Fatimah bint Abdul Malik

Fatimah bint Abdul Malik was a highly placed woman of first century
Hijrah . She was wife of thegreat Banu Umayyad Caliph Umar ibn Abdul
Azizand daughter of Abdul Malik ibn Marwan. She wasraised in palatial
atmosphere like princessesand she was familiar with the royal culture.
Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, himself a man of great beauty was regarded one of
the few who greatly were mindful of their get-up. His diet and dress
were equally worthy of royalty. But after he had totake over the
charge of the Caliphate, he gave up all princely practices. He turned
his mouth away from the superb and delicious cuisine. The pulses were
started to be cooked daily and all the people of his household were
sick with the pulses.
One day a servant complained his matron that he was fed up with the
pulses. She silenced him to tell that his master,the Commander of the
Faithful, too ate the same and they themselves, as well.
Once the Caliph praised the taste of Lebanon-honey before her. She
sentword to ruler of Lebanon, Ibn Ma'di Karb. He immediately sent the
honey. When it was servedbefore the Caliph, he questioned his wife if
she had ordered for that. She answered in affirmative and the Caliph
sold out thehoney and deposited the price in Baytal Mal (state
exchequer).
Once a woman came from Iraq to get approved the allowance for her
orphan daughters. She saw the first lady baking bread herself and sat
near her. She was looking at the house and then said regretfully that
she had come to find some favoursfrom that house but it, itself is in
the worst. The Caliph's wife said, "your homes are cared for, at
thecost of ours." Then she inquired about her problems and put her
casebefore the Caliph who approved the allowance forthwith.
When 'Umar ibn Abdul Aziz fell ill with mortal disease, his brother in
law Muslima ibn Abdul Malik came to inquire about his health. He saw
the Commander of the Faithfulwearing a worn Kameez (long shirt). He
took aside his sister and asked her to change the Kameez of the
Commander of the Faithful. She told her astonished brother that the
ruler of the greatest empire of the time had only that shirt.
Fatimah was a woman who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and
was bred with royal manners. But she withdrew from that sort oflife to
the will and wish of her husband and lived her life poorly. She lived
long after her husband but she persisted to live simply. The noted
Turk writer Dhehni Afindi writes, "Fatimah bint Abdul Malik ibn Marwan
was known Dhatid Khimar (the woman of shawl).
She was a lady of great piety and reverence. Her tomb is in Busra
(Syria) where her devotees pay visits frequently.
(Serah 'Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, Taha'in Tarikh Islam ).