibn al-Jawzī:


“This ḥadīth is not ṣaḥīḥ.”


◈ Imām al-Dhahabī:


“This is a munkar narration.”
Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ 2/129; Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 9/211

✦ Supporting Narration and Its Status​

Muṣannaf ʿAbd al-Razzāq (3/411, Ḥadīth 6126)
Al-Āḥād wa al-Mathānī by Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim (5/356, Ḥadīth 2940)
Al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr by al-Ṭabarānī (22/399, Ḥadīth 996)
Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ by Abū Nuʿaym (2/43)


These narrations include ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl, who is:


➊ Considered weak by the majority of ḥadīth scholars
➋ He did not witness the lifetime of Sayyidah Fāṭimah (رضي الله عنها), making the chain interrupted (munqaṭiʿ)


Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 9/211; Naṣb al-Rāyah 2/251

✦ Ibn Kathīr’s Statement​

“The report that she bathed before death and instructed not to be washed again is weak and unreliable.”
Al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah 6/338

✦ Summary of Research​

The story of Sayyidah Fāṭimah (رضي الله عنها) performing ghusl before death and asking not to be bathed again is weak, baseless, and unreliable in all its chains.

✦ A Contradictory (But Also Weak) Report​

Ṭabaqāt Ibn Saʿd 8/28; Tārīkh al-Madīnah 1/109
A narration from Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Abī ʿAbdullāh al-Madanī states that:


ʿAlī (رضي الله عنه) performed the ghusl of Fāṭimah (رضي الله عنها).


– Muḥammad ibn Mūsā is ṣadūq (truthful)
– However, chain disconnection (inqitāʿ) makes the report weak

✦ Another Related (Weak) Report from Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays (رضي الله عنها)​

Found in:


– Al-Mustadrak 3/163–164, Ḥadīth 4769
– Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ 2/43
– Al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī 3/397
– Tārīkh al-Madīnah 1/109
– Al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr 2/143, Ḥadīth 907 – Said: chain is ḥasan


Note:
Although some scholars deemed the narration of Asmāʾ bint ʿUmays as ḥasan, this is questionable due to chain inconsistencies.

Conclusion​

This popular story often repeated in sermons about Sayyidah Fāṭimah’s ghusl is:


✘ Weak
✘ Baseless
✘ Unreliable
and cannot be used as Sharʿī evidence.


(al-Ḥadīth Magazine: Issue 28)


ھٰذَا مَا عِندِي، وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَاب