Umm Kulthum bint Ali
Granddaughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Umm Kulthum bint Ali (Arabic: أُمّ كُلْثُوم بِنْت عَلِيّ), also known as Zaynab al-Sughra, was a grand-daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the youngest daughter of Ali and Fatima. She belonged to the Ahl al-Bayt and grew up in the household of Muhammad. Umm Kulthum survived the Battle of Karbala, where her brother Husayn and most of her male relatives were brutally massacred by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid.
Women and children in Husayn's camp were taken captive after the battle and marched to Kufa and then the Umayyad capital Damascus. A public speech ascribed to Umm Kulthum in Kufa condemns Yazid, defends Husayn, and chastises the Kufans for their role in his death.
Early life
Umm Kulthum was the fourth child of Fatima and Ali ibn Abi Talib, and their youngest daughter. The former was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the latter was his cousin. Ali is also recognized as the fourth Rashidun caliph (r. 656–661) and the first Shia Islamic imam. Umm Kulthum is also known as Zaynab al-Sughra (lit. 'the junior Zaynab') to distinguish her from her older sister Zaynab al-Kubra (lit. 'the senior Zaynab'). The Arabic word zaynab literally means 'adornment of father'.
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This entry incorporates text from “Umm Kulthum bint Ali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.