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By Tabligh Centre, Dar es salaam
Question: The infallibility of the Imams (as) is perhaps because they are the Imams and leaders for the people. What is the benefit of Sayyidah Fatimah's (peace be upon her) infallibility: she is not a prophet or an imam?
Answer: Sayyidah Fatimah (as) is the mother of the infallibles (as). She gave them all her effort and virtues, and amongst these is the infallibility, which Allah had given her. However, the question of infallibility is a human issue, which arises from Divine grace. Like the role of the Imamah as the leadership, which needs infallibility as a must, Allah may give infallibility to another person, especially the woman who is prepared to be an Imam, not in the strict sense of the term, but as the example. We believe that women have reached the level of infallibility as has been established with Virgin Mary (as) and Fatimah (as); but we may find some women who have not had a verse revealed regarding their infallibility, but who have not been distant from infallibility, such as Lady Zaynab (as) - women can come near to infallibility when they live their responsibility towards Allah and the people.
In addition, Allah, through His grace to Fatimah (as), wanted to tell people - men and women - that women can be elevated with Allah's bestowing and grace to the most exalted positions, and to infalli-bility.
Moreover, Allah wants to make the woman a role model for all people, men and women, so that men can be told that, just as they can have an infallible man as a role model, you can also have an infallible woman as a role model, because there is no difference between men and women as far as reaching the level of infallibility is concerned.
Question: What, apart from Infalli-bility, is the diffe-rence between Fatimah al-Zahra (as) and all other women?
Answer The difference is that Fatimah possessed a degree of spiritual depth in her personality that made her a manifestation of the message. Most women with a mission have a commitment to the message, which comes from outside of them. By contrast, for Fatimah (as) it came from inside her mind and heart and soul, because she lived the whole of her life with the message and under the wing of the Messenger of Allah (saww), and then opened herself up to the full vigor of the message in the House of Imam `Ali (as), and moved dynamically in the emotion of the message with Imam al-Hasan and Imam al-Husain (as).
Therefore, she lived the message. This is the difference between depth and shallowness. You cannot find anything in her personal life that speaks of leisure or purposelessness. This is what makes her a role model - the ultimate role model.